Here is the transcript of the motivating interview with Bonita Norris, the youngest British woman to climb Mount Everest, inspiring people to push themselves further to be successful in life.
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Kevin: Welcome to Maximise Potential the podcast to educate and motivate through a range of original interviews designed to help you maximise your potential.
Welcome back everyone to episode 18 of the Maximise Potential podcast. Climbing Everest is widely regarded as being one of the greatest tests of skill, endurance and courage. And today we are fortunate enough to have an exclusive interview with someone who has achieved this incredible feat plus at the same time has created her place in the record books. On May 17th 2010 Bonita Norris became the youngest ever British woman to climb Everest at the age of just 22. So we are very pleased that Bonita has chosen to share some of that incredible journey with us today on Maximise Potential.
So please enjoy.
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Bonita thank you very much for joining us today on the Maximise Potential Podcast. I think we will start off at the very beginning about what actually possessed you to take on you know one of the hardest of hardest challenges and climb the world’s highest mountain.
Bonita: It started in November 2008 I came up with an idea that I could graduate and go and climb Everest and it came to me literally one night when I was sort of dozing off in bed and just sort of captivated me. I didn’t really understand why at the time but in the months coming up to that I had taken on quite an interest in Everest and I had read books on it and been to talks and also interviewed for my student newspaper a now good friend Rob Casley who climbed Everest I think five or six times. I picked his brain for about three hours for this student newspaper article and I found out so much about Everest that normal people just reading a book perhaps wouldn’t. And I realised that actually you know the highest mountain on earth wasn’t necessarily the toughest and from what Rob was telling me it sounded like a feasible expedition given you put in the effort to train yourself and essentially the money is quite an important thing you have a sponsor. And so I think that had a real big impact on me actually interviewing him face to face. And so yeah a couple of weeks later after telling him when he invited me on a base camp trek that absolutely not I have never worn a pair of hiking boots in my life. I have got no interest on going on an Everest base camp trek I then phoned him back and said actually Rob I am going to go to the Summit with you in 2010 I hope.
Kevin: You said Rob I have bought some hiking boots it’s all okay.
Bonita: And I think his reaction was quite stunned to say the least.
Kevin: I bet it was.
Bonita: I had never covered a snow covered peak; I had never even climbed a mountain in England. So I set my sights on Everest in November 08 and I was planning to leave in March 2010.
Kevin: It is just great I think this comes back to the fact that by just throwing yourself out there, you know by your desire to learn experience new things all of a sudden this came from nowhere. It came from absolutely out of left field and you were like I am going to do this.
Bonita: Everyone kind of says it is my crazy idea when actually it was quite, in some ways it was quite logical. I knew for instance that the current record for the youngest British female was 25 or 26 years old.
Kevin: Yes.
Bonita: I knew there was no one attempting to break that record any time soon and so I kind of felt that there was a big gap in the market. And to get sponsored for something like Everest you know it is a state, in the state of today you need a sponsor and to get a sponsor you have to have something that they can use for PR and things like that. And I thought that was a great angle that I could become the youngest British female. So those kind of things from a commercial sense clicked into place and had they not you know I had the idea previously to that epiphany that I would climb Everest at some point in my life but then it suddenly occurred that actually with the state of the record only being no one wanted to break in then why not me. And that was really what galvanised me into action was that there is a little gap here that I can fill. You have to understand and completely respect that if you are going to go and ask someone for £60,000 you have to give something back and it is a business deal you know, you are not asking for money you are asking to do a deal with them which they should get a return on. And I was lucky I suppose that I understood that straight away and that was really what galvanised me I suppose was the fact that this record was in place and that just looks terrible chasing records but I wanted to climb Everest and I had the opportunity so I took it.
Kevin: No that’s right. And lets talk about that actually because I was going to come on to that later but seeing as you raised the issue of sponsorship you managed to achieve sponsorship during a period where the economy in essence over the UK was on its knees. It was right at you know the bottom at that stage. You have gone out and actually managed to get a company to invest £60,000 in you who has never done any climbing in your life but you have gone there with just a vision but somehow you have managed to make all of this work. So it would be really useful just tell me about how you have done that.
