A short chronology

The portraits below, in the order they happened.

2009. My father dies on September 9. I’m 12. Life is short and fleeting

July 2012. Tom Hoad, an eight-time Olympian, takes our club team to Europe and tells me I can make the Australian team that year. The high-return activity of raising others’ aspirations

July 2012. In Belgrade, Partizan’s team, two years younger than us, beats us by about fifteen goals. Don’t compare your 1st iteration to someone else’s 100th

2012. A surf life saving run-swim-run teaches me that how you do anything is how you do everything. How you do anything is how you do everything

October 2012. We win the Under 16 national title by ten goals in Brisbane. I’m named in my first Australian squad as an under-ager.

April 2013. I’m left out of the A team at the first State Schoolboys session. Great leaders don’t just manage people

2015 to 2017. I scrape through my intro to finance exam while training with the Australian team, then prepare for two years and get the call from Goldman Sachs. Preparation kills anxiety

2018. I graduate from the University of Western Australia as valedictorian. Valedictory address

2019. After a gap year in Europe and South America, I join Goldman Sachs at 21. If you’re not curious, you’ll never be great

I later leave Goldman Sachs for an entry-level sales role at a startup to learn how to sell. Letter to a friend that compares themselves to others

2022. 25th year of learnings

2023. I burn out for the first time. 26th year of learnings

2024. I sell my first company, Intelligence Age, at 26. In July, a breakfast in Victoria, Canada, changes how I see insecurity. The whole world is insecure and We judge ourselves by what we know we’re capable of

July 2025. I do the Hoffman Process. Ten years of therapy in one week

2025. 28th year of learnings

2026. My grandfather Bill dies. My grandfather, Bill (1931–2026)