Tomorrow, I will be boarding a plane bound for the proverbial land of opportunity, the United States of America with the aim of taking another step towards the person I want to be and the work I want to be doing. If you’ve read this Journal before you’ll most likely expect the excitement for what’s to come to be tempered with some sort of doubt and if you’ve guessed this, you know me almost as well as I do.

I have a challenging relationship with my career as a speaker. One one hand, I love getting the opportunity to share my story and help others, but that is starkly contrasted with the fear and anxiety that comes with getting up on stage. This is a battle that is routinely fought each time I book in a speaking gig and it’s something that causes me to be very reserved when it comes to expressing my ambitions with my speaking.

There’s a funny attitude towards the idea of opportunity in my line of work. As someone with a unique experience and story, I get approached to do all sorts of things and whether I agree or not often depends on a number of factors with the main one being if it aligns with my purpose. It sounds like a simple enough proposition but when presented with these ‘opportunities’, it’s important to note that the driving factor isn’t always the idea along the lines of “The more I get myself and my story out there, the more exposure I get which will lead to more work”. Don’t get me wrong, exposure is definitely helpful but you want it to be the right exposure.

Today I have the pleasure of posting the conversation I had with Zac O’Neil who is a wildly inspirational human. I finally did it! I finally reached out to someone I’ve never spoken to or met before to ask them some questions about what they do and I’m really glad I did.

Hearing how Zac went from his first 9km run to a mammoth 246km ultra marathon in just 5 years is incredible within itself but the way in which he describes and values the things he’s learned in that time is where the gold really lies.

Throwback to a podcast I did with Craig Harper a while ago. I've been interviewed by a bunch of interesting people over the years and Craig is definitely one that sticks out to me! This conversation was actually a pivotal moment in helping me identify how I approach my story telling and what advice I would give to a younger version of myself.

"Escape competition through authenticity". This is a quote I've been thinking about a lot recently and It's one that speaks very directly to me for a few reasons but the biggest one would be in giving me confidence to to get up in front of people and speak.

When I speak, my only job is to be me. I use my story and my experience to give people a different perspective on their own situations and the best way I can do that is to be authentic to myself.

When I'm authentic to myself, I feel more comfortable with what I'm saying and when I'm familiar with that, I feel more at home on stage. It's always a work in progress but I take a lot of solace in knowing no-one else is better than me at being me. Thus, escaping any comparison or competition I always struggled with.

This is a pretty special interview. Luke Okay is a good friend of mine and someone I credit with introducing me to the ‘cool’ side of surfing, art and culture. He’s been a constant supporter of mine and i’ve always been enamoured with the creative work he’s done which leads us to the interview. After talking on the phone with Luke a few weeks ago I thought it would be great to ask him a few questions about how his life has changed, what it’s like to be a dad (He welcomed his second child in the middle of the questions) and his new approach to creating art.

New year, same me…

As we flip over to a new set of numbers to remember I, like many others are in the process of looking forward and planning what I want to achieve in 2023. I’ve noticed that there’s often some debate on how to approach the new year. Do you set resolutions? Do you think resolutions are a waste of time? Do you set goals? Or do you think it’s just another day in the calendar. Personally I see the start of a new year as an opportunity to reflect and plan ahead and wanted to share what this process looks like on a personal level and how I work out what I want to achieve over the next 12 months. Whilst this works for me, it’s certainly not the lottery numbers for today but it’s something I wanted to share to provide some perspective, some ideas and some accountability for my own goals.

As the end of the year approaches we naturally look back to assess the year that was and while I originally played around with the idea of doing a ‘Top 10’ to celebrate some of my favourite moments but as I explored that I thought it would be worth trying to be a bit more genuine. In all honesty 2022 was my best year so far and while it has been filled with so many highlights, it wouldn’t be fair to avoid the reality of the struggles, the difficult times and all of the valuable moments in-between. To address this I’m going to do my ‘Sweet, Sour, Banana’ for the year of 2022.

Today I’m problem solving. After the great feedback I received when I started interviewing people as part of my journal, I was struck with the thought that at some stage I’ll have to start reaching out to people external to my immediate network. Simple for some, but for an awkward introvert like me, it’s a little more complicated.

As I pondered on this challenge it reminded me of the many times I’d been on the other end of this through people reaching out to me for podcasts, interviews and this one random guy that just wanted to catch up for lunch. That random guy’s name is Nick Bendel. He’s a writer, speaker and a small business owner who’s currently on lunch #289 of his mission to have 500 lunches with 500 strangers over the span of 5 years. What better person to talk to about my predicament!

