Being 41 years of age, I started to take stock that I am nearly half way through my projected life. I decided that I don’t want to be the guy in the nursing home, talking about stuff that I was ‘gonna’ do, I was gonna do this or gonna do that! That was the initial force for me to want to make the change and take on this program for myself. Signing up for the Success Coaching program was to support me in starting to tick off things on my list of things that I wanted to achieve and do. I wasn’t just ‘gonna’ be talking about it - I wanted to be the guy who talked about it and could hold my head high because I had actually done it!
My first goal was to take on the Kokoda Track in PNG, and for the last 12months I have been doing lots of running and training to prepare, and I am now booked in to take on the Kokoda Trek in April this year, which will finish up with the ANZAC memorial over there which is going to be pretty special. I can’t wait for that!
What’s been your greatest change since signing up?
There’s been a few changes, the most significant would have to be my fitness level. When I first started this I couldn't run to the end of the street and now I have completed the Blackall 100, the Gold Coast Kokoda 96km event, and I have a few more big trail events to do which is exciting!
The other notable change is my mindset. Having a positive mindset helps with the training, it helps when you’re in the dark hours of your trail run and you want to throw the towel in - a positive mindset helps you to keep on going and makes you realise why you are doing what you are doing. Being able to overcome and not have the negative thoughts and the ‘stinking thinking’ and just focusing on the positive certainly makes your day, and everyone else’s day around you a lot better.
Would I recommend the Success Coaching Program?
Of course I would, it’s been Awesome - to be honest I wish it wasn’t ending so soon. I highly recommend it, and have recommended it to people and I know of someone who has jumped on board based on that which is pretty cool! If what I have done and what I have achieved inspires others to make a change for themselves for the better, then I feel it’s all been worthwhile and makes it even more special.
>> You can follow Ben’s Kokoda Trek journey in April via the Jamie Milne Training Facebook and Instagram pages. To find our more about our success program program, visit here.