Overcoming the Odds to Build a Life of Success - Michael Wakeman

In this inspiring episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, hosts Jam and Dylan Pathirana sit down with Michael Wakeman, an entrepreneur and athlete, to explore his incredible journey of resilience and personal growth. After a life-altering accident where doctors said he would never walk again, Michael defied the odds to become an accomplished endurance athlete and a motivational force for others.

Michael reflects on the values instilled by his hardworking parents, the power of community support, and how he navigated the challenges of recovery, education, and career decisions. The conversation delves into the mindset required to overcome obstacles, the importance of relationships, and the exercises he uses to define personal success.

Michael also shares his evolving perspective on success, emphasising the courage to embrace challenges and the importance of stepping out of comfort zones. With a vision to inspire others, he discusses his aspirations for motivational speaking and creating a movement to empower individuals to achieve their potential.

Tune in to hear Michael’s remarkable story of resilience and learn how to redefine success on your own terms.

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Transcript

Dylan Pathirana (00:00.302)
All right. Welcome back to the quest for success podcast. And thanks so much for tuning in once again. I know I say it every week, but I'm actually really, really looking forward to today's conversation because not only do we have a good friend on the show, but I think he offers a bit of a different perspective to the people that have been speaking to recently. He's an entrepreneur in his own right, but I think he offers a lot more and comes from a different perspective. So today we have on.

Mr. Michael Wakeman, Mika, thanks for joining us. No, thank you guys for having me. It's exciting. And once again, stepping out of my comfort zone to be here. So it's a good opportunity. Absolutely. And I was reflecting on, when I first came, came across you and it was actually when I was down at Snowy, we worked together a little bit and I was trying to think when it was, we exactly cross paths and I was, I was training for the marathon at the time and everyone was like talking about,

There's this guy, Michael Wakeman. He's a bit of a, a bit of an athlete. say, all right, all right. Sydney marathon rolls around. We didn't actually cross paths, but I remember I was following you on Strava at the time, which is like the Instagram for running basically. And a marathon's 42 Ks, but you posted a Strava of 58 or something like that. I was like, man, what is this guy doing? So I read into it a little bit and you'd done it with a few mates who like had to drop out.

part way because of injury and whatever. And so you not only crossed the finish line after 42 Ks, you went back to make up the kilometers that they'd missed. And I was like, man, this guy is just built differently. Not necessarily that they missed, it's just that they dropped off the pace and then, and I just gone back to sort of help them get through it because they were starting to fight their own battles. And, I was training for a much bigger event. So it's just like, okay, well, this is another training run out for me. and then one of my mates,

The last person I went back for, this was the first time he's ever ran a marathon. And to be honest, I think it was the first time he'd ever ran further than a half marathon, but a bed at work got him to sign up the day before or a week before, And I gave him a lot of guidance about how to pace himself and get through it. And to him, I did say I would go back and get him to the end as well. So by the time that I'd crossed the finish line already twice, I crossed the finish line the second time already.

Dylan Pathirana (02:21.294)
I was quite done and disappointed that I had to go back again, but I've made that commitment to him. yeah, when I saw that fella, he was straight legged, and very struggling with about 10 or 12 Ks to go after me going back and getting it. so, he managed to get moving and, loosen up a bit when I did pick him up and just say, look, mate, you got to force it through. hurts temporarily, but once you try and

get the range of motion back in your legs, you will start moving again. as sure enough he did. And he got to the finish line as well for his first marathon. Again, world of pain, but he took on the advice that I'd given him around guy nutrition and all that. And yeah, it was an awesome day. And it's funny. I didn't expect you to talk about that show off the back. But yeah, I guess that's a good segue. I do love the running space and it's not just about time. It's about helping other people to accomplish what they didn't know was possible as well. think that's a perfect glimpse into.

who Mika is just right there, know, a man of his word, Absolute Battler as well. So definitely excited to kind of dive into that a little bit more. But I know you've listened to a few of these episodes. So I want to start us off. Can you tell us what success means to you? So that is a very loaded question for me, given that I have, I'm an avid listener of the quest for success and I feel every episode.

that I have listened to, it gets me thinking about how that translates into my understanding of success and how it is like an ever-changing concept. this is gonna take a bit of time to get through. And I've asked you guys to have a notebook on you, because it is gonna be a bit of an exercise that I've come across. And I think it sort of puts it into a good perspective of success. But to start it out, my initial thought process on success a year ago,

would have been the typical career driven, end up in a leadership role, have a good financial position with good high paying role, essentially. And again, in recent months, in the last 12 months, I'd say that has changed significantly. And to answer the question after that, I would say I'm successful in my own understanding and...

Dylan Pathirana (04:39.064)
This will sort of put into perspective as why I think that, and this exercise has really helped me put into perspective into communicate why I think this. So this exercise has sort of got communicated. I've come across it through the better today, which is a good mate of mine, Ty Leonard's mental health. He advocates for it. And he sort of tried to identify when people get overstressed in everyday situations of life in their life.

It's sort of recognizing that a lot of things they're not important to you. So then why do you get stressed about them? And so this exercise is simply, about the what's important to you. And therefore it's described as, the lane of importance. So what I want you guys to do if you scan is just punch down three or four things that is important to you guys on the paper. Sure. This is the first, yeah, we're doing exercise. Yeah. Quest for success.

Dylan Pathirana (05:40.13)
Typically they do ask people to do about five, just for the, conserve, conserve time, essentially, just go three and these will be pretty common high level across most people, but, I keep mine very high level cause I think it, it's just a good way to, cover everything, all aspects of your life. but ultimately, so what did you guys put? You want to go first? Yeah, I put family fulfillment and impact. Yeah. Cool. So I put.

Freedom, family and community. Yeah, cool. So again, very similar there and they're going to be very similar to mine. So if I can speak more to mine, I'd say I've got four that are very important, very high level. First one being relationships that encompasses family, friends, my partner, and then also further down to genuine connections with people that I interact with every day.

and I, I've recently just sort of added it in because, having worked in the corporate scene, I feel like there is opportunity for connections, but they're not genuine and they're usually self driven or, just, in an essence, words without actions or anything like that. They're not genuine empty. that's a big part of relationships for me. And then separately, I've got growth, which would be that I am forever wanting to improve, learn, step out of my comfort zone and.

I enjoy experiences. and yeah, grow, not physically. know that limits there. the other one would be health. So both mental and physical, and then finally, impact same as still in there in the end as well. in that I want to, be having impact. And so that's the lane of importance. And basically I see that as that if in those areas of my area of importance, as long as I'm doing well, I would see myself as successful.

but again, how more recently given that, me and Dylan have been talking about me coming to show for a while. I've started thinking about it again. And, in more recent months, I would say some of these areas of my life, they're important to me, lacking, and not going as well as I would like them or hope them to be. So then it sort of told me it's like taking me to have a step back and go, okay, but does that mean that I now need to reevaluate if I'm successful or not? And no, I still think high level I am successful.