Bonita: I think I touched upon just previously the fact that it was not asking for money it was about doing a deal with them. So as I said I decided to do it in November 2008, I didn’t find, I didn’t sign with my sponsor until February 2010 so that is over a year, well over a year off writing to people, writing letters, phoning people up, pitching to companies in the middle of a recession and everyone going its a recession are you mad why are you even bothering. But I knew that I did have something that I could offer. I knew that a company could get a good return if I was successful on my expedition in terms of PR and press and what not. And I had that belief that I had something that was worthwhile and I think that is important. It wasn’t just that I thought I could benefit from it I thought someone else could and I really believed that company was going to make, was going to have a lot of benefit from being behind me. I had no security in that sense, as I said I didn’t get my sponsor until the month before I left.
Kevin: No and that was what I was going to put into perspective here. You have gone through the entire journey of preparation in your mind, you are still leaving for this and yet you didn’t have a sponsor in place for it at the time. That shows the power of vision and belief and inner strength that you actually possessed that you know not once, you may well have lost heart, but I tell you what you obviously kept going I mean just finish that off for us, explain that a bit more.
Bonita: There wasn’t really a moment in the whole 13/14 months that I was looking for a sponsor and training at the same time and knowing full well that I didn’t have a sponsor that I was put off or disheartened I just, I genuinely thought that if I could go to the Alps, climb mountains there that I would be able to get on an expedition in the Himalayas and so those small goals kind of kept me going. And also I thought if I can prove to people that I have the skills necessary then I am more likely to get a sponsor. So I was kind of putting a lot into the fact that I would have to get to the summit of Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas. So it was a lot of just get to the next stage, just get to the next stage and then someone might be more interested in supporting you. And I was lucky I didn’t expect to go to a company and say I have got no experience give me money I had to go out and prove myself first. So the kind of physical training was very integral to get the sponsor. So that kind of kept me going I suppose. Saying about digging deeper and keeping going through the darkest winter of having no money etc, etc, it wasn’t like that I just, I wanted Everest so badly and I was so focussed on it I didn’t consider that I wouldn’t get a sponsor. As far as I was concerned it was just waiting for the right time. And I look back now and I think god I was so cock sure and it could have all gone so wrong.
Kevin: But there is probably a lot of other people who have achieved a similar approach, a similar feat to you that probably think exactly the same. What I find amazing with doing these interviews is there is something inherent to all of you that I interview and you all come, there is a similar underpinning of something in your background, something in your inner sight that does make you cock sure about it in your words that does make you have that extra believe that actually no this is going to happen why wouldn’t it happen.
Bonita: The whole expedition and the planning and the training it just all felt right and I can’t give any other reason other than that. I have other ideas in the past and they just haven’t worked and I think that is because I just didn’t have the belief in the idea. And for no good reason Everest just seemed like a good idea and it stuck. I knew it could work if I was just given the chance and I think that was the difference.
Kevin: And I think it is relevant to also discuss as well about how you have explained to me that family, friends were very hesitant and very sort of non forthcoming in their support for the project yet again you managed to push on through that. and I think that is worth explaining because there is a lot of people when for example they are trying to change career or they are trying to go into business for themselves that they get an unbelievable amount of negativity from the people closest to them who all seem extremely risk adverse. And I don’t know if we can draw on some comparisons here but if we can I think it would be great to explain.
