Story
At school I was an average kid. Average grades. Average at sport. Most of my teachers wouldn’t remember my name, but I always knew I was meant for something greater.
From birth you meet the guard rails of life. They start at home: sit up straight, finish your food, be home by dark. School adds more: wear this uniform, do your homework, pick the subjects you’re good at. University carries them on: take a student loan, build your CV, join the corporate ladder. The guard rails meant to keep me safe as a child stopped making sense as an adult. I wanted to break away from what was expected of me.
I sat in my university dorm room, bored and stuck, unable to see where any of it was leading.
At 19 I left university, moved back into my old bedroom at my mum’s house and started my first business. I deleted my social media, and while everyone else was out partying every week, I sat at home quietly building something. A backwards step, many would think. For me it was the first step to freedom.
What followed was six years of carving my own path, stepping away from the norm and unlearning the social rulebook. My mindset shifted from scarcity to abundance. I found ways to make more from less. I ignored rejection and kept moving towards my goals until things worked. I learned that failure is where growth comes from. I didn’t just want to break free of the unspoken rules. I wanted to challenge them.
That’s the attitude that took me to the summit of Everest at 27, with no financial backing and no history of mountaineering.