Dylan Pathirana (08:03.786)
Even though these areas in my life are lacking. that's where I've then had to reevaluate my thought process here. and that's where I come back onto it's then, with these, this lane of importance, for me to be successful, it's that, you can't be good at all of these aspects in your, in your lane of importance. So then it's also then, am I willing to continue to work at them and, be hopeful that they're going to improve and wants to keep improving them. And I would say if, if not, then.

realistically, I've lost the drive, I've lost the motivation and therefore I'm not successful, which is not the case. These things have been sort of not the best in recent years, recent months, whether it's like the family relationships or family health and all my own health with injuries and stuff like that, or like finance as well. should say finances is on there for me, financial situation, but it's probably least and last, not major, but it also influences the ability to do everything else.

that one also now being, self-employed and going out on my own is obviously not the best either. it's one of those things that I'm still motivated. I'm still working on it. So therefore I still think it is successful. and I think that's a really important exercise too, to recognize what is important to you. And then anything outside of that, that has issues going on, you shouldn't be stressed about it and don't worry about it to the same extreme that you would for your things. it's more about as long as you're moving towards those targets.

Yeah. And improving them because they're not always going to be great because to be simple, simply if people have health on there, we're going to die at some point. you can say I'm successful up until I start going to deteriorating and die. So, it's then where I've managed to identify that in my theory and concept and then say, well, it's okay, but I am aging. My health is deteriorating, but how am I managing that? And how am I going to improve it? Whether that's strength resistance as you get older or, yeah, just overcoming those.

challenges of life and continuing to have hope and drive to do that rather than just giving up. Mika, you by trade, are you an engineer? No, no, I'm an accountant. Okay, that's surprising because I thought you're very process driven and you thought about it like, know, by the way, I don't really know much about you and Dylan only told me he's got a good mate, work with him at Snowy. He's a secret weapon. So tell me a bit more about you.

Dylan Pathirana (10:26.574)
Please. So yeah, I'm an accountant. I have a of an audit, audit a background at the big four accounting firms. So that's probably where it does come to process driven drilling into the process, analyzing and understanding it. then evaluating whether it is successful meeting what the objectives are of it, I guess. And again, talking about this sort of stuff probably interrelates with that. Prior to that, I actually grew up on a farm.

which was an awesome childhood. And then, then at very risk taking behaviors. but when I was 13, I crashed a Billy cart into a parked car and, broke my back and was told that I'd never walk again. So, yeah. Yeah. I was, I did appear on a podcast at the end of last year, started this year, I think it was, and I went into quite a bit of detail around that and opened up on a bit on it. Cause,

It is one of those things that, does give people a lot of inspiration, but I wouldn't say it's something I would normally open up a lot about. a lot of people don't actually always know about it with me until, there are probing questions or someone else brings it up and then they start asking. So that's, that's definitely the bucket that I fall into. Like I remember seeing and hearing about the like incredible feats. Can you just list off some of the big, like, athletic accomplishments that you have? yeah. So,

I started out doing park run five Ks. and I say that because I'm starting eggs. I just want to show that is a pathway into doing them. didn't just get to the, some of these longer ultra endurance feats, but, I was started out in park run, really enjoyed it. got sick of chasing that PB and started doing a bit slower and then wanted to put my, hand in the ring for a half marathon. And then that progress into a marathon. And then from there, having, having learned the ability to run and overcome my,

thought process that running anything further than five K's, you have to be a psychopath. But I've overcome that. And then I got wind that Ironman's an incredible experience to have finished in your life, to do one and crossing that finish line is an incredible experience. I had already thought, well, I've learned to run much further and expand, I'll be able to overcome that sort of mental limitation there. So not growing up being much of a swimmer. So I was like, okay, that's the hardest thing to overcome, but I can do it.

Dylan Pathirana (12:53.014)
same way as I've gotten into running. So sign up to the Ironman before even doing any triathlons. Did that injured after a number of years because of COVID and all that. then that's having enjoyed that towards the end of it, because my injury did limit me during it. But got to the end of it and it was an incredible experience. And that led me into wanting to do the Ultraman, which is again another longer.

triathlon, it covers three days and I to give it in sex, not everyone knows Ironman and Ultraman. The Ironman is a 3.8 K swim 180 K bike ride and 42 run all in one day sort of thing. 17 hours cutoff, which I think just to add a comment there. I think a lot of people can achieve if they separate from a time goal. 17 hours is so realistic. When I was there, I walked for the most part of the marathon with my injury.

And came in around hours and a 74 year old finished it within the 17 hours. That means race as well. Yeah. but then the Ultraman that I followed into was, 10 K swim, 140 K bike ride on the first day with a 12 hour cutoff each day. the second day was to 80 K bike ride. And the third day was 84 K run, which again, awesome experience. I was injured. So it was more about,

just enjoying it, getting to the finish line. And the most rewarding part of that was that my support crew there, they support you throughout the whole race. They're not just spectators. And that was just incredibly rewarding for the people that are supporting me. And they, I honestly feel like they took more away from it than I did because I was just ticking away, exercising, had the easy job, actually had the hard job and looked after me so well. And since then I've just focused more on the running aspects.

And I've the Cozy Mylar, which is a hundred miles around the snowy mountains. And then more recently, Dead Cow Gully Backyard Ultra, which I did 24 hours. I did have some niggles coming up, but ultimately I did choose to finish at 24 hours as I was pretty happy with that. And I didn't want to break myself at that point in time with injuries or anything like that, as I could feel the niggles coming on, which...

Dylan Pathirana (15:18.04)
Just for those that aren't aware to the backyard ultra and 24 hours, that means, every hour on the hour you run 6.7 Ks and you got to be finishing that loop before the hour ends and then be ready to go 24 hours. So that equated to again, another hundred miles, but within 24 hours and the previous hundred miles that I'd done that was with much more elevation, but I'd done that in 33 hours. So big time difference there by the second one.

No elevation. but yeah, and again, I did 24 hours, but I dropped out at around, 20, 20 odd people left. And then another 10 went on to do 30 plus hours. And then the winner of that race at that Calgully did 69 hours. So, yeah, they do some ridiculous distance in it. And, I will return to that format, in the coming years, but.

Yeah, it's just one of those things that you like to test yourself and test your limits. Yeah. And it's like one of those things, because I remember hearing about some of those like crazy races that you've done. And then when I learned about, you know, the, your story and kind of the accident and the progression from that, like I already had respect for what you'd done. And then like, after learning about that, I was like, damn, this guy has like gone through absolute trauma and then come through the other side, just like.

