I interviewed Grant Rawlinson who is an adventurer. He is the closest to an Ironman I know of!

1) What do you do?
I do lots of things, but my main passion is adventure, I have climbed mountains all over the world for the past 15 years. In 2011 and 2012 I took part in two expeditions to Mt Everest and was lucky enough to stand on the summit for ten minutes on the 19 May 2012. Since then I have become more interested in very long human powered journeys from one point to another, which can involve multiple modes of human powered transport, e.g. cycling, rowing, kayaking, walking and climbing.

In 2013 I made the first ever entirely human powered journey, from the summit of the highest mountain in the North Island of New Zealand to the summit of the highest mountain in the South Island of New Zealand. It took 22 days and 19 hours to complete this 1400km journey. In 2014 I went to Europe and once again using only human power, traveled over 2000km from the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland, down through England, France and Switzerland to finish the expedition on the summit of Mt Blanc. This year, I left from Singapore where I live now and made another human powered journey to Tioman Island where I attempted to climb a massive rock face called the Dragon Horns. Basically I love travelling by human power, and have a very active imagination. So I am continually dreaming up new expeditions, which normally involve significant amounts of risk and challenge which all needs to be managed to achieve the objective safely. Of course going on expedition does not pay the bills so during the day I work as a regional sales manager and by night I give Inspiring keynote presentations to help pay the bills!

2) Why do you do what you do?
1. Because I love it
2. Because I am an exceptionally goal oriented person and need to have large goals to aim for in my life. These give me direction and purpose and keep me enormously motivated
3. Because I have found that by stepping outside my comfort zone, I enter a special place I call the magic zone, and all sorts of unexpected opportunities arise which lead me in amazing directions

3) How do you find time for all that?
Time management is all about prioritising. People who say they do not have time to do something, really mean they do not place a high enough priority on that task ahead of other tasks. If you really want to do it, make it the highest priority in your day and you will find time smile emoticon

4) What does the future hold for you?
My next expedition is my most audacious yet. Its called ROWING FROM HOME TO HOME and is an to travel from Singapore where i live now all the way back to NZ, entirely by human power. This is a journey of 12,000km and I will use a rowing boat as the main mode of transport. The goals of the expedition is to attempt a unique, challenging and environmentally friendly expedition through a remote and diverse area of our planet. To document and share the experience in order to educate and promote awareness in our environment. To inspire sustainable exploration and development along with healthy lifestyles. You can follow on my facebook page at :https://www.facebook.com/GrantAxeRawlinson or website at www.axeoneverest.com

5) What advice would you give to us?
The wonderful things in life are the things you do not the things you have. This is a quote from Reinhold Messner but it sums up my feelings. I see too many people who are consumed with chasing wealth and material possessions while their health (physical, emotional, spiritual) suffers and their life passes them by. All in the vain hope that one day when they are 70 they can retire and start to ‘enjoy life’ and try and make up for the last 40 years. Taking opportunity to enjoy the stages of your life as you pass through them and the experiences that are available to you when you have your energy and your fitness and your motivation. Don’t leave it too late.

Follow Grant and his adventures here: