Crossing the Ditch – 10 Year Anniversary

10 years! Raise a beer and clink a frosty. You beauty!

When I took the daunting leap of leaving Deloitte in 2006 to pursue this grand adventure, I had no idea where this unknown journey was going to take me.

On a personal level, committing to such a BHAG and then (eventually) achieving what we set out to do, has built a deep level of confidence that has stayed with me every day for the past 10 years. Clichéd I know, but this was by far the toughest and one of the most rewarding phases of my life. We were green, had no idea what we were doing or where this was going to take us.

The motivation & “why” for Crossing the Ditch was deeply intrinsic. It had nothing to do with five minutes of fame or becoming a motivational speaker (we didn’t even know the industry existed!). All we wanted to do was see if we could pull off this adventure which was bordering on impossible. I wanted to explore my potential as a human being.

Over the past 10 years, there have been numerous attempts to cross the Tasman by kayak and all have failed. There are numerous reasons why (for another blog) but on reflection the greatest super power we had was our mateship and brotherly bond. Our unity and wanting to put both the mission and each other over our own safety, desires and personal ambition is what I believe ultimately enabled us to push as hard as we did.

We arrived in New Zealand 10 years ago completely wasted, broke and didn’t even have clothes there waiting for us. Since then I have now spoken (and run workshops) to almost 450,000 people, across 22 countries. Audiences love this story even more than they did 10 years ago. This continually surprises me. It’s been an amazing process to be able to take the keynote one step further and now be able to share adventure experiences (the lessons, the bonds, the experiences and the beauty) with corporate teams from all over the world.

Here’s to the next 10 years!

 

 

       

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