Sean Bell

Thank you, mate. Yeah, long-lost cousin, it's nice to finally meet in person. You're the better-looking one.

Um, yeah, I'm a keynote speaker and an online run and strength coach. Um, this has all sort of come about over several years. I ran around Australia last year, and that was a six-and-a-half-year goal to get to that point in being able to achieve that. I averaged 84.3 Ks a day, I think it was, just under a double marathon for nearly six months straight.

It was cooked, it was. I'm still recovering, um, but it was such an epic journey. Like, my foot right now, I've got something called Freiberg's disease, which is where basically so much pounding of the tarmac...

It's called... So, effectively what it is, is from so much pounding of the tarmac, there was so much pounding... Yeah, so much pounding, insufficient blood supply to the bone and it made the bone flatten rather than be round like the head of the metatarsal bone. So, I got that and a crack in my plantar plate, so effectively the whole, like, ball of foot is just, um, still recovering and we're nearly 12 months on, so yeah, it's nuts.

I can walk normally. I was in a boot for about 12 weeks and that sucked. Um, got to the end of that and was like, "I'm still in a bit of pain, what do we do?" We're looking at the surgery route and decided not to go that way. Um, yeah, so it's just still going to be a little bit more time, but I will get back, which is awesome, mate, and can't wait to target the next one.

Uh, I will one day yeah i haven't got anything in the pipeline i think like you put so much into that and the reality is when you're doing a run around Australia, it's not just the running, it's the planning. I had 32 crew members, you know, aligning and coordinating annual leave for these people to come and support me at different points of the run. You've obviously got commercial partners, sponsors of the run, you got everyone who donated, so there's the fundraising component. I supported Make-a-Wish, so it's such a big undertaking that is so much more than running. Yeah, uh, no, I'm not in any major rush to get into the next one, but I'm sure there'll be something one day.

About 12 hours a day. Twelve, anywhere from 12 to 14. On the days I was really buckled, mate, it was closer to 14. Um, obviously when I say that, that's elapsed time, total time. You're having little breaks as you go because, you know, you need to eat so much. And that's something that people are really surprised to hear and learn, but if anyone wants to look at the highlights on my Instagram, @SeanBellRuns, you can see how much I was just vomiting throughout the journey and it was awful. But I think a lot of it was trying to eat 10,000 calories a day with how much I was burning, you know, you're eating something and off you go again. And so it's one of the things I talk about as well as a keynote speaker is that any great goal can be reverse engineered, even as big as a run around Australia. I set that goal when I was 20 years old and I had no idea how I was going to do it, but worked so hard at it for six and a half years.

I'm 27 now, yeah. But that can be reverse engineered into as little as 8 Ks at a time. That's how we broke it down with the run around AUS, or 1816 pit stops.

Yeah, I mean, sometimes you would grab and go, but often, like I spoke about with the calories, you'd need to eat something. So you eat something and you're back and then you go again. Um, so yeah, breaking it down like that was the only way to get through it.

I mean, 84 K a day is such a mental thing that if you were to think about 84 K in one hit, you are so overwhelmed and you're like, "How am I going to do this?" Um, but if you start and you're like, you know what, let's just get to sunrise, because I would always start before it was even light and finish as it's dark. Like, they're huge days. Um, you know, you would focus on getting to sunrise, then it was that next 8 K and then next 8 K, and before you know it, you've hit another double marathon.

Yeah, it's a great question. Look, it was, it actually goes back to 2016. So I grew up as a footballer. I love footy so much. Footy to me back then is like running is to me now. It's just everything. And um, devastatingly, I was playing the Under 19s. I was only 18 years old and I lost one of my footy teammates.

Um, to this day, they don't know why he passed away. He went to bed healthy and he didn't wake up. And you know, at the time, for something so significant to happen, it changes how you look at life. And I just remember thinking, like, if we are not promised tomorrow, like that, then we need to chase our dreams. We need to chase our goals and and whatever that is go align and so as I mentioned I was a footballer at the time but running has always been forever.

