Welcome to the Get a Six-Figure Job You Love and Thrive podcast. This is episode 244, your version of the South Pole opportunity, a client success spotlight with Jord Tanner. So stay tuned.

 

Hey there, I’m Natalie Fisher. I’m a six-figure business builder, a mom of a two-year-old, the recoverer of a 10-year narcissistic relationship, and now in a super healthy one. And most of all, I’m a human who’s figuring this out with you. This podcast is about how to use your mind to thrive in your career and create the subconscious breakthroughs that you need to get there. The subconscious blocks that you don’t even know you have to achieving your highest levels of earning and your best zone of genius moments and days in the flow. That is my goal for you.

 

Let’s dive into the episode. And before we dive into today’s episode, just one more thing. I’m the coach who will always point you back in the direction of your own wisdom. And so before you listen to my episode or anybody’s episode, I want to remind you of that because I know from a lot of personal experience that anything is only as effective as the amount of resonance that it has within your uniquely built brain with how it’s going to blend with your experiences, with your history, with your past, with your existing beliefs. And so something is only going to work if it feels right to you and you believe in it, or you want to do the work to believe in it. And that’s where I can help you.

 

Your inner wisdom is infinitely more valuable than mine or anybody else’s for that matter, when it comes to getting the outcomes that you are here to get. I’m happy that you’re here. I’m glad that we’re on the planet at the same time. And I can’t wait to help you transform your life and career. Hello. So I just got off an interview with one of my clients and program students, Jord Tanner, and he has quite the story for you.

 

So his story is more about going after what you want, not what you should do, what other people expect of you, what you can do, what you have the skills for, but what do you actually want? And that was huge for him. And I find it really prominent with people when they come into the program and they’re like, well, I don’t know what I want to do, but I know I need to do something different. And they don’t really take into consideration like their deepest desire, what would fulfill them, what would make them, you know, really light up in the morning, the more thinking about what they should do, what’s realistic, what’s feasible, what’s practical. And that’s definitely a place where my work and my program stands out. It’s like, it’s the place where we’re going to say, yeah, go for it. Let’s make that happen.

 

You can totally do that. And that sounds like a lot of rah-rah, but it’s like, it’s the difference between you believing you can and then even considering it and versus not doing it. And a lot of people are sitting in jobs they don’t like for over a year, years even, not even entertaining, you know, not even giving any breathing room to the things that they really, really want.

 

And I got to tell you, it’s priceless to be able to do what you want, to be able to say, I’m doing something that I’ve always wanted to do. And I’m so excited. And just listen to how Jord shares about this in his interview, and also just some really fun information about other parts of the world that we wouldn’t know about if we didn’t get to hear his story. So without further ado, here’s Jord and his South Pole story. Hello, welcome everyone to this episode of the podcast. I’ve got another special guest on today.

 

His name is Jord. And Jord, why don’t you start with introducing yourself, telling us a little bit about you, and then we’ll get into the questions I have for you. Okay, so I’m Jord Tanner.

 

I’ve been in IT for basically my entire career. Even when I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be in IT. So that’s where I’ve been. I’ve been in the startup world and scale up world for most of my career, which has had its ups and downs, of course. And recently made a big change to go exploring and ended up doing IT in the South Pole. Yeah, we’re gonna talk so much about how you got from, yeah, so thank you so much.

 

So my first question was, what’s had you kind of feeling like unsatisfied with where you were? Yeah, I mean, I’ve been technical for most of my career. In the last company, it started out as a startup within one public became more of a scale up. You know, I went from senior director to VP to CTO.  And, you know, I thought that CTO would be, you know, pretty much the same as VP of engineering. But there was actually a very different position of being a public company. One of the key things is that I was not able to do any technical work because as a CTO, there was no one to supervise and approve my work.

