Reflections from 2016
Its 2 January 2017!! I can hardly believe how time has flown. As I reflect back on 2016 I cant but help think that it was a year mixed with such incredible highs and equally opposite lows. Life as a professional adventurer and motivational/inspirational speaker is not for the feint hearted. If you get it right it is really super exciting, but as always though there is never a great story told without being subject to many tests and possible failures.
So lets start with the really amazing things that happened in 2016.
I have been an inspirational speaker for 6 years and this has been the best year for my speaking career so far. I have started to speak in many more international conferences in the USA, Europe and the Middle East than I have in the past and I am really going to be pushing that in 2017 – watch this space.
My book, ‘The Eighth Summit’ did exceptionally well in the South African market and I am really excited that it is considered a ‘best seller’. I have started to write another book this year – watch this space.
On the darker side of 2016.
I have been involved in planning expedition to row from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro for the whole of 2016. This row has always been a dream of mine. Our first task was to get sponsorship, which would allow us the opportunity to train, plan and prepare meticulously. The row was supposed to start with the yachts taking part in the Cape2Rio Yacht Race on 1 January 2017. Our sponsorship quest failed and I had to put a deadline date, which I thought appropriate in order to have a properly prepared and safe row. That date (which even then was in my opinion far to late) was 30 November, which would give us a month to prepare. In November there were many red flags flying and I started to have serious misgivings about my involvement in the expedition. This impacted heavily on both my family and me and so on the 30 of November I decided to withdraw from the row. It was the toughest decision I have had to make as a professional adventurer. I believe that for my family and me it was the right thing to do.
So what’s in stall for 2017.
I have a few very exciting projects in the pipeline. I intend to do an expedition from July through to end August with my wife, Kim. There will be more news about this once we have secured a sponsor. I hope to do more and more of these with Kim into the future. Kim and I are also looking at writing an inspirational book together.
My speaking calendar for 2017 has already started to fill up and so I am excited about changing many more peoples lives both professionally and personally.