Bonita: I think risk adverse is a good term actually for most people’s families and loved ones if my little brothers turned around and said they wanted to climb Everest I would be exactly the same as my parents just completely horrified and scared for them. My dad was very supportive but the rest of my family were just horrified by the fact that I was going to go and purposely put myself in so much danger and they didn’t really understand why I would want to do that and they couldn’t understand it so we had a lot of arguments, a lot of heated discussions, a lot of tears on my behalf arguing over why I would want to go and do such a thing. And in the end I just kind of realised that actually I wasn’t going to persuade them the best thing I could do was just go and get on with it and just let my actions do the talking and thankfully they did. And now they are obviously incredibly proud. I wouldn’t say boastful but you know my mum she doesn’t mind telling everyone at Tesco that her daughter has climbed Everest and things but she was the first to say it is a ridiculous idea. So it was more just not getting involved and sort of fuelling their worry but just sort of getting on with it behind the scenes and then turning round to them one day and saying actually I am sponsored I am going.
Kevin: And so literally not bothering to waste the energy in confrontation in trying to convert but just actually say no I genuinely believe in this I am just going to crack on with it, I am going to put my energy into the positive elements of this and I am going to make it happen.
Bonita: I think I just respected the fact that they didn’t want or couldn’t comprehend what Everest meant to me and what it was as a mountain. They didn’t want to understand it and I couldn’t, I didn’t want to force them to support me they either were or they weren’t. My dad was on board from day one but my mum and my step dad and the rest of my family were just scared for me more than anything, just didn’t want me to go because they didn’t want me to die and that is the only reason. But you know they shared my excitement in the end of the lead up and I think they were just incredibly proud and they couldn’t believe it because they just thought in a recession you know people from Wokingham with our background do not get loads of money to go and do something crazy like climb Everest. So I am very happy that I proved them wrong in some sense because it has kind of inspired them with their own businesses and stuff.
Kevin: I was just going to ask you that. I was going to say has your strength of belief and your ability to accomplish things in a time that everyone else said no chance this is not going to happen, how has that rubbed off on people and the other people in your circle?
Bonita: On the surface it is a very inspiring, I suppose a very inspiring story and it has, you know I have had people that have said you know if you can do it then why cant I. And I am absolutely saying yeah of course you know if you want something you just have to go for it and there is no, there is no other way of getting to your goal other than just taking action and getting on with it. And all the people that I have spoken to in a similar predicament to me have just gone yeah just like get on with it there is no secret formula it is just working quietly towards a goal and just not pussy footing around tasks that you have to do and just doing everything that you do to the best of your ability and I think that is important as well.
Kevin: That is something that when we were just chatting before we just started today that I really, really liked about what you were saying. Again going back to this issue about when you managed to get the sponsor in place which was incredibly late in the process but you still drove yourself on with all your preparation every single day leading right up to this and it was the way you described that process of driving yourself on and accomplishment that I felt would be wonderful to share.
Bonita: I just did it I suppose I don’t really know why.
Kevin: I think this is the problem when we were talking about it afterwards and I said to you come on what did you do was special, what did you do that you know how you unleashed or unlocked yourself so that you could dig deeper and accomplish stuff that other people don’t and you sat and you were like well what have I done? I haven’t done anything different like that. and I said no but the fact is you have accomplished it and that is the difference and it was the way you described to me about how you just broke everything down and you just took one step at a time.
Bonita: Yeah that was a very important aspect for me that I, I suppose I learnt was just taking it a day at a time and not being disheartened by rejection I suppose was a big thing. And was just not loosing the faith. And I think knowing what I wanted to do inside out was absolutely integral I knew everything about Everest that I possibly could. I read books on sponsorship. I researched my companies so much before I approached them and so I think because I didn’t feel like I was in deep water I feel like I knew the situation and that allowed me to approach it a bit better. And I think maybe that is a little bit of a better answer for you but really I don’t know what kept me going I just did it. I just got on with it really. I had these little goals and I just slowly sort of kept ticking them off and then before I knew it it was the big one and thankfully that got a tick as well.
Kevin: And that is the point I think. I think that is what you said, you knew that each one of those goals were going to take you closer to your vision, closer to that big dream which was to reach Everest and you know that as long as you kept ticking off those goals you were going to get there.
Bonita: Well hopefully yeah I didn’t know for sure but I thought I was giving myself a good chance if I did everything else.