Yeah, do you think like that accident is the reason that you trying to push yourself into doing all these things?

Not necessarily. It's two part. And I actually realized I didn't give a shout out, but I will give the shout out to that podcast that did go on. It's a good friend of mine, Thunder podcast, Thunder without the E. It's just Thunder with R on the end. We go into detail around it, but ultimately with me being told I'd never walk again to tell the story high level.

Dylan Pathirana (17:16.91)
they obviously placed the limitations on me at a point in time that never walk again. And as a 13 year old, I always had a positive mindset. And I being in the children's hospital, I saw a lot of people that didn't have as good pro pro nurses as that. they, some people, kids were in there to die essentially. And I just simply at this stage might be out on a wheelchair, which my first thought process was that I'm kind of athletic. could go into the Paralympics or something and I've got a somewhat of a starting base. That's a good edge.

so it's just that positive mind look and my mother being a physio therapist and, a lot of things did work my favor in that situation too. But, my mother who's a physio and then the support of my, father and other siblings, really got me back moving and, progressing a lot better than any of the doctors had anticipated. And I haven't made a proper full recovery. as I do still experience numbness in the left quad and foot drop in the right.

foot so I can't pull it all the way up. which if you pay attention, I have a little bit of a different walking, gate or gateway or mechanism. And then separately I do run a little bit different. big muscle imbalances, which is sort of influence the injury that I have now. but yeah, so back to that when I was 13, I did have a lot of limitations placed on me, but continued to just reassess that each day, each month, each week of where those limitations would actually put me in. Ultimately,

it was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Then it might be, I might be able to walk with assisted frames or walking sticks and all that. And then next it was, okay, you'll be fine to walk without any assistance. And then it was like, okay, you can return to sport, but you have to be mindful of your back. So it was never like footy or anything like that. And you have to sort of go for a career that isn't going to be labor intensive. So you got to get an office job, which is then I was like,

I'm going to university, I guess. I don't know what I want to do. Still don't know what I want to do. But at that point I was like, okay, I to go to university. but that's where I guess I really let the limitation sink in onto, yeah, this is my back injury. Now I've got to prepare for the rest of my life because at some point in time it is going to come back and haunt me even though I have made such a good recovery when I was younger.

Dylan Pathirana (19:39.542)
So yeah, it wasn't until I started running the park run and actually realising how much my back aches and back soreness that I was experiencing through uni and nothing serious or constant. It's just on the occasion, bit of back soreness and aching when doing stuff or I'm spending too long in bed, like watching movies and then sleeping and all that sort of stuff. So once I started running, I started noticing that occurring less and ultimately just feeling better both physically and then also mentally.

And not that I've had any mental issues, but it was just one of those things that you're just more confident.

Dylan Pathirana (20:33.784)
So yeah, it then transitioned into really enjoying my running and increasing those running distances and thinking, okay, well, actually I'm feeling a lot better. And one of the limitations on me was that I shouldn't do long distance running or anything like that, because that would have the impact and compounding effect on your back typically isn't good over the longer term. But I think it's like going over a lot of the years very quickly.

There was a stage here where I did get a bit of soreness back there from like an injury or something like that, where I was working on the property and I booked in to see a neurosurgeon and they looked at my back and gave me a bit of an assessment, said, yeah, nothing too serious at the moment, it's just muscular. And then I questioned him, it's like, okay, well, look, I've been running a lot, I have goals of doing an Ironman. Can you give me bit of feedback how that's gonna look like? I not necessarily go ahead with this or should I? And I hadn't run a marathon at this stage.

Should I not be doing this? And he then question like, how's it been while going through this and how's it been impacting your life? And I said, honestly, I feel a lot stronger, a lot better, a lot healthier. And then put it simply quality of life is better. And he basically then comes to the conclusion like, well, look, if your quality of life is better now, we don't, have no certainty of what it's like going to be down the track with your back. Cause it's so unique. We can't say that this is going to happen down the track with it. Because again, you shouldn't have been walking anyway with how much of a mess it is or was.

So, when I spoke to him, the limitations were off again and I was like, okay. Wow. So I can do an Ironman and if I enjoy it, doesn't actually have to stop there either. I can continue, testing my limits and seeing where, where it can go. So. Yeah. I wouldn't say the idea of doing these things came from me baking, breaking my back. but it's, as it limited me for a period of time, but, yeah, it's, it's a story that when I do share it, it.

inspires people. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're kind of pushing boundaries, right? Pretty much people set you, okay, limitations and you wanted to prove that I can do better. Yeah. I can, I can, I'm not limited to that. So that's a, it's a really inspiration story. But can you remember, is that okay if you talk about the incident? you, can you, mean, 13 year old, that's how many years back? you know.

Dylan Pathirana (22:56.557)
17 going on 17 years 17 years ago. you remember the incident? What exactly happened? Yeah, I can vividly remember that the month after not so much, just with how much medications you're on post-surgery and not moving. But the incident itself, I was in Sydney at a visiting a friend's place that just moved there. And we found a Billy cart back in the car in the back of their backyard that they just they just moved there very recently.

stuff left over there essentially. we, their parents went home. We thought, let's take this Billy card out for a ride on the streets. Went around the block, found a quiet hill, a quiet street on the very steep hill and did it once. And it was awesome. Very fun. and this Billy card actually is, just very, old style and not the most, yeah, yeah, safe, guess. so it took a pain to picture it,

was three planks of wood, one, the main plot one that you sit on essentially, and then two axles front and back and the back one fixed with the front one really. Yeah. Yeah. Just with a nut through the rope for the steering and like one of those school plastic chairs. So on the second time I'd accidentally been a little bit to the left of the road. Yeah. And so when I was going down, I was like, I probably should go a bit to the center of the road to stay away from the sides and the cars on the side. So when I went to turn right,

Instead of it just veering a little bit, right. The whole front mechanism just slid around and locked up both like straight on each other, two bits of wood and then spun around, started going down backwards and like went over the other side of the road with my back first and then hit a park car on the other side. So, Yeah. And hit your back or yeah. So hit my back and it snapped the chair and everything like that. that I'll see you just like sitting on. I did like manage to get off.

the Billy cart onto my knees. And then I think I sort of just laid down, but thankfully enough, again, very lucky in my favor for this accident was that there was impact like noise of impact or I may have screamed when I hit the car and there was some neighbors just around the corner or down the road that had just got home from holidays. Like still unpacking the car heard me. They came running over, I asked what happened. And obviously I've alluded to like my back, like it's, it's just uncomfortable now and I'm

