December 31st 2016 it was a cold morning
and I stopped to take some photos of the
dozens of people who had come out to see
me this was it this was the end of the
year that had brought so much joy as
well as misery a year in which I had
learned more about myself and my limits
than ever before I had ridden 52,000
kilometers in the last 365 days if
you’re not sure exactly how far that is
the circumference of the earth is 40,000
kilometers I wrote a little bit further
than that and I’m not even a cyclist or
at least not the kind that you might
think I am
you probably think I’ve had this massive
cycling career but at the point that
which I decided to take this on
I had only ridden a bike for two years
to be honest I’m an average cyclist it’s
certainly not a fast one but what I like
in Tallinn
I make up for in determination my name
is Kaiser Thailand last year I set a new
Guinness world record for the furthest
distance cycled in a year by a woman I’m
going to talk to you today about why I
think you should be setting goals that
are quite frankly out of your reach
goals so big that you actually have to
grow into the person to achieve them
because I believe that we’re all capable
of so much more than we think both
physically and mentally now the first
question you’re probably thinking is why
why would somebody do something so
ridiculous well I’ve spent a lot of
hours on the bike contemplating just
that and have come to the conclusion
that it’s because I’m lazy now you
probably wouldn’t describe me as that
considering what I’ve just told you but
I am I’m inherently lazy or rather I’m
always taking the easy option so I’m one
of those people that will carry as many
shopping bags from the car and one go
that I can handle even though there’s a
risk of me dropped in them
bring them all just so that I don’t have
to go back out to the car when I was a
kid my idea of tidying my bedroom was
just closing the door and my teachers
would always have the same feedback for
me at school could try harder to be
honest it’s it’s rubbish being lazy but
once so as they was and that could
change then it really opened my eyes
everyone should at least go some way to
fulfilling their potential and I knew
deep down that I wasn’t fulfilling mine
I’d come up with reasons not to get fair
well excuses really too many parties to
go to mainly mm-hmm
but would also judge people who have fit
and healthy and assumed that they
couldn’t be having any fun if only I
knew then what real achievement actually
felt like then I found something that I
enjoyed exercise wise and eventually
half-heartedly took up running so what
was the trigger that let me led me to
leave laziness behind and start pushing
my limits to be honest I don’t really
know there was just some small switch
that flicked in my brain well maybe
there was a trigger and I just don’t
remember what it was maybe it was a
gradual thing but I knew I had to do
something and the first thing obviously
was to throw myself off a bridge oh I am
terrified of heights but there I was
standing on a bridge over the Corinth
canal you know it well maybe and about
to plummet to my death
the countdown began five four three two
one go no not a chance
then the bungy guy I think that was his
official job title said something to me
that would change my life forever look
at the horizon he said like your mind
for one second and in that one second
four four would pass the point of no
return it’s all it takes took a deep
breath
five four three blank mind fall forward
simple when you think about it so that’s
what I did my first thought was of
course but I survived did everyone wake
up yeah did I enjoy it now at least not
the first time I’ve done it twice again
since then but why am I telling you
about my bungee what does this have to
do with cycling not much it was just a
huge life lesson I learned that I could
do something that I really wanted to do
but was absolutely terrified of I
learned that I was more than just my
fears now some people they do one great
thing but it doesn’t change them as a
person been there done that got the
t-shirt the bungee could have been that
one thing but I saw it as an opportunity
to form a pattern of positive behavior
rather than just seeing it as my end
goal what it made me do was realize what
my mind was capable of and I could use
the momentum of that bungee jump for the
next challenge I mentioned running
previously I’d attempted a half marathon
without much training and ended up
staggering round with a full marathon
that wouldn’t have been possible and
besides I didn’t want to just stag
around I wanted to run and I knew but if
I didn’t train for it I would never be
able to do that so I got myself a
training plan and with that completed my
first marathon without walking it became
clear that to achieve what I wanted to
achieve and not some lesser version of
it I would have to work hard
consistently after the marathon and a
hike up Kilimanjaro I took up two Athlon
because I was getting bored with just
cycling and I discovered so I was
getting bored of just running and I
discovered cycling my relationship with
the bike was not exactly plain sailing