Kevin: Now what I think what I would like to know a bit more about is we come back to team work an awful lot in business; we come back to team work in all sorts of things. We know that as a rule if you want to accomplish great things in life there is a team behind. There is never normally person that is achieving it. Climbing definitely strikes me as something that team work is very, very important on. I mean can you describe a bit about the dynamics of how this works and how important it is.
Bonita: I mean I am no expert on sort of giving advice on team work for business and stuff but in my sort of personal experiences climbing big mountains like Everest you are not actually attached to each other you are on a fixed line and it is only really on [Manistly 0:14:52] that we used, we roped up together to cross cravas fields and that took an incredible amount of just cohesion we all had a different saying for a different aspect of a cravas like snow bridge or stop, move, go we were constantly shouting at each other if we were moving over a cravas field together. So that was probably the most team work I have done on a mountain. But really on Everest anyway we were climbing a lot on our own and it was actually when we were back in base camp or in camp that the team work started and that was essentially just keeping up morale. And we were so lucky to have just had such a fantastic team this year, just everyone I hate the word gelled but we did we just gelled straight away and it kept morale high. We all had the same goal and we were all in the same boat and we all had the same vision and we were just, we bonded over that and we really looked out for each other I think. That was very important. As a team we wanted everyone to succeed and we weren’t going to do that if we had low morale so we were very lucky I suppose.
Kevin: What has it taught you about when you do your next big things about how you need to try, what sort of dynamics are you going to look for?
Bonita: With any kind of team that I would work with in the future I would just think that everyone has got to just be honest with one another and open about any issues because that was quite important for us was just to not let things build up. In those kind of environments you have to let off steam all the time because otherwise you are going to just keep quiet and then explode at the worst moment. And that is probably the same for business environment as well. So we kept it light hearted and honest and I think the main thing was the fact that we had such great morale and I would look for that in any team just a cohesive and dynamic team of different characters that just work well together and there was no ego anywhere on the team which you wouldn’t expect on an Everest expedition. You would expect some egos but there weren’t any and that was I think what helped as well.
Kevin: Yeah I was going to say that has surprised me because I have always assumed just from looking at the outset from the media side and following people that have achieved feats like climbing Everest that they do seem larger than life characters.
Bonita: Oh definitely I think I was lucky enough to really meet all my heroes on Everest you know I climbed with Kenton, Rob Casley who I interviewed way back in 2008, all sort of Everest heroes of mine and to be actually be around them and realise that they are just absolutely average normal guys that have the same issues that we have everyday and the difference is that they are inspired by climbing and as I said they just get on with it and they just do it and they don’t think it is a big deal. So I think meeting my heroes was quite sort of an important moment because it made me realise that you know these guys were no different from me I could do what they were doing if I had the inclination. I don’t know if they would agree with that. well I think that you know especially Rob would just say that it just takes hard work, determination, luck of course comes in to it but also taking measured risks and if you want you find yourself in a few years time having achieved stuff you never thought possible and I think that, I am happy to bag that one up.
Kevin: Well I think you are living testament for the fact that is possible I mean going from someone who had never climbed a mountain or even contemplated climbing a mountain to now being British female record holder for climbing Everest you are living proof of that. And that’s the point you are sitting here saying I am normal. So I think we would guarantee that they would be sitting here saying exactly the same. But I think as you have said all it has been is just applying yourself and having that clear goal and genuinely believing in that goal.
Bonita: You know Everest is a very clear goal. Some people might not be able to sympathise with the fact that it is such a clear goal you simply want to get to the top. Business is very different my step dad and my dad run businesses and they are not always sure of the end goal and so can appreciate that actually in real life it is a lot harder to stay focussed on one thing because it is not as clear. And I think that is why it was so easy to just keep going because the goal was so obvious and clear in the end, I just knew exactly the path to take and in real life it is not like that so much. There isn’t always a clear goal but finding one helps, it makes it a lot easier.