Dylan Pathirana (25:21.842)
not moving, but they've obviously pulled my shirt up and said, Yep, don't move, seen a massive lump. And because of that, that no movement at all really aided when the ambulance got there. And then I got airlifted to hospital. But I do remember very well vividly that I was asking like, I'm so uncomfortable. Can I please move like, no, no, just stay still. It sucks. But yeah, and it hadn't occurred to me that I hadn't had didn't have movement to my legs. But it was just that

I was experiencing the discomfort in my back. You could feel the legs or you didn't? just didn't even acknowledge that. Again, I couldn't feel them, I guess. That's why I acknowledge that. I couldn't move them or anything like that. I guess, and again, in shock, I didn't have pain in the back, like massive pain. was just discomfort. And didn't want, I'm sorry, the people telling me they just like don't move and sort of took the attention away that I couldn't.

move, I couldn't move my legs. was just that, don't move. I was, but you were conscious. Up until I got the green whistle from the ambulance and then went unconscious and then I got airlifted and then woke up after surgery. Wow. And yeah. So you're, so you wake up after surgery. Who's around you? That I don't remember so much because I am under a lot of medication and for the first

two, three weeks, you're just lying there still in your back, not moving. But my mum does love to tell the story that the first thing I did ask after coming out of surgery was that I guess I be playing soccer for a while. And she's obviously already been told that I would never walk again. So she's then tried to break that to a young 13 year old that how did she say that to you? Something along the lines of like, we'll get not from my experience from her perspective, just along the lines that we'll

across that bridge when we get to it for the time being, that's not the main thing to worry about. Like hopefully one day, yeah, but yeah. And my mom, not having experience in spinal injuries at the time, she is involved in rehab quite significantly. So she's always of the understanding that people do get better. She wasn't fully across spinal injuries, but she still was like, we'll try and rehab and get you back somewhat or we'll work it out sort of thing.

Dylan Pathirana (27:41.362)
And looking back on that experience, do you think it made you kind of grow up faster? not necessarily, cause I was still quite a bit of a menace, throughout that process. and then of course, if you speak to my partner, Amelia, she will also elude that I'm still very much a child. so I don't think, I necessarily grew up faster. I think it's just that it reinforced.

positive mindset and, and I guess, somewhat I felt guilty in that essence while I was there in the sense that, it was my own fault. wasn't necessarily a freak accident. I was writing a billy card of my own choice and did crash it. yeah, so it was, sorry. The question there was, if I grew up quicker, but I'm just trying to think, and I guess being on the farm too, you're always thrown in those situations where you have to think.

and respond to things going wrong. So this was something that went wrong because of my own actions. and then yeah, had to just live with those, live with the consequences of it and work out the best, process going forwards and how to accommodate it. So, yeah. So Mika, I want to, I'm really fascinated about this story because it's never happened to, mean, we had small injuries, but nothing like this, you know, I just really trying to understand because I've got a friend going through a similar

kind of injury and, yeah, we want to get him on, on our podcast one day. it's an amazing person. I just want to know when you, when you start like, you know, conscious and start thinking. What were you thinking? Like, you know, I mean, obviously you, you knew what's the situation, right? aware. Yeah. So I guess as a 13 year old.

still I was very positive seeing the outlook of other people there, that I still had some life to live. and I don't even know why I said some, then I'd still had a life to live, whether it was in a wheelchair or whatever, like there are opportunities to pursue sporting wise or still do, anything, with the universe or anything like that. So I wasn't stressing that essence, but another thing that assisted that mindset would have been that, I was making little improvements every day and straight off the bat when they said you'd never walk again.

Dylan Pathirana (30:06.242)
and it wasn't like I had movement in the legs from day dot. had flickers in my muscles, which was promising, but again, it's still not movement. then over the matter of the first couple of weeks and also, sorry, I also didn't have control of my bowel or bladder. which again, over time I regained that as well. So it was constantly that, okay, this isn't as bad as it was initially diagnosed and the prognosis is improving. So it was constant. Okay. Well,

Ultimately, my life continues to look better on the long, long term. So, yeah, it was always promising essentially. the question that I really wanted to understand, like the situation when you really heard that, are you not gonna walk again? Right. At some point someone say that, right. How did you like, you know, overcome that? Yeah, I haven't really got much to add to that other than what I've said. It's just that I just recognise that,

You can't just accept that, Yeah. Yeah. Well, I could have any more words. So it's just one of those things that I recognise that I was still better off than some people around me. And it's amazing for 13 year old year old to think that way. Right. Well, you think you were kind of ignorant, like, you know, at that time, I'm not ignorant, but I guess to elaborate a bit more on the childhood growing up, we grew up on a farm that was initially buses.

and I think there was running water, but our shower essentially was a hot water urn that we'd fill up and let that heat and then that would be a So, my mom was big on horses, 70 old horses or something like that. I mean, if they had it got rid of that, we probably lived in a house, but the goal was live on property with horses. So that eventually into two buses connected by a building in the middle. that yeah, it may have had a tap, but no necessarily running water for, a shower or.

actual flushing toilets, had a portal is essentially so it was a way of, I guess, living on a farm enjoying that lifestyle. And this is just, I don't have a lot of memories of that. That's when I was still a toddler. But my childhood after that was then we lived on another farm with 30 acres and a double story house, which is much better than I would view some other people as well. But again, we started from somewhere that was very low socio economic, I would say in the living style, the property itself still very good, but

Dylan Pathirana (32:32.428)
Yeah. So I think having no identified that I still had it better off than a lot of people. then even with this diagnosis, I was still very quick to process that it's a fault of my own actions. And I'm still not that worse. could, yes, my life's changed, but I can still do a lot of things. and I'll make the most of it to the best I can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, I imagine that time for, your mom, especially must've been pretty tough. Yeah. Especially as a physiotherapist. and.

I don't want to just, cause I know in the last podcast, I spoke a lot about the things that my mum and dad did for me throughout this process. But then also my siblings as well that I didn't, I failed to give too much attention to, but they were also there in the hospital with me on a lot of occasions. My youngest sister as well, who on holidays was there staying at the hospital too in separate room. But yeah, the mother herself, like I said, dad worked in Sydney and he'd spend the odd night there with me, but

the mum being a physio therapist, she would travel from the central coast, Tukli, all the way to Westmead Children's Hospital each afternoon, do a number of hours of rehab with me in the afternoon, and then travel back to Tukli in the morning. And it's not like she's getting a great sleep. She's sleeping in that bedside chair, bed, sorry, that bedside chair that sort of folds out into a bed but not comfortable. And I guess one thing I know, I'm talking about this positive mindset as well, the whole time that I've got throughout it, or positive attitude and...

still being a bit of a child and playing pranks on my mother at times. But there obviously are those moments where it does weigh on you and take a bit of a toll, which those situations would look like sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night with growing pains where my, I guess my muscles, so over the course of a month when I'm not moving at all initially, I've lost a lot of muscles in my legs as well deteriorating. once I started moving again, I do think that it's genuine growing pains, the muscles coming back.

they would wake me in the middle of the night sometimes and just ache for, half an hour. My mom wakes up to that and gives me massages. Same with my dad on the occasion when he's staying. and then separately there would be nights where I have a dream of I'm out playing sport or running again. And then you wake up and then you're like, that's, that's not the case. I'm still here. So there are those moments. but they were small and insignificant and weren't ever long lasting, guess. So.