my body specifically my backside was not
happy about my newfound hobby
persevered and eventually built a put
enough muscle and stamina to be fairly
comfortable on the bike and I started
doing longer distances then I read about
an incredible woman called Billy Fleming
who in 1938 wrote nearly 48 thousand
kilometres in one year to claim a world
record wouldn’t it be cool to get in the
record books I thought a seed of an idea
to beat that record had been planted and
I knew that Billy was a woman just like
me with no racing background and if she
could do it
why couldn’t I there will be no easy
ways out for an entire year I had to
ride over 50,000 kilometers to claim
that record and there was no way around
it so I came up with a list of reasons
in my head not to do it and I had to
figure out how do I get those reasons
off my list do I have to learn something
new if so what was it how do I learn it
and really I didn’t know if I could
actually do this there were so many
what-ifs Wi-Fi couldn’t handle the
weather that England would throw at me
what if I couldn’t handle the pain the
loneliness the boredom what if I failed
that was the biggest one what if I
failed and I thought to myself well what
is failure anyway anyone who’s achieved
so nobody who’s achieved anything great
has done so without failing the inventor
Thomas Edison summed it up brilliantly I
haven’t failed who said I’ve simply
found 10,000 ways that won’t work the
first thing we need to do is to stop
judging each other and our perceived
failures if we see others as failing
rather than learning then we’ll believe
that’s how others see us and really
anyone who sees life that negatively are
the ones who need to start doing and
failing if you’re sitting on the couch
because you’re too afraid of failure to
even try and you’re not allowed to tell
me or anyone else for that matter that
we’re failing I realized that I was the
only one who could define failure in
this
if I did my very best then I couldn’t
fail my best was not enough so be it if
I got injured and I couldn’t carry on
and so be it but one thing I did know I
wouldn’t quit and besides what if I
didn’t fail what would I get as it turns
out a lifetime of lessons some amazing
new friends and a Guinness World Record
to put on the wall and of course the
knowledge that I could laugh in the face
of laziness which made it worth it so I
had to learn a hell of a lot just to get
to the start line and I had to train and
I had to plan and so began my year and
those life lessons began straightaway on
the third day I was so cold and
miserable that I spent the entire day
crying I never wanted to expense again
so on that day I learned a few things
about clothing choices I learned that
misery is only temporary and most
importantly I learned through failure
and there were other tough times too not
just the cold there was the boiling heat
of the summer the winds the rain the leg
fatigue the saddle sores briggs it for
each of these obstacles i had to find a
way through i could have quit but that
became too hard i spent too much time
and energy in planning this and making
it happen the perceived easy option just
wasn’t the easy option anymore
and don’t forget I’m lazy so trick
myself to do stuff for example I know I
can quite easily talk myself out of
doing something so I’ll tell everyone
that I’m gonna do it because I also know
I don’t like to break a promise I say
I’m gonna do something then I’ll
generally do it I also know that if I
sit down on the sofa at the end of the
day I have a very hard time getting up
so I’ve taught myself to exercise in the
mornings and to push it even further
leave the right clothes right next to
the bed the night before so that I can’t
come up with some clothes related
excusing the more
like a never-ending argument with myself
yeah but it might rain mm-hmm so wear a
cap and a raincoat I’m exhausted from
whatever ridiculous reason yes but you
know that you get energized by going out
an entire year of that and it became
like second nature and during my year I
would often return to that Bungie second
like your mind for one second I taught
myself to blank my mind for many many
many many seconds and just kept going I
spent 35 years wasting my potential can
anyone in this room honestly say that
they’re as fit as they could be perhaps
you’re not active at all walking to the
shop is hard work in that case walking
five kilometers might seem absolutely
daunting but if others can then you can
to the greatness of a goal is not
defined by anyone other than yourself
only you know how big your goal should
be and don’t be afraid of that goal if
someone tells you you can’t do it
including yourself then find someone who
tells you you can and trust them I
became the person I needed to become in
order to succeed to steal the quote I
set myself a goal so big I could only
achieve it by growing into the person
who could I believe that anyone can do
the same if you know deep down that
you’re not fulfilling your own potential
do something about it set yourself a
goal and grow into the person who
achieves it whatever it takes based on [Applause]