Kevin: I have resisted asking you this but I am going to jump in and I have to ask you, come on tell me what is it like to stand on the top of the world?
Bonita: It was just another day, it was just another morning we got to the summit about 10 o’clock I was tired, we hadn’t really stopped for 10 hours, hadn’t eaten anything for 10 hours if not longer.
Kevin: So that was how long the final assent was on something?
Bonita: Yeah 10 hours from Camp IV and so really we got to the top and it was a white out, we could have been in Wales and it was, but the moment was suddenly seeing my team mates there on the summit, one of my team mates got out a t-shirt that his son had given him that said ‘Live the dream’ or something and he had been so determined to take this and it just bought tears to my eye and I think that is when I realised where I was. And so obviously then just fell to my knees really and just was so thankful. I don’t think I am particularly religious but I was just thanking God, thanking everyone, I was thinking about telling my parents and my sponsor at home. There was so much stuff going through my head but at the same time I was just, I had this overwhelming feeling of I have got to get down. So actually the summit it was a great moment, was it the best moment of the whole Everest journey absolutely not there were moments that I enjoy far more reliving in my head. And I think that is the beauty of a big challenge is actually you put so much effort into the training and the conditioning and you go through so much just to get to that end point that the journey is just as fantastic and such a roller coaster and that was so true on Everest. It wasn’t the top at all that was exciting it was loads of other little moments. But actually the goal, Everest is a mountain of the mind, it is just a goal for people to do and I don’t think many people can say that the summit was their best moment. I can’t talk for anyone else but that was my experience anyway. But on summit day I can remember walking up the south east ridge and being very tired and cold and just thinking I know as soon as the sun comes up things are just going to get better and as I thought that I looked over to my right and there was the sun coming up on summit day on Everest and it just filled the valleys below with light and it was orange glow, it was just stunning and you could see the curvature of the earth. It was incredible and I remember then feeling very much sort of like yes we can do this now the sun has come up, we have got a few hours to the summit, but it was short lived as I said the weather came in, we had bad weather on summit day but you know it was good.
Kevin: When did it sort of sink in, was it very much after you got home or it was even getting down to Base Camp and what not, was it then that it began to sink in what you had actually achieved?
Bonita: I was kind of completely bemused by it. I remember being sort of half asleep at Camp IV once we had got back and I had a really tough time on my descent I hurt my neck and it took me forever to get down, I needed assistance and what not and finally got back to Camp IV had a few hours sleep before going back down to Camp II the next day and I can remember opening my eyes and just realising that I had actually summated Everest and every morning for about a year and a half I had woken up and gone will I wont I. And then it was just like I have. And I said to everyone I was like Guys we are now four Everest summiteers and Kenton went shut up you are not down yet. We have got a long way to go do not start celebrating.
Kevin: That’s where the experience always comes in.
Bonita: Exactly, exactly. And luckily from Camp IV to Camp II I was okay I walked all the way with everyone else then from Camp II the next day to Base Camp walked. I was in a lot of pain but people sort of say to me oh like how did you keep going when you were in terrible amount of pain and I just told them because we had to. Because I wasn’t going to sit down and give up so Kenton was completely right. But there was that and again every morning for about a month I woke up in the morning and thought I don’t have that weight on my shoulders anymore it has gone and that was a realisation it was waking up that morning on the south coal and I actually didn’t believe it at first I had to get up and look around and go we’ve done it.
Kevin: Wow once you had actually come down off the high and you realised I have achieved this did you feel like there was suddenly a void?