Dylan Pathirana (34:55.105)
How did you manage something like that? mean, I'm still like, you know, I can't, yeah. I mean, child's seen a dream, right? Like playing sports and wake up and realize, well, I'm not going to walk again. Yeah. I think it speaks to your kind of mindset and your sheer optimism as well. But I want to, I want to go back to your, your parents, not only through that time, but I think that was a good learning experience. Like are there any...

Any values or any traits that you think you've taken from your parents? so I have alluded to this in the past and I don't go too deep into it, but to say high level, my parents are both very hard working, and somewhat polar opposites. they both have very positive qualities and then also negative qualities as well. but I like to think that growing up with them on the farm, working with them constantly, you get exposed to both the good and the bad.

And thankfully I was able to identify the good and take the good and identify the bad and do the opposite. And still to this day, I say, like both of them are great role models and I wouldn't be who I am today without those influences in my life. So, yeah. And then what was that kind of transition like, like after the accident, you kind of settle back into the swing of things you're slowly recovering. Yeah. So I guess my hospital stint was three months.

And that was, they had, so while I was in the hospital, there was an hour a day with the hospital rehab. Then I'd do a bit of schooling in the hospital, but very lax, not anything serious, not serious education or anything like that. It's just whatever the students are willing to do. And yeah. And then mum would come home and I'll come to the hospital, sorry. And do the hours with me in the night, exercising me, keeping me moving.

and just like sticking over, cause it's just one of those things, use them or lose them essentially. Once I did make some progress and mum decided to take me out of the hospital, check me out. I went to her physio practice and spent every day there and essentially got schooled while working, sorry, while being at her practice every day and doing rehab at her practice. And again, when you're getting home schooled, I say I was taking it too seriously.

Dylan Pathirana (37:18.936)
playing a bit of Runescape. Did you manage to walk that stage or you're on a wheelchair? I walked out of the hospital on crutches. I sat loosely. It's not like I walked from the bedroom. walked, Mum took me in a wheelchair towards close to the exit doors. And that was sort of like a momentum for her to have me walk out on crutches to say that that was the end of that chapter, I guess. And then the next one was to then be in the physio every day working with her sports physio exercise therapist.

then yeah, start returning to school the following semester. and what that looked like, but I did eventually return to school with a collapsible walking stick and sticking my backpack in case I got tired, but ultimately it was fine. And then, so I suppose there's a big jump there, but you know, you, you finish university. What do you do after? Cause I feel like I know I've, I know you for this kind of older period, but I don't really know what happens in the middle.

Yeah. So I guess, to paint a picture and I guess my, visual on how I viewed my life as well. I guess when I went into hospital, I started to view that hospital stage as a chapter of my life. And again, it comes back to stories and perspectives, that is sort of been a theme throughout my more recent years of recognizing that, but, the hospital was a chapter in my life. Then going back to schooling and finishing off school was another chapter. university, another chapter, which,

I didn't have a lot of certainty of what I wanted to do. I was good at numbers. I feel like I never took English seriously and never got the true understanding of how to write an essay. So I was relied on getting someone else's improving theirs. but yeah, so I went to uni, did commerce, just cause I wasn't certain. And I was like, at least that sets me up good to manage my own finances and I can do something else after that and hopefully improve my financial situation and make that better with whatever I want to do afterwards.

And make use of that time rather than just wasting it with not knowing what I want to do. having got to the end of, my commerce degree, it's funny how, I guess I wasn't dedicated to it because someone, that finished this semester for me that went to school with, had alluded to that they got a job at KPMG. I was like, who's that now? Like, how are you this far into your degree? You don't know who KPMG I was like, I've, I've, I don't know you mean.

Dylan Pathirana (39:41.766)
I don't know who they are. That's one of the big four accounting firms and all this other stuff. And you want to get a job there. And I was like, sure, right. And then I started looking for jobs as I was going to my last semester. And I was like, right. I applied for the grad opportunity with multiple big four accounting firms. I got the opportunity to interview in Sydney for EY, was unsuccessful there. But I did get the opportunity to.

go as in go in as an auditor with PWC in Newcastle, which you get confirmation in that prior to the end of your last semester. So I was like, okay, cool. I've got that. but it, for you, myself at uni, I was also working full time at BWS and progressing up through management there as well. So it's just kind of like, I'm not half arcing anything. It's like, if you're doing something, sorry, I was half arcing UD, but I wasn't the direction there, but I was still making use of that time out of side of work, but progressing.

with work as well. not like I'm just working for a job for X amount of dollars an hour. I was wanting to keep that as an opportunity to improve my resume as well. so yeah, uni itself, that life was also a lot about, you go to Newcastle uni? Yep. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That was my first uni. yeah. Cool. very good lifestyle. it. love Newcastle. Yeah. Yeah. and it's one those things that I wouldn't took my studies too seriously. I'd just go in.

the night before the day before it. Yeah. Try and get a full semester's worth of content into my head the day before an exam or the day before an assessment is due. Get it done. Then go on to the next thing and continue working all that sort of stuff. So I wasn't so well as going with it, but I still getting them the marks and making sure that I got the degree because I was still going to be something I can utilize after uni.

And then also still working out through management with BWS and then yeah, got the certainty of the PWC job. Went into that and you paid peanuts for doing a of hours of work, but as an account and you do see that as an investment for the future, both just getting the knowledge and skills, technical skills, and then also the transferable skills to set you up to go into leadership. And at that time to link it back to this.

Dylan Pathirana (42:01.224)
success for me then looked like a leadership role in a large company, or even partner or something like that. shortly after starting at them, you realize that you don't want to be a partner. Their lifestyle is horrible. So it's like, okay, well, want to be a leadership role in another large company. so therefore it still takes leadership skills as well. So you want to develop them. And, yeah, I was in the public accounting space for three years, before transitioning to Snowy.

