I strongly believe that everyone one of us has the opportunity to live an amazing life. I have an equally strong belief (and experience) that most people will never take responsibility for themselves and their actions and for how they came to be where they are in life.
Most people want someone to “fix” them and show them the easy way; that is NOT what I do. I am someone who has a burning passion and unwavering belief in my ability to help people become high performers in their life. I am not here to light candles and burn incense for you. I am here to help you become the best performer you can possibly be in EVERY area of your life.
I have overcome many struggles and obstacles in my life and through this process I’ve developed the ability to help other people achieve amazing results. I didn’t get here through excuses but through hard work, dedication, and a willingness to ignore the rhetoric from the sidelines.
We all have challenges that we deal with in life. The story and circumstances will be different, but the impact is often the same. The isolation and shame that comes from tough times doesn’t need to define you. The lessons you learn can guide you to the life you really want if you have the courage to embrace them. The toughest times present golden opportunities to create the person we really want to be.
Through my life, my experience and my story, I have learned how to live the Strong Life, and I can show you how to live it too.
My Story
For 13 years I was a highly accomplished and recognised Police Officer and member of the Queensland Police Dog Squad (or K9 Unit). After joining the force at the tender age of 19, I worked my way up to the K9 unit by just age 22. My normal ‘everyday’ would consist of violent domestic disturbances, armed hold-ups, vehicles chases or large brawls. I also worked as a tactical dog handler with the Special Emergency Response Team (known in other countries as SWAT). Towards the end of my career I joined the Covert and Surveillance Unit working on Major and Organised Crime syndicates involved in drug trafficking and other serious criminal activities.
It was a career full of highlights, but not without its personal toll on my physical, emotional and mental health.
I thought I was living the dream with every night filled with excitement, challenge and the opportunity to push myself to my limits and help others. I loved my career…but it didn’t last.
After a while I realised that I was unfulfilled and becoming more angry, reactive and violent. I was in weekly fist fights and was engaging with more and more violent offenders. I actively sought out confrontations as I became more and more addicted to the adrenaline and the opportunity to prove I was tough and fearless – all as a way to try and hide my insecurities and the significant impact my career was having on me. In the end, it became too much.
I left the Police when I was 31 and entered a really dark time in my life. I had lost my career, my identity and I felt like a failure. The violence and depravity that I had seen people commit against each other meant I had lost all faith in humanity.
I suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and clinical depression. I drank excessively, was very angry and came extremely close to suicide many times. Many appointments with psychiatrists and psychologists followed…but there was one problem. They could tell me WHY I was the way I was, but NO ONE could tell me how to change it.
This was the start of my new beginning
What followed was a 17-year journey of personal development courses, study, education, working with coaches and mentors and finding every piece of information possible on resilience, stress and leadership – with the end goal of healing myself and becoming an effective leader in my own life.
I forged a successful 15-year corporate career in commercial property, working in high performing teams in multinational corporations, becoming the National Leasing Manager of a $1.6 billion investment fund.
Still, I wasn’t living the life I wanted to live – one of integrity, passion and purpose. I felt unfulfilled, empty and without purpose. I had the cars, houses and money, but it didn’t make me happy. I still felt lost.
In 2011 I started a passion project working with clients part-time to live their best lives. Then in 2017, I left the corporate world and launched full time into my passion of helping people and making a difference in their lives in The Strong Life Project
I now devote my life to helping others using the knowledge, education and experience that helped me create a high performing life where I am happier and more fulfilled than I ever thought was possible. And from that passion and purpose, I now help my clients to create their own Strong Life.
The Strong Life Project
The Strong Life Project includes keynote speaking, mentoring programs, Executive Immersions, workshops, books, resources and a daily podcast focused on providing actionable, practical tools and strategies to drive people to overcome difficulties and conquer challenges so they can live happy and fulfilled lives.
I work with people focusing on human behaviour and high-performance to help them create high performing lives for themselves, and high performing cultures for their organisations. I have a whole of life approach to show people how to be their best and how to create high-performance as the benchmark for success in ALL areas of life.
I have worked with corporate Real Estate companies, National Real Estate agencies, several different Police Departments, the Australian Department of Defence in all three arms Army, Navy and RAAF, Queensland Corrective Services, Law Firms, as well as many large corporates from a variety of different fields.
I have worked one on one with corporate executives, partners in law firms, doctors, legal professionals, athletes, senior government executives, business owners and individuals to help them develop behaviours and strategies to manage stress and pressure, build resilience and become high performing leaders in their lives and workplaces.
My most recent book “My Dark Companion” (available on Amazon) chronicles my own personal fight with PTSD, depression, and suicide and how I have come out the other side as an example of how to create a life you love.
My purpose is to help people and positively impact their lives by providing no bullshit, real-world advice that creates behaviours, habits, and beliefs that will fundamentally change their lives. I didn’t learn this in a book; I learned it the hard way by making the mistakes, then digging myself out of the holes I created to end up in my life that I love. I want to show as many people as possible that you can achieve anything you want in your life by doing the work and facing your fear.