12 lessons
ADVENTURE
has taught us
lesson 1 :
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.
DREAM BIG
How much time do you give yourself to dream and reflect?
What do you dream about?
What really excites you?
lesson 2 :
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 and
obstacles preventing you from achieving your goal?
SET YOUR GOAL
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 sticking 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 optionyou 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.
TENACITY
Think of a time when you achieved a big goal.
How would you have felt different if you had not stuck with it?
lesson 4 :
90% PLANNING 10% EXECUTION
Yes, it’s true. Cas 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 our attitude toward adventure. However, the same can also be said
on our approach toward business, investments… or just a weekend bush walk.
PLANNING
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?
lesson 5 :
LUCK FAVOURS THOSE WHO RISK
Without the excitement of the unknown,
we 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.
RISK
Do you consider yourself a risk taker or risk adverse?
Can you believe that C&J are risk adverse?!
lesson 6 :
STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Stepping out of your comfort zone gives PERSPECTIVE.
Antarctica hasn’t radically changed who we are or what we stand for, but it has put
into perspective many of life’s everyday challenges.
If we’re late to work...well it’s not as bad as being stuck in a white-out for two weeks!
If we’re feeling a bit tired..it’s doesn’t compare to Day Eighty-nine of an expedition!
If the car’s broken down...we’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 us with is finding out that we can achieve
more & endure more than we could possibly imagine. Once you’ve run your first
marathon, a 15km run just doesn’t quite seem as tough!
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?
PERSPECTIVE
lesson 7 :
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS
Our 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 putting
our 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.
Think of the last time you failed to achieve a goal.
Did you try and dilute the responsibility by blaming it on someone else?
RESPONSIBILITY
lesson 8 :
T.I.A. (THIS IS ANTARCTICA)
Antarctica drummed into us 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 clothing
on our legs to minimize the severity of frostbite
on our thighs, we overheated causing severe skin
infections 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.
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 9 :
BE 100% COMMITTED
TEAMS follow a leader who is 100% committed & passionate.
We 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?!
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?
COMMITMENT
lesson 10 :
ADVENTURE IS RELATIVE
You don’t have to paddle across an ocean, climb Everest or take a stroll to the South Pole. Adventure is a way
of life no matter the destination. You can make it happen
anywhere, 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
lesson 11 :
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.
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?
BACK TO BASICS
lesson 12 :
COMPETITION CAN BE TRANSCENDED
Aleks Gamme’s generous act showed us that competition can be transcended and a much higher level of selffulfillment (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?
TEAMWORK
www.casandjonesy.com.au
HAPPY ADVENTURING
We hope you’ve found the above info helpful & insightful.
We’d love to hear what you’ve come up with.
Jump on our Cas and Jonesy Facebook page and send us a message!
CASANDJONESY.COM.AU