Instrumental in my grief and um, anytime I'd feel down or, you know, I'd feel angry or just worked up and needing to exercise, running was my outlet. So I found myself running more and more and more in my grief of losing my mate. Um, and all of a sudden, I did a 15k fun run and then the next year I had a crack at my first marathon. And so it just started to become something. Never did I think it would be a run around Australia, but once I got clear on, you know what, I love this running thing, I want to go further rather than faster, let's see what's out there. Yeah, um, and it all just sort of came about naturally.

I supported Make-a-Wish through the Run Around Australia because for me it was like, you know, I'm chasing my dream, it's nothing more than that. I want to chase my dream. My goal is to run around the country and if I can support sick kids in chasing theirs and what's most meaningful to them, then that is going to be, you know, make my heart sing and that's why I want to do it. So, um, six and a half years I reverse engineered this goal to even get to the start line and then ultimately take it on. And um, mate, it was, yeah, such an epic journey. I call it chasing the dragon, you're chasing a dream and you always want more and more and more.

I think I'm still processing it and thinking about it. It's a, it's a great question because a lot of people ask you that, like, especially to achieve such a great height so young, um, 27, yeah.

Yeah, thank you, mate. Yeah, no, only 27. Um, and I think, yeah, I, I don't know, I mean, running, as I mentioned, is such a huge part of my life. I just want to get back to even running to commute right now. Like, that's, that's my first goal. Um, and then when you run so far but slow, day after day after day, you crave fast running. So I want to do a fast marathon again or maybe some fast halves as well and just get that speed back. Um, and then I'm fascinated by the backyard ultra format. I don't know if you know what that is.

Uh, it's, it's 6.7 Ks on the hour every hour. So you and I could be doing the same race. And and it's what I love about it is it's one of these races where usually what happens, you know, the elite men and women, they will, if it's a point-to-point race, so you start at point A and you finish at point B, you'll see them on the start line, you're never going to see them again because they're too fast, right? But in a backyard ultra, you have to run a loop 6.7 K on the hour. And then, so the race starts at 7:00 a.m., you run that 6.7 K. At 8:00 a.m., you run the next 6.7 K. 9:00 a.m., the next 6.7 K.

Yeah, running 6.7 Ks every hour and the one surviving at the end wins. Last person standing. And the record right now around the world is 116 laps, 116 hours straight without sleep. Yeah, so if you come in in 40 minutes, you have 20 minutes where you can eat, drink, sleep, whatever. But as soon as that hour starts again at the top of the hour, they, they blow a whistle and you've got to go.

No, it's not at all. But that, that fascinates me, that format, because in some ways, that's like the run around Oz. You know, you run a little bit, you have a little rest, you run a bit, you have a little rest. Um, and yeah, I'm excited to to rip into that and see how we go.

Yeah, you have a lot of those thoughts, of course. I think it's only normal when your body is broken. Um, but there's a lot of things that I was thinking about when I was on the run around Australia and it's one of the, the things I often share with people is a concept I call **why stacking**. You know, everyone talks about why stacking, so everyone talks about how are you going to do that, and I was like, "Well, I don't know." I was 20 when I set the goal to run around Australia, but I had my why. I wanted to honor my teammate. I had that other dream of being an athlete ever since I was a kid. All I wanted to do was play AFL. I wasn't good enough to play, but that athlete dream never left me. Um, so, you know, you have strong reasons why like that and it's incredible how much you can do day after day. You then obviously add the charity component. Like, I knew that I was out there and making a difference. All I had to do was look to the left or right of me and see that I've had, you know, close friends, partner, um, whoever it may be, give up time away from their loved ones, their work, and I'm like, "Well, you're making this dream happen. This is my role. Just *[expletive]* get on with it." And so I had to really just like, um, you know, suck it up a lot of the time because it is really hard running around Oz and running 84 K a day. But um, I think that understanding that like it's all part of the journey and you do it as an ultra-runner because you love the pain.

And you, you want to see how far you can go. Yeah, definitely.