 

So both our auditors and stock exchanges did not want me to do anything. And so that really changed the game. And so my life became Zoom and emails. And that’s, yeah, so it became, you know, just less and less fulfilling. And then, you know, the company had some, you know, there were some financial difficulties, and there was also just some pivots in terms of strategy. And I ended up having to lay off, I don’t know, three quarters of my team, you know, in one day, which, you know, you know, and these are people I had mentored, you know, the teams I had built, etc.

 

And, and that really broke me. You know, and I’ve laid off, you know, I’ve been in, you know, management for many years. And so I’ve, you know, I’ve laid off many people, and fired many people, you know, over, but over the years, but never, you know, in that quantity. And that was really the turning point for me to decide, you know, this is, you know, I need to do something else. And, and what that something else was, was not was not clear to me at that time. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. That happened.

 

And then how long had you been kind of dealing with that uncertainty before you decided that you wanted to do something? I mean, I had been kind of generally dissatisfied with my job for a couple of years, right, but not enough to kind of do anything about it. You know, I mean, there’s also the golden handcuffs of, you know, I had, you know, a significant number of options. And, and, you know, some of them had not, but, you know, it was, you know, it was holding me in place, right? It’s like, oh, well, this might actually be worth something, right? And if I leave, right, I lose my options.

 

And I think that’s where a lot of people are, actually, like, and even if it’s not, they don’t know, they just have that security, like whatever it is to them, that golden handcuff, as you mentioned, whatever that is to them, it’s like, you nailed it when you said, I was dissatisfied, but not enough to do something about it. What do you think the turning point was when you were like, okay, I’m actually going to take a step back? Yeah, well, I mean, there’s two things. Most of the options were underwater, right? And so at that point, they were worthless, right? Until, you know, until the stock turned around.

 

But also it was that, you know, okay, well, you know, I had to let go of most of my team. And so, you know, the options are underwater. I’m dissatisfied with my job. I had to let go of most of my team. It’s like, okay, well, there’s, you know, what am I doing here? Yeah, what am I doing here? You know, and in this, I knew that I wanted something, well, I had come out of my first jobs had been in manufacturing, right? And manufacturing in IT has kind of the lowest working hours. So I didn’t really want to get back into manufacturing.

 

However, the, you know, even today, right? I worked manufacturing garbage trucks, right? And even today, there’s a garbage truck that comes by my house that was manufactured at the time that I was at that company. And just knowing things about that, that machine and knowing how it was manufactured, and the engineers and, you know, who worked on it, gives me a huge sense of pride, right? And, and when working in software as a service, you just you don’t have that, right? It’s totally different. Yes, colors on a screen.

 

And yeah, it’s useful for people, but there’s nothing tangible or, right. And so I knew I wanted to do something that, you know, either had a mission, or had, you know, some, some physical impact on the world, right? Yeah. You know, and, you know, and living, you know, living where I do, there’s not a whole lot of manufacturing, there’s some, but there’s not a whole lot.

 

And so it’s like, okay, well, what, you know, you know, the, you know, what are the other choices, right? Yeah. So you started looking to make to figure it out, be like, Yeah, this is it, we’re gonna figure this out, we’re gonna do something different. So what made you kind of stumble across me or one of my trainings? I mean, it was, you know, it was two things.

 

One, you know, LinkedIn is very good at targeted marketing. And so as I was looking for, you know, resume writers, and etc, right, you know, your posts start to come up more and more often. Oh, good for me to know, because I don’t do any paid advertising on there. So that’s cool. Yeah. But but also, I had worked with one of your alumni, I was linked to her on LinkedIn, and she and she had posted about some of the success she had through your program. So I’m like, okay. Yeah. Awesome.

 

Okay. So then you came to the training. And then what, was there anything that like resonated with you or stood out with you for you that you can remember? I mean, you know, I’m a really bad student. And so, you know, so while I had, you know, all these good intentions of, you know, doing the full workbook, etc, etc. And, you know, I paid to have it, you know, printed and bound and etc. You know, I didn’t do a whole lot of that.

