The most accomplished person I know. There is no one else like him. Standing in front if me is Johan Ernst Nilson, Environmental Explorer.
During his hour long talk he went on about how he started on his first expedition. It began when a friend made a bet with him that he couldn’t get from Sweden to the Sahara on a bike. Determined not to lose this bet, he quit his job the same night, bought a bike the next morning and started riding. He didn’t have any biking experience nor training prior to this. He just went out rode across Sweden, 7500km to Sahara.
Every time there’s an uphill, he kept himself motivated by thinking, “After this uphill, I’ll be going downhill soon”. So when life throws you rain, remember there’s always sunshine after. Golden words to keep in mind.
After this more adventures followed. Another bet was made that he couldn’t kayak from Sweden to Africa. So be built a kayak, and did it. On this trip he conquered fears of being eaten by sharks, and through sheer determination hauled his 120kg kayak 5 hours up a swampy hill after he ran out of rivers to paddle though.
He had quite the media following after his kayak expedition. So people were asking if he was going to do it all, land, sea and air. And he did. He combined a hand glider, rubber dingy and motor, flew his way across Germany. It was literally a flying boat, this was how it looked like. On this journey he was so afraid of people messing with his craft. I mean, who wouldn’t? Not everyday you see a flying rubber boat land on a beach. Because when you’re 2000ft above ground, as he puts it, “there’s no room for oops”.
Following this he went on over 28 expeditions, climbing all seven summits, Everest being the most amazing of stories. In his talk he shared with us all the experiences and things he learnt along the way.
How he kept himself motivated on the mountains, after eating 3 months of dried food, and later spending another 3 months in a wheelchair. He talked about the incredible power of positive thinking. The difference between thinking “It won’t happen” to “It could happen” to “It will happen”. He also talked about finding the right people in our quests and finding your ‘personal everest’ in life to climb. Before this he was just another somebody until a bet was made, and he found his calling in life.
There were so many takeaways in this talk, everyone was positively motivated.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. – Buddha
wa!!!
If you’re into Budhha check out…
http://www.onemanga.com/Saint_Young_Men/
Wah..!! The quote is a good one too
Winz.