I know like you mentioned that you kind of were forced into a, an office job, because of the accident. What did young Mika want to do? not even certain that I think like I always sort of was considering physiotherapy from a young age. And I say this as of when I was finishing high school, I was definitely considering physiotherapy and not that I had the marks for it, but I knew there's always pathways. So was going to go into this nursing and then, transfer into physio, but,

from a young age, I'm probably not certain what I wanted to do straight off the bat. Maybe a race car driver. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, I don't know. It's yeah. think, later in the schooling years, I could definitely confirm it was either physio or commerce that I was just tossing up between. again, it still wasn't, I didn't have certainty. was like, mom's a physio. I've got an injury in that. It's not that labor intensive today's world. And so it was commerce. both set me up well. So yeah. Yeah. And I kind of want to.

go back to the running side of things and more like the mentality, because I want to understand like what you've learned throughout all of these like crazy events, because I know even from the marathon, just like those last, like the back half of it, you're just like, so in your own mind and you learn so much. And so I want to know like doing events that are like way bigger than a marathon.

You must get some like big insights into yourself. I'd say for the bigger stuff, it's really just a rollercoaster of emotions, that like, yeah, there's some real dark moments, but there's some real awesome moments. Some of the people you meet, during it. And then also, a big part of the real ultra stuff is that you need support crew. And I know that the impact that me doing that has had on my, both my people, the friends.

Dylan Pathirana (44:27.758)
Sorry, friends and family that have supported me. And then also just my friends in general that, like follow me. And not that I post on social media at all anymore really, but yeah, they're always saying that they'd love to see what I'm doing or they always talk about what I've done and all that. It's just incredible to hear that. So then that gives more motivation and it's more rewarding for doing those sorts of things. And then so many of them as well then go on to say like, yeah, just because I've seen you do that, I've started running.

done a half marathon now. And as you're familiar, I'm not saying it's all because of me, but a lot of people back in Cougar and Snowy Hydro and all that are now doing the 100K this year. % man. No, it's, is a lot because I think it's, you've shown it's possible. You've kind of, you've opened the door and now everyone's like, all right, Mika's done it. So now we've got to follow suit. Yeah. But is that, is that why you do it? It definitely influences the decision.

And no, it's not like, Hey, I'm going to sign up so that I can make heaps of other people sign up. but it's just a flow on effect. Like I want to see if I can do it. And I know, the first time you run a half marathon, there's that flood of emotions and you really enjoy it. And it's like, okay, well, if I can do that, can I do a marathon? And then it just is a ever evolving thing of testing yourself and seeing what you can get overcome. but, then it, the reason that I'd say stepping away from the challenges of ultra endurance,

running itself is just a good way to disconnect from the, everyday life and those things that add stress to your life. And then you can realize and, process that, these things are connected with the things that are important to me. So it doesn't matter. Like these deadlines aren't necessarily real or that stress that I had about going out and getting on a podcast, for an example, like this is out of my comfort zone, but it's like, it doesn't really relate to my things that are important to me. So it doesn't matter if I stuff it, I make a fool of myself.

it's just one of those things that it's good way to process and recognize that it doesn't matter. just give it a crack, how it goes. And, yeah, if things go wrong, it's just that it doesn't matter. Like there's, there's these things that are important to me. And at the end of the day, I've still got them or they're still tracking. Well, I'm still working on them. So, I think one about one of our previous guests framed it pretty well. Wajra, he said, there's the big rocks in the small rocks in life. And you've got to kind of.

Dylan Pathirana (46:53.43)
let go of the small rocks and focus on the big ones. yeah, I really. But, but, but you're always pushing boundaries. that's what I really like about this conversation because, you know, that kid coming from a farm had a major accident, being told that you're gonna never gonna walk. And now you're running, like doing all these marathons and Ironman. I don't know what you call these things, right?

You're going like we, we normal, like we don't even think of doing right. So you love your, out of comfort, comfort, like a zone, right? Yeah, a hundred percent. I, you're not the guy sitting in the comfort zone and okay. Not, not anymore. I'd say for a period of time I was, but I definitely don't now. And I look for opportunities. It comes back to my lane importance of growth and getting out of my comfort zone. and now,

I sort of alluded to it earlier. have gone out on my own and self-employed and I've sort of created my own accounting firm, but that's a way of just keeping financial means for the time being. But the end goal there is to sort of create a brand and sort of create a bit of a movement for people to step out of their comfort zone, which the brand is still very much a concept. So it's still very early days, but I will sort of allude to it. is people in the arena.

And it still sort of derives its inspiration from the man in the arena quote or speech by Theodore Roosevelt. And we just transitioned quite a lot what we talking about. But yeah, this is a big area that I'm stepping in my comfort zone and I want to go into a bit more of a motivational speaking sort of space and sort of encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and just do something that isn't their day to day and where they have the opportunity to fail.

and not, yeah, just get out of their comfort zone essentially. But that speech was in 1910 and I feel like it's so relevant to today still on the basis that it speaks about the idea that all the credit goes to the person who is in the arena, who is fighting to succeed and wants to triumph. And in doing so they may fail, but at least they failed daring.

Dylan Pathirana (49:19.982)
and with blood, sweat and tears on their face, like they're still the ones in the arena. and there's nothing worse than being a critic who is just saying how the strong man failed and how they could have done better when they're just critiquing what they're doing. And they're not actually putting words into action saying, Hey, it could have been done better. Watch this. It's just criticizing. And again, that person says it could have done better. Wouldn't actually be criticizing. They'd also be in the arena trying to do it. So, I think that.

Yeah. People in the arena is more of a contemporary version in today's world. and that's sort of the, I guess movement that I'm going to start trying to promote and create. So stay tuned, man. That sounds awesome. Really? Yeah. mean, the failure is the number one ingredient for success. Yes. If you don't, you know, if you're always thinking of, I'm going to fail. Yeah. That means you're not going to start doing it. You're not going to be in the arena. Right. As part of the speech to it does say,

it starts off with saying something about the critic, basically saying that they neither know victory or defeat because they don't step into the arena. So mean, what you're saying exactly. Yeah, I always tell Dylan, right? Because sometimes thinking, thinking, thinking, overthinking, it's not going to get you anywhere. Right. Just do it and start thinking. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.

to go back to my parents, polar opposites. One is very OCD and a perfectionist when doing a job likes to engineer it to the perfect amount and doesn't want to do unnecessary work or overwork. It is like, I want to have the perfect process to get it done as quickly and efficient as possible. Doesn't want to overexert himself. That's my father. My mother, very quick to action, doesn't think things through, just wants to get it done. It doesn't matter if it's the most correct way or the easiest way or the best way outcome gets it done. And she doesn't then look back on it, but

I would say the next step is you can get it done and then go, okay, what needs to be done to get it improved and, or make it better for the next time or vice versa. So very critical of myself in that essence, but, qualities of my parents that I two separate qualities that I've taken the best of both and try to implement. again, that is also why the speech resonates with me so much as well. So is that like, other than your parents, are there any like mentors or figures that you've kind of looked up to?

Dylan Pathirana (51:44.716)
First and foremost, I'd still, like you said, other than them, but my parents, again, like positive traits, negative traits, taking the best of them. I wouldn't be who I am without them. But outside of that, I wouldn't say any direct people that I've looked highly to. There are more recently in the endurance scene that I'd say you have a lot of respect and time for. And I'd say that in the sense that,

I mentioned it last time I was on a podcast, but Simon Cochrane, he's such a humble athlete and has so much time for everyone in the athlete, in the... sport. Yeah, just in general, physical space. He has done incredible things and come into the Ultraman when I first competed in it and smashed an hour and a half off the world record. And he was there throughout the three days.

giving support to people that were finishing close to the deadlines and stuff like I think on the first or second day he went home obviously to rest to recover and try and get to get ready for the next day. But on the last day he was there up until the end to see every person over the finish line. And that just spoke to his just how supportive him as a person as an elite athlete. And then a lot of people are in the sport are similar to that. So I do pinpoint him as one of those sort of people that give so much time to everyone and give so much back to the sport but

In that ultra endurance space, there are so many people like that as well. That just are there to participate as well and not necessarily being an elite. So, when a lot of the people in, yeah, so I say the elite people in the endurance space, ultra endurance space, a small percentage, a lot of people are participate as myself included. And I know I run a lot of ridiculous distances, but, I'm still just here every day, bat life. If anyone else did the same amount of running that I did.

they'd probably be much better athlete than I am. and they would finish a lot quicker or be much more competitive, but at the end of the day, I'm not doing it to try and, win the race or be competitive or do a better time than I did last year. I don't really have a thought. I don't really want to, I'd not care about that sort of aspect of I want to, enjoy the day, make the most of it. I'm paying money to be there. and then yeah, separately get more people out there doing it, which

Dylan Pathirana (54:04.588)
Like again, you alluded to the Sydney marathon. I wanted to support people to enjoy the day, get it done, achieve their goals and then return to the sport. I don't necessarily want to say, mate, you want to run a sub four hour? Let's go push it and get it done and never run again. Like, I don't think that's conducive to longevity in looking after your health as well. So. Amazing. I remember when you were talking about success, you kind of framed it as.

You originally thought it was about career success, financial success. And then now you've got a lot more like holistic and very like well thought out kind of view of success.

What kind of changed? What was the turning point that kind of made you?

That's a good question. think, just the more you're exposed to, the corporate scene as an account. think I was constantly like, yeah, this is the way forward to build wealth and build a successful life. And then the more that you get exposed to those people and it's like, okay, these aren't genuine connections or, these people at the top aren't necessarily happy. They work ridiculous hours. It's the grind never actually stops. Like you think, I'm going to go to a different company. I'll be getting paid well and time will be so much better.

good work-life balance, but it's just forever never ending. And then it's recognizing that it's not all about the career. And then separately, it's not all about the money either. Like money does come and go, whether it's yeah, my inherent, inheritance is one or not two. It's just like, once that happens, you've got the money anyway, but then you've also lost something so important to you through inheritance as well. So, and not saying that I've lost someone and got inheritance, thankfully my mother.

Dylan Pathirana (55:51.182)
for me, she lost her grandmother, which is disappointing, but I mean, she then received her inheritance. But as part of that, she then chose to, share that with us early, not so that we could, have a bit of a better start to life, ourselves and not necessarily have to grind, even though I still viewed it as that. a lot of my siblings as well, they've started off really well and have a house and, have kids and all that sort of stuff. Whereas I continued to grind at uni and was like, okay.

I've got a good start. Now this is my wealth to lose essentially as well. But it was a reckoning, recognizing that I do have wealth as well now, but I don't need to keep grinding and you can just lose it so easily in terms of money or your other key things in life, which is life, your family members, your health and all that. relationships. Yeah. So I think the biggest turning point was when I quit snowing. So prior to that, I was always leading towards that. But then, yeah.

Finally, a day just clicked and I said I can make it work. Whatever it is going on on my own or just want to I didn't want to be there anymore. Number of things in the workplace and just ultimately, starting to recognize changing in my attitude and behaviors. So I was like, it's just not time for me to go out and work on what is important for me. And I would say I always had that somewhat of that understanding. In the last year, I guess, but

In terms of putting that into words and communicating it, that's been ever evolving since listening to you guys and trying to properly explain it. Cause every time you hear someone else's version, that's a good way. I should write that. That is how I would explain it. Like, again, I've always thought I'm successful, but I just never knew how to communicate it. And that's really been something I've been working on every time I listened to the quest for success. I'm glad that we've had some, sort of impact, but I mean, I mean, going forward, other than, you know, working on your business and then.

people in the arena, like what's, what's next for me? well, I haven't said it yet, but I do want to highlight. people in the arena too, it's, funny cause I've just created a branch off of it. PITR P I T A the acronym for it. And that is my accounting, firm essentially, which is accounting services, which funny enough also stands for pain in the ass accounting services. But also I think it is a good,

Dylan Pathirana (58:15.53)
idea as well that it's a movement that wants to get you out of your comfort zone. So essentially it is a pain in the ass when you don't want to do it, you need to continue to fight that idea of not wanting to do it and get out there and step out of your comfort zone. And yeah, so I think the first stages would be motivational speaking, which is something that I've never really liked talking about my own story unless people actively probe and

That is something that Amelia, my partner finds quite annoying at times. She's like, I have to really probe to get you to open up about things and, elaborate on stories and all that sort of stuff. that is the start of it, essentially a bit of motivational speaking, and sort of create, this movement essentially and try and. Yeah. Yeah. Do, sorry, I want to take you back because I'm as you can see, I'm really fascinated about this whole thing. Do you ever see dreams now?

You get injured and you can't ever walk. Not necessarily. I've had the odd injury. this one that I've got now as well, where I've had limited running, the ability to run in the last couple of weeks, but it's just then shifted me to focus on the gym. But, it's just one of those things that the same attitude applies for when I was younger. It's just that it just changes my story of where I'm going to end up at. And I guess I say that as like, I'm constantly thinking of my story and the chapters that I'm in.

potentially where I'm not really thinking where it's going to end up, but I'm just saying that it's a story. And the next thing that happens to me, that's the next chapter. Yeah. And if I kind of move on, And adapt to what's happening and responding to the issues in a, most efficient and calm manner to get, make the most of that situation. And that's probably something I haven't said from a very young age. I recognise when I wanted to go into leadership roles that people at the top,

can respond to issues in a very calm and collect manner. And in doing so, that's why they're at the top. They get the best out of everyone in the situation because they handle it so well. And I, at a young age, I was just instantly like, and how do they do that? They stay calm. They just think clearly. yeah, I think that's been a key thing that I try to stay calm and always just go, okay, well, how do we respond in the most efficient and best way to get resolved this issue and

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:37.718)
It's funny if it's such a big deal, I'll talk about it later and say how I overcome it. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just bad now about complaining about it. So I think, I think I need your help because, when I was a young kid, right? Like I think it's about 16 or 17. probably Dylan even doesn't know this story. I heard my, I fell off. and you know, this, this teeth here, front teeth actually broken. I had a, been like, you know, since I was a kid, I had this.

cap. So it's not a real teeth. So, and when I came to Australia in 1990, this is a long time ago, actually came off. Right. So I had to go to a dentist and get that fixed. You know, so often I wake up in the morning, just checking, you know, like even now, this is, I'm talking about 35, 30 years on, right. I still kind of see that, you know, because that was devastating at that time.