 

However, what really stood out for me, you know, about, you know, in your training is that, you know, that you should go and do what actually, you know, basically, what is it that you want to do? Right? Rather than what is it? Should you do? What is it that you have experience doing? What is that, you know, technically do? Yeah, yeah. It’s like, what do you want to do? Right. And that was the biggest thing that I took from it. Right. And that kind of was kind of revolutionary for me, right? Because, you know, I’ve always tried to try to go for the title, tried to go for the salary, tried to try and go for the big win with stock options or etc. Right.

 

And, you know, in the past, you know, one of the companies I worked for, you know, was purchased by a fortune 500. And, you know, I became 1000 there. And, and so I was, I kept trying to chase that. And now I’m in my 50s. It’s like, well, just, I’ve been chasing that big win for my whole career. And, you know, I just haven’t haven’t had it, you know, that that kind of fruition, right? And so it’s like, okay, well, let’s, let’s try something different.

 

Right. And second, you took my phone. So, and so, you know, all those things kind of came together, right? And that’s, just as with my job, I knew I wasn’t gonna, you know, make the big win.

 

And a lot of people, you did make the big win, right? Because it’s like, it’s how you look at it, you had a standard for yourself that was really way up here. And I just feel compelled to say it. Because like, I work with a lot of people, and I’m like, they would look at you and say, yeah, you did make it big, you know. So it’s like, it’s all dependent on your standard. So you decided, okay, I’ve done a good enough job here. And now I have a choice.

 

So, yeah. And back in the 90s, but it’s actually funny, two of the most formative kind of ideas in my, my career have both come from Wired Magazine in the 90s. And one was, you know, reading about, you know, all the startups in, you know, in Silicon Valley, etc. And also, Michael Wolff had a, had a book called Burn Rate. I don’t know if you’ve ever read that. It’s about a, you know, it’s a true story about, about a startup in Silicon Valley, right.

 

And, you know, and I have dual citizenship, I’m both Canadian and American. So I’m, so, you know, at the time, I was like, oh, well, why don’t I just, you know, go down to San Francisco and, you know, and do this, right. It was, you know, about in the mid 90s, you know, but I had a, had a new baby, etc. Right. So it’s like, okay, well, well, I’ll put that by the wayside. But I was always chasing, I was always trying to chase that big win, right.

 

So, so that was kind of a, an innovation in my career. But also, what I had read in Wired magazine about people going to Antarctica, and some of those people were working IT. And that was always something that, that was in the back of my mind.

 

Now, at the time, the way that they selected people was kind of insane. You had to go for training in Colorado, and then you had to actually live in Colorado, while they ran through this lottery system to see whether you would go or not. And it was just like, just not tenable for something very unlikely. Yes, yes. And so I just, I just kind of put it on my mind. But I’ve always kind of, you know, going to Antarctica was always something that I remember.

 

Okay, okay. Okay. Because I was gonna ask you, that was one of my questions was, when did you kind of get the idea? Or where did you see it? Or so it goes way back from something you wanted to do for years? And how did it kind of resurface? Was it from the what do you want to do question? Yeah, right.

 

Just Yeah, what do you want to do? And so I kind of broadened my search parameters in terms of what positions were open. And I came across, you know, I guess the timing was just right, right, in terms of that they, they post the jobs for Antarctica, believe in February, every year, right. And so, you know, it was right around February that I was looking, and all these IT jobs came up.

 

And so I applied for probably at least a dozen, basically any one that I was possibly, I was possibly qualified for, over qualified for and applied for. And, and then I’m like, so one of the things that comes out of your course, right, is that, okay, well, go find someone who can actually refer you or can actually like, you know, get you some connections, right? Because just just a blind applications is probably not going to go anywhere. And so I was able to find an email of someone who was actually in the Antarctic program.

 

And I emailed him, and he referred me over to the hiring manager. And so I called up him and he was like, Oh, yeah, you’ve applied for everything. And so, you know, that really kicked it off. And, you know, and so I was able to get, you know, get an offer actually fairly quickly. I’ve heard people, you know, sometimes apply for years and years before they actually even get a response. And so I think having that going to do and finding the actual hiring manager was, yeah, fantastic.

 

Yeah, I’m so glad we’re doing this interview, because I didn’t, I’m like, Oh, I’m so excited to hear about all these details of what happened. And that’s also something people often say to me, it’s like, Oh, I want to apply for, like, all the jobs in this company, but I don’t want to seem like I’ll just take anything. But you did apply for them all. But they were all IT related, I’m guessing. So they were all kind of related enough that it wasn’t like you were going for one side and the other side. It was all kind of enough. Yeah. Awesome. Amazing.

 

Yeah. So that all worked out really well. So what do you think was the biggest decision or the biggest action that or like the thought process or what that had you get the offer fairly quickly make everything fall in line? I mean, it was, I knew I wanted it. Right. And so yeah, and so but all of those things that are, you know, awkward, right? Reaching out to people cold, and, you know, etc. There was no drama to that, right? Because like, I knew I wanted this.  And so it’s just, okay, this is just the things I need to do to do it. Right. Right.

 

And so none of that, you know, the anxiety and self negative talk, and etc, which usually, you know, companies that you know, these kind of things, just wasn’t there, because I knew this is what I want. Okay, let’s just go through the steps to do it. And, and that’s what removing all that resistance looks like. Yeah. And I remember one of the coaching calls, you had come and told us about this opportunity and how excited you were about it. I didn’t know that you’d applied to so many places. And I didn’t know the whole story yet. But you had said now everything else just seems boring. Now everything else like I don’t want to go apply for like other, like any other jobs, because they don’t seem very exciting.

 

So I guess did you at that at that point, because I think I told you like, Oh, go find something even better or more simple things or don’t go apply for the boring stuff. So do you remember what happened after that? Or was that just? I mean, you know, I think I did, you know, look for some things which are I don’t remember, I don’t think I found anything that was really appropriate. I mean, I remember looking for like, okay, well, you know, are there like school districts, you know, in the north that that, you know, temporary positions, etc, etc.

 

Because, you know, I kind of live in an idyllic, you know, place here on the West Coast. And, you know, I’m not looking to move. And my wife has a good job, right? Right. And so, so, you know, anything I do needs to be temporary, or at least, right, you know, go somewhere for a few months and come back. And so trying to find that was, was a little difficult, right? In the world of IT, right? You know, if I was a trades person, I think there’s lots of opportunities, but Yeah, you did the right things anyway. And I love how you described it, like, because that’s exactly what happens when the resistance is removed.

 

It’s like, okay, I’ve decided I want this. And just these are the things I have to do to get it. And like, awkwardness is out, like, you’re not doubting yourself, you’re just going for it. Yeah, that’s exactly what it looks like. Yeah. So I love that you said you didn’t do the workbook, or you didn’t do all the work.

 

Because I know that a lot of students don’t, right? It’s like, you came to a few coaching calls, and that’s how you got what you needed. And some people will do the workbook and get what they need and stuff like that. But curious if you had any hesitations before signing up or making a commitment to join our program? Was there anything going through your head there that was like, Oh, what if this doesn’t work? I mean, you know, because I actually made the decision and actually quit my job, right? That was, I was, I was like, Okay, well, just this isn’t working.

 

You know, it’s going to destroy me mentally. So I’m like, Okay, so I quit without a, you know, without a parachute. And so, you know, making the commitment to, you know, spend the money without being employed.

 

It was a big step, right. And so, you know, I checked out a bunch of your testimonials, but also because, you know, because I knew someone who had been through the program, and I highly respected her as a, you know, as a colleague, that gave me, you know, good. That gave me enough reassurance that, you know, it was a good investment. Yeah, that definitely carries a lot of weight for sure. I’m so glad that was the way that it happened. Right? Because, yeah.