Bonita: I was so content at Base Camp and the next thing I know Kenton has booked me a helicopter because I had a little bit of very superficial frost bite on one of my toes which was just in the skin but he was like very keen that I wouldn’t walk out back to the nearest air strip just because he didn’t want me to damage my feet so next thing I am being flown away and that was a real shock to have been in this little bubble with these wonderful people for six weeks of my life and to have thought of nothing else you know. Oh what there is a volcano exploding in Iceland that is causing loads of problems so what you know we are on Everest we don’t really, we don’t have any affinity with what is going on in the outside world. And then suddenly I was torn away from that bubble and dumped in Kathmandu in a very nice hotel I must say otherwise Kenton will get annoyed but and away from these people and sitting in the buffet eating soup on my own after eating soup with people for the last two months and having wonderful conversation. And so that was a massive like really horrible time those three days waiting in Kathmandu on my own before I went home. Being on my own and really mourning the loss of one of the best experiences of my life knowing that everyone was still together as well. So there was a massive come down yeah. If I had it my way I would probably still be there and I would have everyone there with me and I wouldn’t have come home because I just enjoyed it so much.
Kevin: Have you all managed to meet up together since, when did you manage to get to start seeing everybody?
Bonita: Well I have seen some of my team mates. I have caught up with Kenton, I have caught up with others that were English but there were Americans and Australians on our team as well so it is not so easy. But I hope we have got plans to do other expeditions together I mean we were a great team and we worked well so it would be silly not to.
Kevin: So that is the interesting thing I mean you know you have just touched upon there is something there, I can imagine something is bubbling beneath the surface about what is next. I mean hear you are you have lifted a huge weight off your shoulders, you have climbed Everest, you have achieved a massive goal. I am interested to know actually what is next because I can’t imagine you now just going oh well that’s fine, you know scratched the urge I will be fine now I will just live a regular life. I somehow don’t quite see that happening.
Bonita: Yeah I mean I want to continue inspiring myself and finding challenges that are inspiring to others as well and that at the moment, a real pull for me is the South Pole forging not a new route but a very not often trodden route to the South Pole. So the idea is to go in the season of 2011/2012 reach the Pole by January 2012, go unassisted, unsupported in a female team and hopefully become the youngest woman to have done so.
Kevin: Where did this come from?
Bonita: This has just simply come from the same place that Everest came from. Just reading books on it, talking to people who had done it, being captivated by it and just thinking I want to feel what they felt and unlike Everest the expedition that I am planning now has a lot more weight with sort of importance with you know the Polar community with hopefully going from a point on the Antarctic Coast that normally people leave from and to go and support it as well is a huge challenge. So we are kind of pushing boundaries a lot more than perhaps I was in Everest but I think that is only natural. You know now that challenge is over I want to progress and I want to push myself harder than what I thought I could. And that is what these challenges are about and hopefully continue to inspire kids and other people that are interested in the process. So we will see. But January 2012 hopefully will be reaching the South Pole.
Kevin: Oh that is great. That is good. I think this is what I have enjoyed about interviewing you because not only are you the perfect person to feature on this Podcast but you are also the audience of this Podcast as well.
Bonita: Oh 100%.
Kevin: Yeah you said that what you love is just trying to find I don’t know you have got this constant desire to learn and expose yourself to new things so you can actually find new ideas and find new ways to challenge yourself and I think that is worth talking about a little bit.
Bonita: As soon as I come back from Everest people for some reason ask me for advice on you know and I often get ask the question I really want to do something, I really want to do a challenge, I want to do something different, I am fed up with normality of my life what can I do? And I kind of say you know I could never recommend anything other than you have got to find what suits you, inspire yourself, not everyone is going to want to climb Everest, not everyone is going to want to row across the Atlantic, I cant think of anything worse than doing something like that. but everyone has their own challenge it is just a matter of finding it and the way that I did that was as you said by talking to people who had done it, interviewing people, reading books, going out there, enjoying the hills in person. And I think that is the most important thing for anyone that wants to take on a challenge is to really find something that just captivates them and they wont be able to put a finger on why, it will just be this is what I want to do. And I think I was very lucky and fortunate to have been able to find something that felt so right so early on in my life and so long may that continue. Just inspire yourself really there is no formula for success or for an enjoyable challenge. Just do something that is unique to yourself and as I said early just be the best at it. There was no way I was going to get a sponsor if I was going to give out the same out drivel to companies that everyone else was doing. My proposal had to be the best one they saw; my pitch had to be the best pitch. You know you are in a competitive environment so I would say to anyone absolutely believe in what you want to do and do it to the best of your ability.
