12 lessons ADVENTURE has taught me

DREAM BIG

The first step in paddling the Tasman and pulling off the first unsupported return journey to the South Pole was allowing ourselves to dream big. Let your imagination run crazy! This is often difficult in our hectic daily schedules, so take some time to listen to your mind - turn your phone off, go grab a coffee or just sit in a park. By undertaking these journeys and achieving what we did, it raised the bar and allowed us to dream even bigger. Dreams can come true, but only through bloody hard work. Failure is never quite so frightening as regret.

lesson 1 :DREAM BIG

How much time do you give yourself to dream and reflect?What do you dream about?

What really excites you?

SET YOUR GOAL

Write it down. First your goal…then all the fears & questions you might have. Once you’ve listed all the reasons why your goal is “impossible” or “unachievable”, start doing a bit of research into each fear and question that you’ve listed and start coming up with strategies to tackle them. It’s important not to get overwhelmed, so tackle each fear one at a time. If you hit a roadblock, leave it and come back to it later.

This non-committal step is incredibly powerful in gathering momentum toward your objective.

What is your goal? What are your 3 biggest fears andobstacles preventing you from achieving your goal?

lesson 2 :SET YOUR GOAL

TENACITY

lesson 3 :TENACITY

Don’t give up. If you want it bad enough…you’ll fight for it. Go all 15 rounds. Humans are great at changing tack when things don’t work out as planned or are tougher than we imagined. But remember, you and you alone hold the ultimate decision as to stick-ing with it or giving up. Part of the reason we have achieved what we have on our big adventures is that failure wasn’t an option- you can’t just sit down and get evacuated.

Whether it be weight loss, personal finance goals, or career progress, once you’ve committed to your chosen path, success will eventually come if you stick with it.

Think of a time when you achieved a big goal. How would you have felt different if you had not stuck with it?

PLANNING

Yes, it’s true. Jonesy gets massive man crushes (often!). One such love affair he’s had since childhood was with the Norwegian Explorer- Roald Amundsen.

‘I may say that this is the greatest factor — the way in which the expedition is equipped — the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order — luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.’ ROALD AMUNDSEN, THE SOUTH POLE

The above sums up my attitude toward adventure. However, the same can also be said on my approach toward business, investments… or just a weekend bush walk.

lesson 4 :90% PLANNING 10% EXECUTION

Identify a time when you have prepared insufficiently for a goal. What could you have done to prepare better?

Would this have made a difference to the outcome?

RISK

lesson 5 :LUCK FAVOURS THOSE WHO RISK

Without the excitement of the unknown, I strongly believe there is very limited room to grow as an individual. In our lives, it has been the times when we’ve really extended ourselves that we’ve learnt the most valuable lessons about who we are and what we’re capable of. The key to success on an expedition is to manage and minimize risk through detailed preparation and planning.

Do you consider yourself a risk taker or risk adverse?Can you believe that Jonesy is risk adverse?!

PERSPECTIVE Have you travelled to a 3rd world country?

If you haven’t.. do! If you have, when you were meeting the locals how did it make you feel?

Did your perception of what’s important in life change?

lesson 6 :STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONEStepping out of your comfort zone gives PERSPECTIVE.

Antarctica hasn’t radically changed who I am or what I stand for, but it has put into perspective many of life’s everyday challenges. If I’m late to work...well it’s not as bad as being stuck in a white-out for two weeks!If I’m feeling a bit tired..it’s doesn’t compare to Day Eighty-nine of an expedition! If the car’s broken down...I’d prefer that to our ski pole breaking in Antarctica!

By getting out and pushing yourself toward the realization of your goal it helps de-stress normal life challenges by putting them into perspective. One of the most liberating feelings that adventure has gifted me with is finding out that I can achieve more & endure more than I could possibly imagine. Once you’ve run your first marathon, a 15km run just doesn’t quite seem as tough!

RESPONSIBILITYThink of the last time you failed to achieve a goal.

Did you try and dilute the responsibility by blaming it on someone else?

lesson 7 :TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONSOur ninety days in Antarctica forced us to accept responsibility for our actions. This is one of the things we love about adventure – you are ultimately responsible for your own safety and survival. In today’s western society, we are becoming more and more risk averse and we often outsource responsibility (and try and blame others when things go wrong). Risk cannot be eliminated but can be managed. Accepting responsibility for whatever will come your way, empowers you to address risks and challenges you may face in achieving your goal. Australia has become one of the most litigious countries in the world and our experience in Antarctica taught us there is something incredibly liberating about accepting responsibility for the good and the bad. Antarctica taught Scott the same lesson:

We took risks, we knew we took them, things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint.