 

So your experience, your experience inside the program, like, you can, yeah, like, you’ve spoken about it a little bit, but is there anything you want to share with people who haven’t done it, or might be, you know, in a position of like, you know, is this going to work? Yeah, I mean, initially, I was a little, I guess, hesitant about kind of the kind of the group, the group nature of the calls, right? That seems a little… Fair enough, yeah. You know, talking about intimate things with, you know, in a group setting seems a little, a little off-putting at first. But, you know, you are a very warm and supportive and engaging person.

 

And so that, that really helped. But then the community of people, right, and the mutual support that people gave in those calls were, allowed me to overcome that hesitancy, you know, basically within one call, right? That’s so good. I’m so glad you said that. Because yeah, that’s definitely, and I love your honesty there. It’s like, yeah, it can be off-putting. Like, I always say to people, like, I’m not going to pressure you, but you know, it’s okay if you… But yeah, thank you for sharing that. That’s really good. Because I think I know a lot of people could feel the same way. And then, yeah.

 

So anything else you want to add about, like the process or how you moved through it or anything? No, I mean, once, and I can’t remember how many calls it took, probably like maybe only like three before I’m like, okay, this is pretty clear about how I want to go. And then, then it became, you know, as I said, basically just the mechanical process of just… Then the actions became clear and easy to take. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. And it was really, you know, and it was really, you know, getting the permission from you to like, do what it is that I want to do, not what I feel obligated to do. Yes, that’s so good.

 

I love it. Yes. Because that’s what the world is always telling us, right? It’s like, and that’s what I always get for people when I ask them. I’m like, so what do you think is next for you? I could do this. I have these skills. I should be looking at this. I can’t. It’s like, who cares? I want to know what you actually want. I think that’s one of the most valuable questions that we can ask ourselves is what do we really, really want? Amazing.

 

Okay, well, let’s talk a little bit about the results that you ended up getting. So let’s get to the good stuff now. So like the improvement in your, you know, in your life, the changes that have happened and kind of what you’ve been able to experience in the after part of the story. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I’m at the stage of my life where, you know, all my kids are growing up. Right. And my wife has a stable job. And so it’s like, okay, well, I can take some risks and also I can leave home for some months and things aren’t going to fall apart. And really, because I had been unhappy with my job for a couple of years, you know, my wife was like, go do what’s going to make you happy. Right. That means you have to leave for a while. Go do it. Right. So good. Right. And so I got into the USAP, the United States Antarctic Program. And although they have fairly extensive physical qualification, so that was almost a full time job for a while, just getting through all the medical tests. And so it took a while for, you know, the final approval to come through. And so it was kind of getting nip and tuck. Okay, well, am I going to actually go or are they going to, you know, are they going to what they call the NPQ me? Right.

 

So it means not physically qualified. In fact, NPQ is such a big deal. When I was at the South Pole, a band had formed and they actually wrote a song called NPQ. Oh, that would be so funny. Yeah. Because everyone has trouble with the physical qualification process. Yeah. And I think it’s common, like in the world of tech or another world, it’s like the equivalent of the background check. Yeah.

 

It’s actually more intense than the background check because the background check is normally always fine. Yeah. We have to do a background check to get what was called the public trust determination, which is sort of like a security clearance, but it’s a, it’s just a determination.

 

I don’t know, but you can go through most of the same process, plus the physical qualification. And so, you know, all that took some time, but it all came through at the right time. And so at the end of October, they flew down to New Zealand, spent about five days there while they arranged the flights and got on a C-17 in New Zealand and flew to the McMurdo base, which is on the Ross Ice Shelf, right on the coast.

 

And the C-17 is a wheeled aircraft, but the sea ice there is hard enough that a wheeled aircraft can actually land. And then they spent, I think it was a week, five days, something like that at McMurdo. McMurdo is basically like a small town.

 

There’s like a thousand people there in the summer. And because it’s actually on Ross Island, which is where Mount Erebus is, which is the southernmost active volcano. And so McMurdo is covered in volcanic dust and in rock.

