We are proud to say we’ve had PepTalk up and running for over four months now and through that time we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a fair few of our 400 experts. We already knew the power of experience as a teacher, hence why we made the platform, but still, we continue to be inspired by our experts in ways we never expected.
If you’ve read our previous blogs, you’ll know the immense benefits we’ve gained from being able to have those invaluable 10-minute chats with our own mentors. Well, the more we have conversations and even attend sessions with amazing PepTalk experts, we are lucky enough to experience more of these level-up moments throughout our day to day.
Two noteworthy experts we’ve had the privilege to get to know better through PepTalk sessions are Ben Saunders and Felicity Aston. With both being polar explorers, we’d anticipated they’d know a thing or two about resilience, overcoming adversity, and reaching potential, but what we didn’t expect was the fascinating nuance in their respective outlooks. Today, we’d like to share a bit on that with you.
You’ve perhaps heard of Ben Saunders as a polar explorer. In his PepTalks he specialises in mindset and motivation as well as being an all-around incredibly inspirational guy.
As one of the few speakers to grace the main TedTalk stage a total of three times, we knew we’d be hearing something special when talking to Ben. Were we feeling inspired after the chat? Absolutely. Was it what we expected? Even better.
What you might not know about Ben at face value is his remarkable ability to take an entirely unique experience and use it to change our outlook on our own lives. Ben can be speaking about breaking the record for the longest human-powered polar journey in history (true story — it was 105 days), a feat we ‘normal’ folk will likely never accomplish, yet we find relatability in his experience through its adversity.
Sure, maybe the nuisance of a rainy day on your work commute after forgetting your umbrella may not compare with -75 degree temperatures while navigating Antarctica, but the beauty is in how the message scales to the context, and a tough situation can be a tough situation in both circumstances. Ben’s wealth of experience provides us the invaluable perspective to make a lasting impact through any challenging, difficult, or simply uncomfortable situation.
Similarly, Felicity Aston is part of the very exclusive club of Arctic navigators. Like Ben, Felicity specialises in developing leadership, motivation, and performance. But what you might not know about Felicity is how she can teach us about being alone and being scared.
From an individual who’s likely got more bravery in her little toe than us two put together after navigating Antarctica on a solo mission, fearfulness may not be the first thing to come to mind as a part of Felicity’s experience. It brings more of that game-changing perspective to hear from someone who has undergone such extreme circumstances and to see she still experiences the same emotions of fear and loneliness. Whether you’re left alone to fight for survival in the Arctic, or stranded in front of executive leadership to give a quarterly update presentation, sometimes we just need that different viewpoint to give us the motivation and inspiration to face a fearful moment head-on.
It’s these specific and unforgettable pieces of advice we find the most impactful. This is why we created PepTalk and why we strive to have the depth of experts we do. We can promise that you’ll never find us out in snowshoes trekking across the Arctic, but lucky for us all, we have people like Ben and Felicity to translate their experience in a way that resonates with the everyday.
As PepTalk grows, we look forward to learning even more about each of our experts, and we hope their experience will help people in the process.