You could, yeah, you could go to a hotel, there's no rules against that. Effectively, you spray the ground with spray paint and you get the GPS coordinates because, I mean, most of the run around Australia, I was on the highway A1, so therefore, like often there's no, like that's, that's how you mark your spot. You have to, you know, spray the ground, get the GPS coordinates and come back the next day to that point. And so sometimes that was pull over, like if we're on the Nullarbor and there's not a lot around, you have to just pull over and sleep in a truck bay. Um, and, you know, you better have earplugs because that's, that's bloody hard to do. Um, or otherwise, you know, if you were somewhere that was like around Sydney City or Darwin City, there's no reason why you couldn't jump into a hotel. Um, and so yeah, there were a couple of nights in the journey where I had that pleasure, uh, but otherwise, mate, it was just in the side of the road in the motorhome.

Yeah, yeah, there was one where, and like to be honest, I don't even know if I've spoken about this. Um, you most of the time, like 90% of the time, which is why my left foot is cooked, you're running into the traffic and that's because you want to see for safety what's, what's coming at you.

Um, and but what a lot of people don't realize is a lot of Australia is, or the highways are built with a slight camber, so, you know, they're built on a slight angle so that rain can, can wash off. Um, and because I was running into the traffic for 90% of the time, um, my left foot was sitting that little bit higher than my right foot, so the left foot was taking all of that impact, all the brunt. Yeah, and and so, um, there was this one particular day where I was running and of course I'm, I'm thinking, "Well, if I can't see a car or a road train coming at me then I'm okay." But you're never thinking about the cars going the same direction as you that are then going to overtake and come into that right lane where you're running. Does that make sense?

Yeah, so I'm running in that far right on the side of the right lane and they might be stuck behind a road train for example and they're going, "Oh, this, this road train slow, I want to get around it." So then they'll indicate and go around it, but I'm, of course, not, I don't have eyes in the back of my head and and I'm not, uh, you know, like really aware of that. And so there were a couple of times where yeah, a car got that close to me and just...

Yeah, 166 all up. Was MCG to MCG, yeah.

Yeah, a little bit. Um, it's something that after the run, like even, you know, you see a, um, sports therapist and get a massage and osteo, and they're like, "Oh, things are a little bit out here." Um, but I mean it's fine now. It's the first six months beyond the run was so hard for me, the come down. Um, you know, when running is is your emotional regulation, that's what you do every day, um, that that come down on top of just, yeah, I didn't even know the severity of my foot to be honest because when you're in it, you just, you run through anything. Like I mentioned before, I had all these reasons why and I wanted to... Adrenaline's pumping, you're just going to get through.

It's a great question because, do you know what, like, I'd love to say ice baths and recovery garments and all of that, but it really was just eating and sleeping and trusting that I'd done the work in the prep. So to answer that question, just try and build up over years. Too many runners think about, okay, I can prepare for that in a few months, but it's like anything, like in business, you've got to give it years rather than months. And that was the greatest thing that happened with me. You know, this, when I set the goal, when is I was 20 years old in 2018, that one day I was going to run around Australia. How that even came about was 2017, early that year, my mom realized I was struggling after losing my mate and she took me over to the US to see Tony Robbins.

And I was, uh, 20 years old. I had no idea what it was going to be about. And mate, it was, it was unreal. Um, it was in LA. And um, at the time I was just like, "Oh, all right, Mom." Because I was, I was keen to get to the NBA and the ice hockey, but I said, "Let's just see how it goes." And if I'm here, I might as well lean into it, see if I can learn something. He shared a story about a guy called Stu Mittleman who ran across the US in the early 2000s and I was fascinated by that. And I was a footballer at the time, but something about that story stayed with me. We went back, we won the Grand Final that year in 2017. So that's the year after my mate passed away. I was the captain. We went undefeated, didn't lose a game, won the Grand Final. And despite all of that, I didn't love my footy as much that year. So that was then the, the thing that I realized was like, you know what, footy is always going to be here. Why don't I look at running a marathon? Melbourne Marathon's coming up. So I jumped into Melbourne Marathon off three weeks of, really, three weeks of proper running prep because I was in footy season. Um,

Yeah, it was fit from footy, but it's different fitness. I love that marathon so much. And then I went all in with running from there. 2018, I was thinking back to what, you know, that Stu Mittleman story and how he run across America. And I put into Google, has anyone ever run across or around Australia? I then found out about Janette and Alan Murray Wakeland, who were, who were a couple in their 60s who ran a marathon a day around Australia every day in 2013. And I was like, mind blown from that.