Sure, we had a great team from all over the world that were instrumental in puttingour bid together. But as soon as we hit the ice in Antarctica, if something went wrong it was not their fault but ours. The responsibility either came down to a fault in our leadership or a lack of proper understanding regarding a particular facet of the journey. Taking ownership of a problem expedited the path to finding a solution.

T.I.A.Examine the repercussions of some of the decisions you have made in the last 24hours.

Did you press snooze on the alarm for an extra 30mins kip? Watched 1hour of TV each weeknight?

Extrapolate these decisions out over a full year and see the amount of time that could have been spent on something else.

lesson 8 :T.I.A. (THIS IS ANTARCTICA)Antarctica drummed into me Newton’s second law of motion: ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’ – or in expedition terms, every decision has a repercussion: in Antarctica we dubbed it T.I.A. For instance, when we layered more clothingon our legs to minimize the severity of frostbite on our thighs, we overheated causing severe skininfections to pop up. In our lives back home there are also ripples from our actions, but often these are muted due to the advanced nature of our society. Antarctica taught us to be more aware of the consequences of our choices and actions - to tune in.

COMMITMENT

TEAMS follow a leader who is 100% committed & passionate.

I often get asked how we formed world class team of experts across the globe? When we first started assembling our team of experts to design & construct our kayak to cross the Tasman Sea in 2005, we found it hard take ownership of the project as people constantly scoffed that it was impossible and that we’d kill ourselves. ONLY when we showed 100% conviction and commitment to the project did stakeholders begin to take us seriously. If you don’t 100% believe in your goal, what chance have others got of following you?!

BE 100% COMMITTED

Think of a time you’ve followed a leader through a challenging time. Did their passion & enthusiasm make a difference to your commitment and resolve in the outcome?

lesson 9 :

lesson 10 :ADVENTURE IS RELATIVE

You don’t have to paddle across an ocean, climb Ever-est or take a stroll to the South Pole. Adventure is a way of life no matter the destination. You can make it happenanywhere, and at anytime. It’s an attitude toward living where objectives (relative to your life’s experiences) are tackled through responsible risk taking. This attitude can be applied to all facets of life. Remember, no one can tell you what your adventure is going to be.

What are you waiting for?

List one skill you possess or activity that you undertake or that you consider “safe” and others perceive you as crazy? Adventure is relative!

RELATIVITY

BACK TO BASICS

Adventure is an activity with an unknown outcome. Unfortunately that means things won’t always go as planned (or hoped) and inevitably challenges will be faced. On both the Tasman and in Antarctica, we found ourselves horribly behind schedule with the chance of success almost hopeless. During these critical times on our expedition we found ourselves “decluttering” our day and invested every second of each day on the core set of tasks that kept us moving forward. Updating blogs, doing media interviews, taking photos all went out the window as we focused every ounce of energy into getting back to basics.

lesson 11 :BACK TO BASICS

During your workday, list out all the tasks, meetings and time wasters that aren’t’ critical in driving your performance forward.If you cut these out of your day, what would be the repercussions?Could you get more value adding work done?

TEAMWORK

lesson 12 :COMPETITION CAN BE TRANSCENDED

Aleks Gamme’s generous act showed us that competition can be transcended and a much higher level of self-fulfillment (and respect) can be achieved when the prize is not winning or beating one another. Everything we do in life is competitive – our careers, our partners, where we live, how we live – it is often dictated by the inbuilt human mechanism to ‘one-up’ each other. Skiing into Hercules Inlet alongside Aleks was an infinitely richer finale to our adventure than if we’d ‘beaten’ him, and in hindsight we’d like to think we also would have waited for Aleks. Through his kindness, Aleks not only taught us what adventure is all about but, more importantly, what life is all about. It has little to do with self-gratification and accolades, and more to do with the power of sharing life’s little victories and experiences with others.

Who is someone you are constantly competing against? How could you work with them (rather than against them) to achieve a more desirable outcome?

www.justinjonesy.comHAPPY ADVENTURINGI hope you’ve found the above info helpful & insightful. I’d love to hear what you’ve come up with. Feel free to send me an email on justin@justinjonesy.com

JUSTINJONESY.COM