I recently had an experience with a client that I wanted to share for a few reasons but the main purpose it to highlight how important it is to be aware of our principles when navigating through life. This particular example is of a recent presentation that was requested to be done virtually, something I decided at the start of this year that I would no longer do. The reasons for this are fairly straightforward from my point of view; So I can maximise enjoyment and give the client better value. But this entry is more about the process of working together and finding a respectful compromise that resulted in one of my favourite presentations this year.

Filming one of my favourite scenes for #AttackingLifeFilm which visualises the dream I had in-between being airlifted form the beach and waking up in hospital. While this is only a small part of the film, it was a huge part of me coming to terms with what had happened as the dream actually depicted my entire recovery.

There's a certain comfort in knowing you've been in a situation before (even if it was just a dream in this case) because we do find comfort in familiarity. I know it's difficult to say the old cliche that things happen for a reason and I truly don't know where I stand on this. There's certain parts of my experience (like this dream) that tend to point to something more spiritual and I think at some stage it's up to the individual to take what they want from their own expereince which leads to another interesting question I think about a lot. Why do people deal with adversity in different ways?

Prone Paddling has been a an amazing teacher to me over the past couple of years. When I started out I thought "I've surfed all my life, it can't be that difficult". How wrong I was... It's truly one of the sports that tests you every time you're out on the water whether it be through the conditions, the physical challenge or just the fact that it's only you, the ocean and a 12 foot piece of foam.

My love for the sport is difficult to describe but I'm so grateful for everything it's given and taught me in such a short amount of time.

Reflecting on how lucky I was to speak at the University of Wollongong showcase last week. I always talk about how my aim in life now is to use my story and my experience to try to help others and while I do this as much as I can with my speaking, I've been involved in numerous projects at the university that I can be proud to look back on and know I was able to make a difference in various fields of studies.

I think a lot about what I want my 'legacy' to look like at the end of this and whilst I always thought it was strange to think about legacy in your 20's it's truly become a great way to continually define my purpose and know that I'm doing the right things in life. There's amazing things coming out of UOW all the time and I can't thank them enough for helping me continue to live by my purpose.

Let's talk pressure. Throughout all of my challenges the only person I've ever felt pressure from is myself which I'm fine with because the outcome is something I can control. But this year, when attempting to complete the #molokai2oahu I felt a different type of pressure, one I've never experienced before.

How do you overcome self doubt when you convince yourself everyone else is thinking the same thing? This is a lesson in self reflection and looking back to find a solution for today.

This isn’t just me sharing a podcast to get the views up. It’s actually an exploration of an idea I had a long time ago to share the best parts of a podcast which happen before and after the recording button has been pushed. These moments always leave someone wishing they recorded that but the reality is it’s hard to be that free and expressive when you know you’re being recorded.

I’m going to begin an exercise where I summarise some of the key points and takeaways of these moments and share them alongside the podcast so you can view it from both perspectives. At the very least it gives me a chance to reflect and be appreciative of someone else who’s been willing to feature and share my story.

What is this journal? Originally it was an expanded version of my LinkedIn posts but the more I look at it I love the idea of it becoming a combination of a throwback to the good old days of Tumblr mixed with a newer age version of a podcast, which means I need guests and leads me to today’s post.

Although I’ve only known today’s guest for a relatively short period of time, I’ve always felt like we’ve had a really strong connection through our completely different experiences which hold so many profound parallels. He’s a man who’s taught me a lot and although I could listen to him talk for days on end, what inspires me most about him are his actions and how he lives out what he speaks on every single day. This man is none other than the self-proclaimed ‘Captain’ himself, Mr Bradley J Dryburgh.

I talked about Gratitude the other day and one person I'm extremely grateful for is Scott Muttdon from Baimed. I didn't know Scott before the attack and his message and offer for recovery support was the spark I needed in bouncing back. Beyond being a great physiotherapist, he's become an even better friend and someone I'll always credit with getting me back to doing the things I love.

I was recently writing names down for the credits section in Attacking Life and it got me thinking about how lucky I am to do what I do and I honestly have so many people to thank for helping me live out my dreams. Gratitude is a great giver of perspective and it's always a healthy exercise when it comes to reflecting on what goes into reaching my goals. Thank You

Thinking about my next challenge. Any ideas?

Finding purpose in these physical challenges is something I think about a lot and I’ve found that knowing ‘why’ I undertake them in the first place is a big reason I’m able to take more away from them then just being able to cross the finish line.