Yeah, yeah, it was a year. And I thought that is just insane. Like how, how can they do that in their 60s? But if they can do that and Stu Mittleman can run a double marathon a day, then, then this is possible. Like with respect to them in their 60s, this is possible. I just need to figure out how to do it. I've got my why and I can go from there. And so I just went all in from running and became obsessed. And I think that anyone who achieves anything great, it truly is obsessed and that's what it was for me.

You have to be obsessed. And so that obsession, like I was in my final year at uni studying exercise science, um, living in Vermont, which is Eastern suburbs of, of Melbourne, and running to Fitzroy at ACU. Um,

Not every day.

But at least, at least three days a week I would. I'd drive to my mate's place the night before, drop off my laptop.

Just running along on the, on the road, pretty much. Canterbury Road to, just can't remember the route now. Canterbury Road, is it Barker's Road near Hawthorn? Sure, yeah, I mean I'm living in Sydney now so I can't quite remember, but um, and that was 2018. But yeah, I used to run to uni, um, and I just became obsessed. And so every time I was like, I had a spare moment, whether I was driving, running, I'm listening to running podcasts. I found out a story about a woman called Samantha Gash who ran, um, across India. So she supported World Vision and it was about 60 Ks a day across India, which in India that would have been crazy, crazy hot and crazy just traffic, everything. Um, and I was, I was so amazed by that and then I reached out to her and I was 20 and and I thought, you know, she may be able to help me, she may not, but just put myself out there. And I think so many people don't put themselves out there because they're scared they won't get the right response. But Samantha was incredible. She had a two-hour coffee with me. She then put me on to Jace and DJ and these two guys coached me and effectively changed my life. Jace was that, that sort of difference for me from taking me from the athlete that I always wanted to be to becoming that athlete. And so in, in, uh, September of 2018 when I met him, he said to me, um, "You know, you have this goal to run around Australia, when are you going to do it? Like it's not a real goal if you unless you are really clear how far you're going to run per day, when you're going to do it, what's the date, all of that."

So we set it up for 2021. That was the plan. Covid happens and in the end, obviously I couldn't run around Australia with that. But that was one of the greatest things with not saying Covid's great, but for me, that was one of the greatest things for my goal is it couldn't happen in 2021. It gave me three more years to get my body ready. And so that's why I come back to think in years, not months, because six and a half years of of just doing event after event after event to build up my physical capacity, but also the mental belief that I could actually do this. And that's how I went and did it.

Yeah, great question. I think, well, I think seeing a psych first and foremost is, is really powerful. I see a psych. I think that exercise is, is fantastic. Um, I think exercise is underrated for the mental game.

Like running, I don't know who I would be without running and without training in general. I should say training because right now I haven't been able to run for the last 10 months, but um, training is, is everything to me and if I don't train, I'm a shell of a human and I can't show up as, as my best self for my loved ones. So that's, that's a big one. Um, outside of like exercise and and then getting professional support. I don't really, like I'm not a big journaler, meditator, anything like that. I think that I always try to to do a little bit of that stuff, but it's just having those, those outlets and and then obviously a good supportive community around you as well, friends and family.

It was, uh, I'll tell you actually, it was "Unleash the Power Within" in 2017.

I just sold a business for a big chunk of money. Like, so it was, I probably was a bit more, say, more advanced.

But for me, it was, it was honestly incredible. Um, but that's because at 20, I just, I wasn't there yet. I mean, it's interesting at 20, you're still a baby.

Yeah, exactly, mate. Exactly. And I think like, um, you know, growing up there were some challenges at home as well. I did, I had a parent who struggled with addiction. That is a huge driver for, for me to become the person that I am. You know, I talk about wanting to honor my teammate, talk about wanting to make wishes come true, wanting to be the athlete I always dreamed of. I mentioned before, Jace changed my life, Coach Jace. I didn't mention that in 2022, he passed away as well. So I've had a lot of loss on my journey. All of these things, there's your reasons why. And so in the moment when you're running around Australia, it hurts a lot, but it was thinking about, you know, that one, that first reason why, then second reason why, third reason why, and it, it just drove me every single day to take one more step. Um, I think when I went to Tony Robbins, it was such a huge thing for me because probably growing up I was more in that like victim mentality of of why me.

