THE HAND YOU’RE DEALT
Coming Jan 2026. Read the first chapter for Free!
What if your greatest adversity was also your greatest advantage?
The Hand You’re Dealt begins in those moments – moments where perspective shifts, identities change, and real growth begins — because you can’t control the hand you’re dealt, only how you choose to play it.
In this book, Paralympian, psychologist, and high-performance consultant Kate Naess takes you inside the defining chapters that shaped her strength: growing up with a hand difference, navigating anorexia as a teenager, rebuilding identity after profound loss, and chasing an audacious Paralympic dream with relentless grit.
This isn’t a story about perfection or winning — it’s a story about learning to see your experiences differently.
About reframing the moments that break your rhythm, challenge your identity, or make you question your place.
About shifting perspective when the path changes, the pressure rises, or the story you tell yourself starts holding you back.
For anyone who has ever felt different, underestimated, or considered giving up,
The Hand You’re Dealt shows you how to turn adversity into opportunity.
Life doesn’t shape your strength — the way you look at it and move forward does.
Read the first chapter for Free!
The Hand You’re Dealt shows you how to rise stronger, think clearer, and live braver — no matter what life puts in front of you.
Strength isn’t something you either have or don’t have. It’s something you build one challenge, one choice, and one perspective shift at a time. Through years of navigating difference, pressure, illness, identity, sport, and profound personal change, Kate has developed a way of seeing the world that turns adversity into opportunity. Her story, and how she has approached every challenge, helps you break free from limits you didn’t choose, quiet the doubts you didn’t ask for, and find confidence in moments that once felt overwhelming.
The Hand You’re Dealt invites you to rethink what’s possible, reclaim your story, and discover the power you’ve always had even in the hardest chapters.
The Hand You’re Dealt maps a path from obstacles to opportunity, one choice at a time.
Perspective turns obstacles into opportunity — even when the only constant is change.
The Hand You’re Dealt is a guide to navigating life’s toughest moments with clarity, resilience, and purpose. Through Kate’s lived experience from growing up with a hand difference to overcoming illness, rebuilding identity, and competing on the world stage this book reveals what it truly takes to rise when life doesn’t go to plan. You’ll learn how to reframe setbacks, quiet self-doubt, strengthen your mindset, and transform challenges into opportunities for growth. This is your invitation to reclaim your story, trust your strength, and live with intention no matter the cards life has dealt.
Know Kate: The Heart Behind The Hand You’re Dealt
Kate Naess is a Paralympian, psychologist, mother, keynote speaker, and high performance consultant with clients spanning professional services including Deloitte, to elite sporting clubs within AFL. Kate’s life has been shaped by choosing courage long before the world ever saw her strength. Born with a hand difference and later navigating complex illness, Kate learned early what it means to face challenges that aren’t optional and to rise anyway. Her journey spans elite sport, personal transformation, and the quiet daily resilience required to keep moving forward when life feels overwhelming.
What defines Kate isn’t the obstacles she’s faced, but the perspective she’s built because of them. She believes in grounding yourself when everything feels uncertain, finding strength in moments others overlook, and choosing to grow through difficulty rather than shrink away from it. Her approach to life is rooted in clarity, honesty, and a deep belief in the power of mindset.
In The Hand You’re Dealt, Kate shares a message shaped by lived experience: real transformation begins when you stop resisting the difficult moments and start seeing what they’re trying to teach you. Through her stories, she invites readers to shift perspective, reclaim identity, and rise with purpose even when the path is unexpected.
Beyond her achievements, Kate is deeply committed to her family and to helping high performing individuals and teams, whether in professional or sporting settings, thrive. Her mission remains simple: to remind you that the cards you’re dealt don’t define you, but how you choose to play them, does.
What is The Hand You’re Dealt really about?
It’s a story about navigating the moments you don’t choose, and finding strength, clarity, and resilience within them. Through Kate’s lived experiences, the book explores identity, challenge, loss, and the quiet courage required to keep going when life feels unfair.
Who is this book written for?
Anyone who has ever felt different, overwhelmed, or defined by circumstances outside their control. It’s for people facing change, uncertainty, illness, grief, pressure, or self-doubt, and for anyone looking to rebuild their confidence and sense of self.
What will I learn or take away from this book?
You’ll gain a grounded perspective on resilience, practical mindset shifts, and tools to navigate uncertainty, rebuild identity, and move forward with intention. It shows that your strength isn’t defined by what happens to you, but by how you respond.
What makes this book relevant right now?
Many people today are navigating identity shifts, overwhelm, burnout, and unexpected life changes. This book offers honesty, perspective, and clarity at a time when people want something real, something that helps them feel seen and supported, not pressured.
Is this Kate’s personal memoir?
Yes. Kate shares her experiences with honesty from growing up with a hand difference to navigating illness, sport, and profound personal change. While deeply personal, it’s written to help readers reflect on their own challenges and strengths.
FAQs
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