This week’s conversation is with Annabel Anderson, the world #1 female SUP athlete from 2012-2017.

Annabel has won the biggest titles in the sport of stand up paddling multiple times – She’s a 5x world champion, has beaten the best men in the sport, and orchestrated the campaign that resulted for equal pay and opportunities for female athletes globally.

She is also an elite cyclist & mountain biker, skier, sailor, and surfer.

If there was ever anyone who lived up to the moniker of versatile – Annabel Anderson is it.

Career ending injuries curtailed a promising ski racing and triathlon career as a young athlete resulting in 11 major surgeries by the age of 24.

Versatility, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit for marginal gains became common themes.

But maybe the greatest challenge lies yet. This past year, she’s had multiple freak accidents resulting in an extremely broken body. The challenge is now to return to normal function and to face what ever the next chapter holds.

This conversation cuts right to the center of how Annabel became the person she is today and what’s been behind her success.

It’s not everyday we get to hear from someone who’s won as much as Annabel and I think you’ll be interested to learn her views on it:

In Annabel’s words:

“Winning is really fun the first or second time and then it becomes normal, and then it becomes expected. How do you raise and elevate and deal with the internal pressure and the expectations of others? When winning becomes the one dependent it’s not exactly a great game to be playing. It has a finite end.”

I can’t wait for you to learn from Annabel.

“Everyone has a different path and gets dealt a different set of cards. Stay true to your why and what you love.”

In This Episode:

• Her outlook on life: move forward, don’t look back
• Grew up in New Zealand, learned how to be resourceful from her mother
• The most important trait she developed was self-reliance, stemmed from living 40 minutes away from civilization
• The cost of becoming great at self-reliance: finding it difficult to be vulnerable and trust others
• Why her recent freak injuries have made her reassess her willingness to be vulnerable
• How bullying affected her as a child
• The differences in how men and women view competition
• Realizing at this point in her life, she has more to give than to gain
• Why winning can becoming tiresome
• What’s been critical to her success? Falling in love with the process and the mundane
• How she’s going about transitioning to the next phase of her career and life
• Her personal philosophy