Definitely.

Definitely. If you're, if you claim to be a victim, you're always going to be a victim. If you take it on board and say, "Yep, I made a mistake, I [expletive] up, I'm going to fix this." Resolve it, you're not playing the victim and you'll make the most out of life.

And I think that it all starts with a really honest conversation with yourself. Um, you know, I was, I was, would have been 16 in the Under 17s and I played 16 out of 80 minutes in our grand final. So four 20-minute quarters and I went on the ground for the last four minutes of each quarter. And in the moment I hated my coach. I thought, "What the [expletive]? Like this is so unfair." But I was obviously mature enough to realize, you know what, if he doesn't think I'm good enough, then I'm not good enough. Get to work. And I thought I was working hard, but then after that I worked harder and harder and harder and I taught myself what hard work really is. And that's why, you know, that might have happened in 2014 and I ran around Oz in 2024, but that is a huge part of the reason why I run around Australia. Because you go through something like that and you're just in that victim mentality of, well, he, he thinks I'm not good enough, you know, [expletive] him. But the reality is like, if you're not good enough, you're not good enough. You've got to work harder. And that's what I realized. And so all of these things, I was already on that path a little bit, but I think then yeah, going to Tony Robbins, um, it really pushed me into that new direction.

Yeah, well, on the run around Australia, my, uh, message or or tagline if you like, my, my catchphrase is "Giddy up."

It was just like it was my thing. It, it actually came from another one of my mentors and good friends, he's, um, his name's Beardy. And anytime I would be like, "Beard, you want to run tomorrow?" He just be like, "Giddy up, Belly." And I loved it so much. "Giddy up" is, is the best. Just...

Uh, honestly, Belly.

Um, so and I loved that "Giddy up" saying and it just, it energized me and I think you need something like that when you're doing something so hard. So when I was on the run around Australia, it was just anytime I needed to giddy up, I would tell myself giddy up and it became this thing and and it was, it was mine. And so my message as a keynote speaker is "Giddy up and level up." And it's exactly around what we were just talking about, you know, too many people are in victim mode, they're blaming others, whether it's in business or in their own person, with their personal goals as well. And you really just need to giddy up and level up. And so for me, that was taking extreme ownership. I'm not there yet. Maybe I'm not as good as my teammates. I need to work harder and I need to work smarter. So I need to talk to the right coaches and all of these things to become a better player where three years later I became the premiership captain and seven years later it was the run around Australia. So "Giddy up and level up" is about going to that next level and it's ultimately raising your standards.

Yeah, they have to. I think that like that's what it comes down to. You can, you can share a key message and if people are ready to hear it, they will. If they're ready to take it on, they will. But if they're not, they're going to stay where they were. And so I think that, um, yeah, there's certain things that you can, you can share. Like one of the biggest things is, is being vulnerable with people and telling, telling them that I wasn't always this athlete because the second I go on stage as a 27-year-old, you know, and the person introducing me says, "He's a world record holder, he's run around Australia, he's a keynote speaker, he's 27," they're like, "Well, [expletive] this guy." Like, "We can't connect."

Yeah, yeah. And so it is a bit like that. But um, you know, then you have to level that playing field. So I share that, you know, life was tough growing up and um, as much as I had strengths, I had weaknesses and I'm just like you in the audience. And then, you know, then you share that you were benched in your grand final and that you weren't picked and that drove me to that next step. So sharing these things is a big part of my story because it's the truth for one, but also that's what then um, makes people go, "Okay, I get it."

No, of course. Me too.

Yeah, lovely.

That's a great, great one. I think, um, I'm similar in that. I think anyone chasing that big goal, as we said, business or an athlete, you just move on to that next thing. And I think for me a weakness is, is trying to, I don't know, break things down. Like I had this goal to run around Australia and I could dream the goal, but it took so many people supporting me to then make that happen. I need to get better at breaking things down and and truly understand like, how do you, okay, you want to get to point B, but how do you get there? I can dream the biggest things and and clearly, you know, make them happen. Um, but that's something for me that that I need to do. I think that, uh, I always try and fit way too many things into my day and I'm still, I'm still struggling with that, but I mean, there probably plenty more years to still struggle with that.

