In 2003 I was in living in Australia with friends from university. There were 7 of us – all optometrists – who decided to spend a year working for OPSM followed by travelling around Australia. I remember we finished up work in Melbourne just a few days before Christmas and we were about to start 3 or 4 months of travel. We had the typical Christmas on the beach, then bought a car and hit the road in the heat of the Australian summer.

When you have 3 months to travel the east coast of Australia you can see pretty much everything there is to see. And we did. We managed to catch the England v Samoa game in the Rugby World Cup. We saw in the new year on the Rocks in Sydney. We whitewater rafted. We hiked in the outback. We dived the Great Barrier Reef. We surfed. We did it all. But I was not the typical traveller because in addition to my backpack and golf clubs I had a big rucksack full of business books I’d been devouring during my time in Australia.

Probably the most ‘unusual’ behavior I exhibited during my time in Australia was passing up on a sailing trip in the Whitsundays. After a week on Fraser Island my friends went north to go sailing, but I caught a lift with a Spanish guy, who spoke limited English but was driving South to Brisbane.

I was spending 2 days in a cramped hatchback and sacrificing sailing the Whitsundays, all so I could attend a business seminar I wanted to go to.

To me, that was more of an adventure than the Whitsundays. And it turned out that way too. The sailing was over and done with in a matter of days but what I learned at the conference changed how I think and started me off on a completely new path that I am still on today.

On that note, whatever you are sacrificing to come to the Optical Success Academy conference in Manchester at the end of the month, I congratulate you for doing it. It will pay off and benefit you for years to come. See you in Manchester!