 

So it’s actually quite dirty and gritty. So it’s like being in a mining town, but if there’s, you know, because it’s 24 hours sun in the summer, right, there’s nonstop action, you know, construction, everything, nothing ever stops there. It’s quite a bustling place.

 

So spent about five days there while they got the flights arranged to fly to the South Pole. Then got on what’s called an LC-130, which is a C-130 Hercules, which is outfitted with skis. And so then it’s about a three hour flight to the South Pole where they land on skis.

 

You have to be wearing your ECW, which is extreme cold weather gear. And I thought that was kind of strange that, you know, I have to wear this, you know, on the plane. But when they open the door on a plane on the South Pole, it’s very cold. It makes sense then. Yeah. Wow.

 

I’m just thinking you must be like the most interesting person now to all your friends and stuff. Like these are such good adventures. Yeah, so it was quite a shock getting off the plane at the South Pole because it’s at 10,000 feet.

 

And so the air is quite thin. So, you know, you start breathing hard right away. And the average temperature, I think it stayed at, without the windchill, I believe it stayed at minus 27 Celsius, which is about minus 17 Fahrenheit.  That’s basically the temperature stayed. And then the wind would fluctuate, you know, between that. So it was often minus 40 with windchill, which is actually the same Fahrenheit and Celsius. And so you had to be bundled up, certainly.

 

And so what were the conditions that you were then working in? Because you called in from one of the calls and you were like a satellite station. Yeah, yeah. So we have satellite for about 12 hours a day at the South Pole, and it moves backwards four minutes every day.

 

So about two hours a month. Right. And so it started out, you know, where it was, you know, basically during the workday, but, you know, it had moved until, you know, the satellites had shut off, like, I don’t know, like 2pm by the end of the time.  And the satellite is, you know, about, you know, equivalent to 2005 internet, about 150 people are using it. So it was very slow. So, you know, there’s no streaming, you know, no downloading any large files.

 

And in IT, that actually was somewhat difficult, because sometimes you have to download a big patch file or whatever. It’s like, okay, well, well, so, you know, you have to get someone in head office to download it for you and then transfer it to the server, which trickles it over, like, sometimes it would take like two weeks to get, you know, get a big patch file for some server maintenance or whatever. So what was the work that you were actually doing? And I mean, it was, it’s basically straightforward office IT, right? You know, there’s a VMware cluster there.

 

And there’s, you know, it’s all Cisco networking equipment. And so, you know, from a technical standpoint, you know, it’s, it’s pretty, it’s pretty standard IT stuff. And, you know, in the indoor environment is pretty good.

 

Temperature fluctuates sometimes, but mostly you could just, just, you know, wear a t-shirt inside. So it was just like working, working in an office, although, you know, the sun never set. And when you looked outside, it was always a big white expanse when you’re not working.

 

I mean, you know, so sometimes we, you know, went outside, you know, certainly we did some, you know, photo ops, you know, at the, there’s actually two South Poles, one the ceremonial pole, which is always directly outside the station. And it’s got like the flags of the 12 original signatories, the Antarctic treaty around it. So that’s a good place for a photo op. And then because the ice drifts, they have to reposition the geographic pole every year. And it moves, you know, about, you know, about 10 or 12 yards every year. And so, so that, you know, that was a few hundred feet away off to the side.

 

So we did, you know, did photo ops, you know, each of those, we had the over 50 club go out and do a photo op, because most of the people were, you know, in their 20s. So there wasn’t only a few of us over 50s. Oh, fun! There goes the show, you know, don’t let that stop you.

 

That’s right. That’s right. And then, you know, for redundancy, you know, there was another data center, which was about, I don’t know, about three quarters of a mile or, you know, about a kilometer away. Like for most of the Gachiwa snowmobiles, sometimes we would walk out there as well. And that’s also where the satellite dishes were for satellite communication. So we’d have to go out there reasonably often for whatever maintenance reasons.