Uh, well, as I mentioned earlier, we had 32 crew members over the run. So how I did that was like...

Yeah, yeah. So I had people from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Brisbane, Brisbane to Townsville and it continued like that. Um, all the way around, so I ran in an anticlockwise direction. People gave up as much time as they could, so there were some people who gave up a week and there were some who gave up seven weeks. Like it was, it was amazing, the, the different contribution from people. Um, I had two motorhomes, so that was a key part of the logistics is like you need that second vehicle. Vehicle B could be used to go into town and pick up groceries while the other one was just leapfrogging that 8 K at a time ahead of me. Um, so yeah, I think that the team really just bought into my mission. I mean, a lot of it was, they're probably sick of me talking about it for six years, like, let's help this guy. Um, but they truly obviously believed in one, the cause with Make-a-Wish, but two, if he thinks he can do it, maybe he can, he just needs people to to back him. And, you know, there were so many events that I had to put in my training to then be able to achieve this goal and to prove to myself that I was ready to run around Australia. And I think when people see you tick that off, they're like, you know what, okay, maybe he can do this and why not be, let's be a part of this. So, you know, back even at 21, I ran 50 marathons in 50 days.

Yeah, yeah. That, like, that's part of the journey. That was yeah, just um, different events, uh, for my mate Joey. So my mate had passed away, spoke about before. I called the campaign "Jog for Joey" and that's where it all sort of started. Um, beyond that, I then, you know, have done several races in the 24-hour format. Uh, 2022, when Covid happened in 20, in 2020 and 2021 and it was clear that I didn't have the resources yet to run around Australia, um, I thought, well, what can I do? And so I ran from Cairns to Melbourne. That was a self-funded trip.

Well, because I knew that one, I needed to prepare mentally, logistically, yeah. And I think I learned so much from Cairns to Melbourne that that was such a blessing to then be able to run around Australia.

I did. I raised money for Make-a-Wish again. So raised 100 K in 22 and then on the big lap 177 K. Uh, but I mean this is, this is just me and a few mates. Like a small team having a crack and they were obviously support crew and I was the runner. Um, and that was such a big thing for me because that was then the opportunity to be like, well, obviously running around Australia, there's a big investment in that even to be able to do the run. Uh, but by being like, here's my running resume, businesses then were like, you know what, I think you can do this. And so that was such a great thing. That's, you know, to be able to run around Australia, it was a real team and I say that team being the support crew and team being the sponsors who supported the run as well. Couldn't have done it without them. Uh, raised 177 K in the end for Make-a-Wish. This was like the run around Australia did the best we could obviously from a, um, like reaching people point of view, but it was such a small team having a crack. This, um, you know, me and a few mates out there as I said, all volunteers. So I'm proud of what we raised. I set the target a lot higher. Um, I wanted to raise 1.4 million for the 14,000 K that I was running. Wasn't to be, but you know what, there's, there's always that next challenge.

Yeah, number one is focus on your reasons why. That's how it all started for me, right? I was like, I want to honor my mate. I want to be the athlete that I've always wanted to be. And through that why, that then gives you the momentum to put the next steps in. So because I really wanted this goal, that was what gave me the courage to reach out to someone like Samantha Gash. So get clear on your why. Number two would be...

Yeah.

Yeah. And that's where it's like, I think that that is a powerful one, don't want to work for the man for that. But then, but then it's, it's also like, you know, um, the opportunities it's going to provide your family, like whatever it may be. Stack those why's. And so that's what I mean. I had even as a 21-year-old doing the 50 in 50, I had, you know, 10, 15 reasons why. It wasn't just honor my teammate, it was all of these things that then gave me that, "Well, you're not stopping." And so for anyone chasing that goal, number one is, is understand your reasons why and make them so powerful that you're then going to put the work in. Number two is find mentors. I think whatever it is that you're trying to achieve, there's people who've walked the path before you. And as I mentioned before, so many people are scared to ask for help, yet you also need to remember that they didn't get there without help. So what I found from my experience is if you put yourself out there, most of the time they, they can help in some way. Maybe they're extremely busy and they can't help directly, but they can link you to a podcast where they've shared these tips and tricks that you're looking for, whatever it may be. But find mentors. Um, and then number three...

