Charlie | Wānaka, Otago

“When I was kite surfing one time, I just caught in some waves and it was pretty scary. So, I just had to hold myself together and because I was getting dumped underwater by some waves, and I actually thought I was going to drown, because it was in a river mouth.

So, I was getting dumped by the waves, and then I was getting sucked out with the current, out to sea. So, I  just had to remain calm, and kind of be brave and courageous and that I was going to be alright, but that was very scary because I’m not a great swimmer. I just kind of relaxed and didn’t try to struggle too much, and then eventually it just pitched me into some calmer water. So, I was kind of brave with that, because when you panic, that’s not a good thing to do. 

I was born in the UK, and I lived there till I was 27, went to university there, and then I moved to Australia, and lived there for seven years, and then met my wife there, pretty much as soon as I got to Australia, about seven years ago, and she’s from New Zealand, so we moved over here. We’ve got a son, and then we’ve got another son on the way. She wanted to be close to her family, but I love it here. I’m a dentist at the moment, but just working part-time. I want to become a helicopter pilot, because that’s always been my dream to do that. So, that’s what I’m studying for at the moment. 

I think that’s the only way to get better, is to put yourself slightly out of your comfort zone, and once you’ve done that you’re going to improve, but if you always limit yourself, then you’re never going to go anywhere. I quite like reading some of these self-improvement books and I find that’s really helped me, just personal development as well as professional development. I’d never really thought about improving my own personal development, but it’s just helped me in everything, like relationships and it’s always in my head, every single day, all the time. It’s just been really good for me, especially someone like myself who’s a bit of an introvert.

When I was looking for a job I emailed all the dental practices where I wanted to work, and they kind of took that on, that I was sort of a proactive person, and it turned out that my values of how I want to work, and conduct myself was exactly similar to them, and it was so amazing just meeting them for the first time, and we just clicked straight away. I was just nodding the whole way through the interview, and I was just like, oh this is just exactly where I want to work. Then they introduced me to the personal development side of things, and they had a whole program that all the employees and the whole team had. Everyone’s got an individual personal self-development plan, and everyone absolutely loves working there, and it was kind of like not having to go to work, because it was just such a fun place to be. I’d never really done any kind of self-development before, but after meeting these guys, and seeing how their lives were as a result of developing themselves personally, I found the power of it, and I haven’t stopped reading and trying to improve myself, watching videos and stuff like that. It’s just a really powerful tool for your both professional and my personal life, as well. Even if you’re about to have an argument or something, I just think of something that I read in the book, and it sort of diffuses the whole thing. It’s a really powerful tool in my life that I’m probably never going to stop.

I think a lot of times if you see someone, you make your mind up about what they are, or who they are, just from the way they look, and I’ve just learned, not to make any assumptions about anyone, because you just don’t know. In my job as a dentist, you really get to talk to people, and it’s actually really interesting. That’s actually the most interesting thing about the job, actually talking to people and getting to know what their lives are about. I actually really enjoy that part of it. It’s like finding out who people are, and some people have got some very interesting stories.”