 

And then also, you know, we also just did just kind of some general tasks around the station, you know, once one out, because the snow drifts barely, you know, about four feet or five feet a year. It actually doesn’t snow at the South Pole, but because there’s such steady wind, snow comes in from elsewhere and drifts and builds up. And so we have these rows of flags, which create trails to the various buildings, right? So even when there’s no bad weather, you can just follow the flag trail and get where you need to go.

 

But of course, you know, even though they’re on six foot bamboo poles, you know, after a couple of years, they stick out of the ground like that far. And so you still have to go and you have to pull them up, reposition them. So, you know, going on a snowmobile and reposition poles. Sometimes, you know, I got a nice frost net, you know, on my face where my gaiter and my goggles didn’t quite meet. Oh, wow. All the occupational hazards of the new.

 

Yeah, all those things you would never know that people are out there doing right now. So what would you say surprised you the most about the South Pole? I mean, it’s certainly, I suppose this isn’t a surprise, but, you know, people are, the people there are really adventurous, right? You know, a good proportion of people, you know, basically have no home address and they travel, right? Basically they work in Antarctica for four months, six months, then they travel for six months and then they come back for the next year, right? There was a good proportion of people who did that. And it makes sense.

 

You know, it’s hard to, you know, it is hard to be away from, you know, away from home for an extended period. And it’s interesting that, you know, even though we had flights fairly regularly, that they were tenuous enough because of, you know, weather and mechanical difficulties, et cetera, that, you know, it did feel pretty isolated, even during the summer. I don’t know if I can quite imagine being at the pole for winter where there’s, the weather is cold enough that they don’t have flights for eight months, right? And then there’s six months of complete darkness.

 

That I can’t quite imagine. However, I am returning to Antarctica at the end of the month. So I’m going to a base called Palmer Station and it’s on the Antarctic Peninsula, which is the part of Antarctica which sticks out towards South America.

 

So this time, instead of going to New Zealand, I’m flying down to the southern tip of Chile and then hopping on a boat. And the boat takes five days to get to Palmer. And then I’ll be there for six and a half months.  And I think we only have one resupply ship in the middle, but the bay around Palmer does ice over. And so… So it’s a new adventure. You’re not going back to the same place you were before. No, no. Although I’m currently scheduled and we’ll have to see whether it works out with the timing, but I’m currently scheduled to return to the pole at the end of next October. But we’ll see.

 

I have to do my physical qualification again when I come back, etc. So who knows if that will come to fruition. I know I’m going to Palmer and then I will most probably be returning to the pole as well. Yeah. So it sounds like they take good care of you. Yeah. And also, I mean, I just it’s a great community of people. Lots of cool people. And just a couple of weeks ago, did some firefighter training in Florida with about half of my team from Palmer. Yeah. Well, it makes sure that you’re in good health anyway. That’s so good.

 

OK, I have two more questions. One is if you were to go back and do it again, would you do it like from the moment you were dissatisfied for the two years? Would you do it any differently or would you just do it exactly the same? There’s no right or wrong. I mean, I think I mean, I don’t know. I think I probably would have been a little more decisive. I had decided I was going to quit my job. I then, you know, took a three week holiday, visited my parents in Costa Rica, got lots of sun and wind. And I decided like, oh, well, my job’s not that bad. And so I said, OK, well, I’ll go back to it. And I think I probably, if I were to do it again, I think I probably would have taken a vacation.

 

I feel like that’s where a lot of people are like just hanging on to that, like, oh, it’s not so bad, just like justifying it. And then eventually they’re going to end up either leaving, doing something. But it’s like that time in between, it’s like uncomfortable, but not uncomfortable enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

 

So yeah, so I probably would. I mean, I’m a doer, right? I take forever to make decisions. And so it’s kind of predictable that that would happen. But in retrospect, it’s like, yeah, that would have been the better time. You could clearly pinpoint that if you had made a decision sooner, then you would have made progress in the direction you wanted to go sooner. Yeah.

 

Which makes perfect sense. Yeah. And then my last question, what would you advise to people who are dissatisfied with their job and maybe have been dissatisfied for a while or maybe have quit and are now in a position to discover their new adventure? What would you advise? Well, I mean, you know, I think, you know, I think the key is, you know, taking that permission to to do what you want.