Definitely. And I agree with that. It needs to be in different, in different areas of life, right? Because I've dominated the athletic areas, maybe left some other areas that need, that need work. Number three, um, would be tell people about your goal. You want to solidify it. You need to tell people. Now, that I put a caveat to that, it doesn't mean you need to tell the world you're going to run around Australia or whatever.

But tell those who you trust in your circle, who you love, because uh, research shows that, and this is not made up, this is Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor, found that when you write your goal down, you're 42% more likely to achieve it. When you tell just one other person, you're 78% more likely to achieve it.

Because you don't want to let them down, accountability, support. Like I couldn't have run around Oz without support, so I needed to tell people to get that support. Uh, you're making that goal, like people latch onto that goal and they make it, you know, running around Oz, effectively we were a team, so it becomes you unify, you become one goal. Um, I think it's, it's such a powerful thing that people don't do enough. And so yeah, if that is just telling your immediate family or your partner, that's okay, but you have to tell people because then they're going to keep you accountable. "You said you were going to do this."

You're playing with fire, right? Whenever you're chasing any big goal, like you have to risk looking like an idiot. When I set the goal to run around Oz and I've come out at 20 years old and said that for the first time on social media at 2018, 2018, I used to social, you had to commit 100%. And people are like, "Are you serious?" Like I think at that point I'd run one marathon and was training for my first ultra and here I am saying I'm going to run around Oz. But I just genuinely believed it because if this couple in their 60s could do it, if Stu Mittleman could run across America, and if I give this goal time and I find the right mentors to help me, then why can't I do it? And so that was a big step, but I was risking looking like a failure in order to achieve that goal because coming back to the reasons why, number one, the goal meant so much to me. And so I was like, you know what, I think when whenever you're chasing anything big, you have to be risking it and and that's, that's how I was able to pull it off.

You do.

Uh, yeah, in, in, in areas. I think that, um, it's something that I'm learning. Like I ultimately in my last six, seven years to prepare for run, to run around Australia, I worked as a personal trainer. Um, but my number one goal was getting ready to run around Australia. So I was almost training like an athlete but not being a full-time athlete. So that comes with consequences. You're sacrificing a lot when you need to train three, four hours a day and you're not earning an income to be able to do that. But that's how much this goal meant for me. Now you talked about mentors in different areas. I'm only now getting mentors in business and different areas teaching me, you know what, you don't, you don't write your goals at the start of the year. You have Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. And just like you reverse engineered running around Oz, you have actions that you need to tick off every day.

And that's how now I'm, I'm moving into that space. So, you know, you, you shared, or you asked earlier, do I have, um, any big goals that I'm working towards right now? There will be an athletic goal, 100%. It's, it's...

Oh, mate, I, like I don't have it right now, but there will be, like it's just who I am. Um, running will, I want to run to my own funeral. Like I want to run forever. Um, but I think that um, right now, when you put so much into one area of your life and then that you have to have consequences and suffer in other areas because you're trying to live a life like a professional athlete, but you're not paid like a professional athlete. Right now, my focus is on my speaking, my run coaching while I'm healing my body and then I'll look towards that next goal, whatever that is.

That's powerful. Yeah, it works, it works well.

Thank you, mate.

Yeah, I've actually, I've got a, my own business, which is Sean Bell Run Coaching. So that's what I'm doing right now, which is ultimately sharing my expertise in running with other people. Uh, but in terms of, you know, creating something other, something bigger than that, I'm not sure. I think I love the, the flexibility that comes with that, working online so that I can also travel and do my keynote speaking as well. Um, that's, that's important to me. Uh, but no, I'm always keen to learn, mate, as, as we mentioned, mentors, you know, are a huge part of the journey and I'd love to meet people who are doing well in business and take that next step.

I haven't, no.

Thank you, Nick. Cheers, mate.