Kevin: And would that be your advice over all?
Bonita: I really think it is about the small steps of having the big goal which maybe in five years time or two years time and breaking it down what do I need to do today, tomorrow, this month and the small steps I think is the main thing. If I went to Everest Base Camp looked at the summit I would have just freaked out and gone home because it is two miles higher than Base Camp is. You know it is a very formidable challenge but when you think about all I have got to do is get through the ice fall today and get to Camp I and from Camp I all I have got to do is walk through the western comb to Camp II. And you break it down and that’s how people achieve seemingly huge feats of endurance and what not is simply by breaking down these long term goals into short term ones. So I have got a million pieces of advice that I have learnt but that would be probably one that sticks with me on a day to day basis is simply what do I need to do today that is going to propel me towards my goal for tomorrow and I am sort of a sucker for that and it keeps me going really.
Kevin: I do far worse things. Now I think you have already answered this. Is that the primary thing that you do to maximise your own potential would you say? Just trying to actually achieve something small on a daily basis that works you towards a bigger goal?
Bonita: Yeah I think to maximise ones potential you do have to have a sense of the bigger picture where you want to be in a few years time, what you want to be doing. Maybe it is not a few years time, maybe it is in two months time you want to run 10K but you have to break that down. And that is the only way the little undergraduate student like me could possibly taken on something like Everest and raising the money for Everest was by simply getting in ten minutes of work here doing a little bit there and just doing what I could when I could and not getting too caught up in the big picture but just working away in the moment. And climbing was the same thing it wasn’t about worrying about the top it was literally these next few minutes what dangers are in front of me what do I have to do and just being in a flow I suppose of just being consumed by the challenge and what the task at hand is. So yeah the small steps.
Kevin: Awesome. You have shared some absolutely wonderful stuff on this Podcast today. I really want to thank you for your time and I think this interview has drawn to a natural close so I think on that note I think I would like to say thank you and really appreciate everything you have shared.
Bonita: No thank you Kevin it was good fun.
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Kevin: Thank you Bonita for sharing your journey with us as well as giving us a wonderful insight into the motivational approaches that you apply within your life to achieve these incredible goals. If this Podcast has inspired you to learn a little bit more about Everest then you will be pleased to know that we have listed some of the most popular books on the subject on the webpage so just click through to maximisepotential.co.uk and go to Episode 18.
I would just like to make a special announcement from our sponsors actually Jenrick Recruitment. Jenrick are running a learning lunch webinar on Thursday November 25. It is called ‘How to become a top 10% candidate’ and will help anyone who is searching for a new job, helping them to really stand out from the crowd. The job market right now is probably at its most saturated and competitive that it has ever been in its existence so therefore something like this can only really help you. It is completely free and it is being presented by one of the leading authors and trainers within this field so probably well worth taking advantage of. You will find a link to the webinar on the webpage for Episode 18 and also don’t worry if you only manage to catch up with this Episode after November 25 because the link will automatically be updated to show whatever the next webinar is in the series.
I know I normally tell you who is up next in the Podcast series but I am currently editing about three episodes right now but I am keeping my fingers crossed that the next episode is going to be with David Weir the elite British Wheelchair athlete who has completely re-written the record book on wheelchair athletics. We were very lucky that we managed to catch up with David during his preparations for the New York marathon and as I say I am hoping that that episode is going to be up next because he is someone that really maximises his potential.
So until next time thanks for tuning in and of course keep working hard towards maximising your own potential. I will leave you now with ‘Just once’ from Xerxes to enjoy. See you later.
Music
So there you have it. We hope you enjoyed this very inspiring interview with Bonia Norris. We have to admire her extreme courage and skill in this incredible feat and who it also helps motivate others to maximise their own potential and be successful in life.