Especially when you're a teenager, 16 year old, you want to look great. you know, you're so and yeah, so this is something that I can't kind of forget and move on. Like, so I keep seeing dreams like I wake up with my front tooth. Yeah. is crazy. Right. So amazing. Like, I just want to know a bit more how I can, you know, like

Yeah. Anyway, we'll talk about that. I mean, I know we're pretty tight on time, so I'm to wrap things up. But, you said at the beginning that you already feel successful and I'm glad that you do. I will say, would say that if, when I deem myself not successful, it's essentially when I don't have the drive to continue working on those things that are important to me. Essentially I've lost hope. would say that's when I would deem myself not successful.

And hopefully I never get to that point, but I think that's the main thing is that if you have hope and are working towards what's important to you, you're successful. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. think that's a, it's good to put it back into perspective because you know, when you're talking to a lot of people who are very business focused or people who are very kind of, yeah, career driven, the kind of idea of success gets skewed. And especially now it's social media. kind of only see the, the people who are at the top and

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:03.182)
So I think this more like wholesome definition of success is like just actually being just improving, like not comparing yourself to other people, just whether you're improving on yourself and moving towards, towards where you to go. To add to that last bit, I would say back in my early days, especially when I was just starting out running, I would compare myself to other people. And again Strava compared my times to other people, but then it's just recognizing that.

Nobody knows what you've got. Do you have an injury? Are you training for something like who cares? Once you recognize that I'm not going at people's travel and going, he's 10 seconds slower than yesterday. It's like, wow, he's getting out moving. Like that's a cool trail. I might have to try that one or just getting after it essentially. So yeah, not to say that I don't have those, poor thoughts at times, but it's just recognize them and realizing that it actually doesn't matter. And be able to accept, right? Like in accept and move on.

That's what I see like amazing like skills. so to reflect on our conversation, I've just jot down a few things and it's always funny to do this with someone who you felt like you knew before, but I suppose the kind of key traits that I've written down is you're very reflective. Even in just like that first kind of section, you kind of summarize like a few years of thinking about what success is into like a very short period. And it's like not even just that section.

throughout this whole conversation, you've kind of been reflecting on decisions that you've made and also thinking about, you know, chapters of your life, being young and being able to accept things like you're very reflective on, on decisions and things that happen in your life. So think that's one key skill. The other one is obviously mental resilience. I think, and I think that ties into the other one of optimism. when bad things happen to you,

Like if that had happened to most people, I think it would have been the end. People like you could honestly fall into a depressive state. If you're 13 and you get told that you're never going to walk again, never going to play sport like man, that's it. Write me off. done. Like, but you, you managed to stay positive through that time and come out the other side. And I think it's almost helped you as well because now you see tough things and you kind of have a baseline. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:05:24.354)
And I didn't expand on it earlier, but to go back to in the last two, three years as well, I've experienced a lot of challenges, whether it's financial and again, health and all that sort of stuff. And it's just one of those things that it's just as they come on, it's like, okay, it's just another thing to overcome. like, and again, some of them are so consecutive that it gets funny. it's like, okay, another thing I get cool. Like, it gets to the extent of like, it's just funny. Like this is life. You, you accept that this is always happening. Like it's just the next thing.

so it's, I appreciate hearing this and actually I knew this was going to come like when I was writing down, like, actually I'm very nervous to hear what you're to say. it's big. Yeah. and I, yeah, I think part of that mental resilience is like, also, and maybe it's the reflection as well, but looking how you can help other people realize how like have the same realizations that you've had and like get out of their comfort zones, to.

To grow the way that you've grown. think, I think that's one thing for me that's stood out as well. Like it's not just a journey about you, a growth journey. It's also about how can I use my situation to inspire others? And I'm actually, I didn't know about people in the arena. So I'm actually super stoked for that, man. Cause you know, you are definitely a big inspiration to me. So I'm really looking forward to seeing where you go with that. Thank you. And it's still early days. So what I've sort of been allude to around that, it may change a lot.

Yeah. I haven't really spoken too much about it to people, but it's something that yeah, I've working on in the background and want to start, progressing. then I was like, yeah, I will mention on today. then it's something again, words I put out there. Action. So, follow through on. So the last one I have is kind of always looking ahead. Like you mentioned a few times where you were in situations and you kind of jumped a few steps forward and then worked your way back.

Like whether it was, you had the accident, you knew you're to have to go to office job. kind of picked a trajectory and worked your way back. and I think the ability to do that, even from like a young age, it kind of, can connect the dots a little bit. And maybe that makes making decisions easier because you can see the end result as well. I like it. So that's what I've written down.

Dylan Pathirana (01:07:48.907)
I think also to add to that, I'm really amazed by your courage. you know, the courage is a very key word, you know, because throughout your journey, you show that, you shown your life is all about courage. Maybe from your background, you know, living in a farm, you know, you're allowed to do things that normally Dylan's not allowed to do. So your parents given that opportunity to be brave and

But even now you're not sitting in your comfort zone, looking forward and looking, trying to do things that are outside your comfort zone, which is showing your courage, know, which is, it's awesome ingredient for trade for success. Thank you. So Mikha, thank you so much for coming on, mate, and coming out of your comfort zone. Really, really appreciate, you know, this opportunity to sit down and learn more about someone who we're already close with. So,

Thank you very much. I said, it's been an awesome experience. I've enjoyed it very much and long time listener. So it's good to finally be on this side of the mic, outside of the podcast. yeah, all the very best, Mika. Lovely to meet you. Yeah. Thank you. And on that note, if you are listening to this and you've got something of value from it, if you could please do us a massive favor and follow us or subscribe to us on whichever platform you're listening to this on. And if you want to look at some of that.

other episodes if this is interested you you can head over and see all of our episodes at the quest for success podcast calm and on that note we'll catch you guys on the next episode thank you