 

Well, figure out what you want. What is it that you actually want? What do you what are you skilled in? What are you experienced in? What do you you know, what do you feel obligated to do? You know, what’s what’s comfortable, right? Those are not particularly compelling reasons to keep a job or look for a job, right? It’s like, OK, what’s going to get you out of bed, you know, and what’s going to excite it? Right. And you know that I was lucky that I had that.

 

OK, well, I knew that I wanted to adventure and I wanted to go to Antarctica. And so then. Yeah. And I think it’s also worth mentioning that, like, because because they can get to what they want, but then there’s automatically going to be doubt that comes in. Right. Like, oh, but what if this were like like you could have easily said, oh, but like I can’t do this at my age or like you like all these doubts that come into the brain.

 

And I want I think that’s like normal. Like, what did you do about those? Or did you feel like they were kind of quiet? You know, I mean, you know, I mean, my wife was, you know, very supportive. And when, you know, when I had doubts, you know, you know, my parents are like, why do I have to go? Are you doesn’t sound practical.

 

Yeah. And my wife and my wife was like, you know, you know, I can see the smile, like, you know, that you have when you talk about this. Yeah, don’t do that. Right. And so so having that backup, right, that that is like, okay, well, yeah, this is actually making me happy. And I deserve to do something that makes me happy.

 

Yeah. And just having like having for you having your wife or like making sure that you surround yourself with people who are saying, you know, go for it versus I don’t know. You did that in two ways, right? You came you signed up for the program that helped you kind of see that. And then you also had your wife’s support. And not everyone has their spouse’s support. Sometimes you have to lead and get your spouse on board a different way.

 

But that’s like ultimately having the people to support you helps. But, you know, you can find them if you are determined to do. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I feel very fortunate, you know, and I think there was, you know, a good amount of luck, you know, involved in everything. But also to say, you know, good luck is, you know, preparation meeting opportunity.

 

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the fact that you were making those decisions, because you that all could have just been there for you. And you could have not decided or not had the had too much resistance and not gone through with it. So yeah, awesome. Amazing. Well, those are all my questions.

 

Was there anything else you wanted to add? Or? Um, I mean, just I mean, I think, I think it’s a, you know, it’s a well designed, you know, well run program that you do. And I think put together in a way that you can take from it what what you want, right? It’s not you don’t, if you feel comfortable doing the workbook and going to LA exercises, etc. Absolutely do that.

 

But it’s like, there’s enough meat in it that you don’t have to do that if it’s not, it’s not your nature. And that’s what I encourage people because I actually think like, when you said I’m not, I’m not a good student, I was just like, I think you are actually a good student. But this the way that we’ve been programmed that a student is, is I do everything, like all the work, and I do it perfectly.

 

And I do it right. And that’s not what life is. Like, you just get in there and you do it, you, you try something, right? And then you try something else. And that’s how it goes. And so you jumped in to the coaching calls, and you got what you needed there. Yeah, yeah. And that’s gonna be different for everyone’s experience. But thank you so much for sharing everything and your experience. I was so interested.

 

I was just like, I can’t get like, you probably have so much so many people like asking you all these questions that like your friends and people around you are probably thinking you’re like one of the most interesting people they’ve ever met now. It’s like this guy has been it in his whole life. And now he’s off doing all these adventures.

 

So thank you so much again for sharing. And yeah, look forward to everyone hearing this. Hey there, thanks for listening. If you’re new here, I’m Natalie Fisher. And if you want to take this work even deeper than the podcast, where I help you apply it and I help you dig into your own personal situation, you have two ways to do that. The first is in my signature program, the Six Figure Curriculum, where we go through everything you need.

 

And I personally help you weekly to land that six figure premium role. If you want to take the work on the podcast deeper, the links for those are in the show notes below. To go right away, you can go to www.nataliefisher.ca forward slash start