(Picture credit: Tegan Paisley)

Before I walked the Larapinta Trail I thought a lot about what hiking for six days on a route classified for hard core experts would give an inexperienced and not particularly fit suburban mum. Blisters, sure. Tears, definitely. Self pride, hopefully. 

Turns out it was a big tick for all those things and a whole stack more. But what surprised me most about my Larapinta adventure was what being in the outback taught me about business.

The power of the group

Strangers before we said our first tentative hellos on day one of the trek, each member added so much more to the overall experience—yes, beyond that even of the guides who were incredibly knowledgeable.

The biggest takeaway for me was that overall we had a better experience because of the diverse thoughts from the group. We learned so much from each other, from life stories with messages about what inspires people to take on hard stuff to fresh perspectives about what counts in life.

Result: going forward, my group programs will now have more group interaction and allow for opportunities for others to share to enrich my clients’ overall experience. There really is no ‘I’ in team!

The power of switching off

You may remember I’ve embraced a four-day work week this year with Fridays being MyDays. I love them. Doing the Larapinta took my switching off to a whole new level. For six days I had no phone, no email, no computer. Nobody could contact me for anything at all.

There were long periods of deep silence. Despite the exhaustion from all the hiking I actually feel rested in the brain. A month on, I can actually think again. Larapinta has taught me the power of removing distractions both in my everyday but also the value of completely disengaging from work for periods of time in order to significantly increase my creativity, decision making.

Result: I now see time away from work as essential rather than a luxury. In an era when lines between leisure and work hours are blurred, I recommend exploring turning off and tuning in to other things.

The power of up levelling

Without question, the extreme physical challenge really stretched me. The Larapinta allowed me to let go of what no longer serves me and free up room and space for new opportunities and ideas. It was out on the Larapinta surrounding by rocks and stars and nothing man made that I was able to create room for thinking about an exciting new program I’m working on and will launch in 2023.

The plan is for it to allow people to up level in both life and business and take positive, powerful steps towards realising their goals. It will be completely different from the work you’ve seen from me to date. Stand by for full details late this year.

Result: Having mastered partnerships and marketing to mums, I want to truly master what makes people tick and what we need to thrive at home and work.

As they say, I really did leave it all out there in the outback. But I also came home with a whole lot more than I left with.