As Tina Turner would say: 'What's luck got to do with it?'

A reflection on our 7 month out of Australia experience.

From the middle of June 2022 to the middle of January 2023, my wife Leona, our youngest daughter, Lily aged 13 (14 in the middle of the experience) and I spent 7 months travelling, seeing family, friends and knocking things off our bucket-lists (which I actually wrote whilst travelling. Note: have you done yours yet?? 🤔).

I did do some work in the UK which was also great as I was super relaxed and totally in the zone in terms of the work.

It was a brilliant decision all round.

A couple of times we spent a few weeks living with Leona's mum on the beautiful islands of Orkney (how 'lucky' are we!). It was great to empty the suitcases and create some routines, such as longer runs and daily walks as I looked to regain my fitness post long Covid. 

On my runs, I often reflected on 2 comments I heard numerous times, either in the weeks leading up to our trip or once we had left the Gold Coast (how 'lucky' are we to live there too!).

The comments followed one of two threads, either:

'You are just so lucky to be doing this'

or 

'I/We could never do that' (sometimes followed by the 'reason').

Sometimes the two were linked 'you are so lucky to be doing this trip but we could never do it because of:

• the kids (we have 4. Lily is 13 and we decided to take her out of school for 6 months),

• work (we have businesses),

• the mortgage (we have one!),

• the pet (we have a dog called Boston)

• some other self limiting belief (often money, although our financial position is not due to luck either).

I am fortunate to have been born in a safe democracy where the basics are accessible. My parents were definitely on a working class wage (Dad worked, mum worked hard raising 3 kids) but we had access to food, water, education, love and we were not living in daily fear of war, authoritarianism and some of the other evils faced by so many around the world.

👉When you have circa 55 minutes, please watch my interview with Mahir, an Afghan national, who is a 3 time refugee, twice ambushed and once shot by the Taliban.

Another reminder to be grateful and appreciate what I/we have:

Everything else came from:

• hard work (focused on what I decided were the ‘right things’ in terms of value and impact),

• understanding my strengths to develop them into ‘superpowers’,

• working to continually improve and ultimately build mastery in a few key areas,

• building rock solid winning habits and routines to build my self-confidence and belief system

• developing strong relationships, a ‘winning circle’ and an international network,

• giving myself the time and space to work out what I REALLY wanted (like the trip)

• constantly talking with Leona about our life vision, goals and desired future state (like the trip)

• backing myself 

• learning from my mistakes and then moving quickly forward to avoid dwelling on them, overthinking and procrastinating

• living an action orientated life, contrasting stillness (Mozart time) with speed (#speedstuns)

When I look at my life and career I do believe there have been some 'sliding door' moments which I am sure others could attribute to luck. I see it differently. I am constantly in the arena of life looking for opportunities. Sometimes opportunities come my way and sometimes they don't. However if you are in 'spectator' mode, living in your comfort zone, you will not be in the right head or physical space to seize an opportunity even when it comes past your door.

I believe that next to every closed door is an open window, you just need to keep looking'. Most people don't they just STOP.

Coming back to the trip. It took lots of planning, talking and decision making. It took courage, for example, taking Lily out of school for 6 months and leaving my Australian/NZ clients for a number of months. It took a strong mindset from both Leona and I. It required a vision that excited and inspired us.

Was luck involved? Not at all. As golfer Gary Player is often quoted: 'the more I practice the luckier I get.' We ‘practiced’ hard and made it happen.

I returned to Australia, convinced that the GiFT631 success formula (S = G+M+AxD), provides a pathway to enable others to make the ‘impossible possible!’ and take luck out of the equation. I encourage you to get working on it today.

#dare2soar #allin #sempreavanti #rockingchairtest #futureyou #whatwinnersdo