Ten Lessons From Australia's Latest Hero

Nedd Brockmann shows us how to dream big, test our limits and inspire a nation

Nedd Brockmann, a 23-year-old sparky (Aussie for electrician), became a national hero in the space of 47 days when he ran nearly 4,000km across Australia.

His achievement has lessons for us all.

Unconventional running career

His running career started during COVID as part of a plan to better himself. He started running with a mate and built up to a 25km run, then a full marathon.

Next was a 60km run from his home to the supermarket. He wore a 2-year-old pair of joggers and footy shorts and top. He was powered by Sour Patch Kids and half a bottle of water. Come 55km he was so dehydrated could hardly stand. He told his Mum he was done and she said, “Are you sure?” So, he dug deep and did the next 5km — in doing so he realised the power of the mind.

Then he ran 80km doing 100 laps of Bronte carpark overnight, with each lap having 30m of elevation. He crawled home but was driven to do more. Two weeks later he did a 100km run.

In 2020 he decided to do 50 marathons in 50 days, around his work and raise money for the homeless. The naysayers were quick to tell him it was impossible. He proved them wrong. He completed it, despite picking up injuries on the way, and raised nearly AU$100k for the homeless. His drive for helping the homeless came when he moved to Sydney and was disheartened by the number of homeless on the streets in Sydney.

Running across Australia

The 50 in 50 was massive but Nedd still felt like he hadn’t reached his limits. He decided to try and break the record for running across Australia, which stood at 43 days. With it, he set an audacious goal of raising AU$1m for charity. Two years later he was on the start line.

In the 47 days that followed he had to overcome excruciating injuries, exhaustion and terrible weather.

Even when he knew the record was out of reach, he didn’t take his foot off the gas. He doubled down and kept going because he could see the impact he was having.

There was a crowd of at least 10,000 and every news channel to greet him as he ran across the finish line in Bondi. I was there and have never witnessed anything like it. To get that many people out of their homes, at 5:30pm on a Monday afternoon, to cheer him in says everything about Nedd and his achievement.

Image by Edwina Pickles/Sydney Moring Herald

Celebrities and politicians, including our Prime Minister, shared their praise on social media.

He ran 3,953km in 46 days and 12 hours. In the process he raised a staggering AU$2.5m for the homeless charity, We Are Mobilise. His Instagram following grew from about 5,000 to 235,000.

I am in awe of Nedd. There are SO many lessons to take away from what he did — most of which he shared as he went. Here are my top ten.

1. Don’t let labels stop you

Nedd didn’t consider himself a runner, but he didn’t let that stop him for a second. He hadn’t entered races or been coached before the 50 in 50.

It’s easy to put labels on ourselves — I’m not a runner, I’m not a speaker, I’m not… The word we need to add is, ‘yet’. And it’s easy to let early experiences in life limit us. You might say you’re not athletic because you didn’t win the egg and spoon race at school. Really? Does that prove you don’t have athletic potential? No.

If you’re curious about something, want to do, want to be it — that’s all you need. Get after it, and don’t let that negative voice or naysayers hold you back. Prove them wrong.

2. Don’t let fear hold you back

“I’m afraid of failure and I’m afraid of fear, but standing up to fear is where the beauty is.” Nedd Brockmann

Too often we can let it come between us and our dreams and the life we want. It keeps us where we’re comfortable, but in doing so it creates an invisible prison around us.

Fear is an uncomfortable feeling, so naturally it’s tempting to move away from it. But every time we do, we strengthen that wall, robbing ourselves of opportunities and experiences.

The goal isn’t to be fearless. It’s about building our courage and not letting fear stop us. Learn to accept fear, face it and overcome it. Once faced, fears no longer have power over us. We are free.

3. Challenge yourself and be relentless

“As humans, we should crave hard things, because challenges and hard times create growth and change. When you don’t do hard things and challenge yourself, your world quickly becomes a boring, monotonous place. I beg you all to get out of your comfort zone and do something that will challenge you.” Nedd Brockmann

Amen to that. This brings meaning and purpose to our life. It puts us on a path of self-discovery. If we don’t, we will never get to see what we are capable of, we stagnate and let life happen to us rather than live intentionally.

If there is one word to sum Nedd up, it’s ‘relentless’. Prior to this run on his bedroom wall was written “Be fucking relentless. You’ve got this.” It was the first and last thing he’d see each day.

Being the best you can and achieving huge goals will never come easy. But easy doesn’t bring satisfaction and fulfilment. Easy doesn’t bring rewards. Hard work does.

4. Limits are there to be explored

James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) says,

“People get so caught up in the fact that they have limits that they rarely exert the effort required to get close to them.”

Nedd has a relentless desire to be the best version of himself. To give it his all and see what he is capable of. He showed how far we can go if we are willing to give it everything.

“There’s something to be said about giving our absolute all. I don’t like half-arsed, I like the idea of throwing absolutely everything at something and just going with it. That in itself takes a whole lotta courage…” Nedd Brockmann

To explore your limits, you have to be willing to give it 100 per cent. It’s scary — heading into unchartered territories, accepting it’s going to hurt, accepting we might fail. But it’s how we become the best version of ourselves.

5. Don’t shy away from suffering

“The person who is willing to suffer the most and for the longest will be the one who comes out on top.” Nedd Brockmann

It is only by being willing to suffer and endure pain and discomfort that we can achieve great things. Success and greatness don’t come from picking the easy option, from sitting on the couch, from sleeping in, from giving in.

It comes from feeling the pain and carrying on, from doing what’s hard, from getting after it when all you want to do is give up. A muscle needs to be stressed to grow, and so do we.

“This run has been so much more than a run. A battle, a show of suffering and a willingness to keep on fighting until the absolute end. I’ve had all the injuries, all the elements and every single god dam reason to quit, But that’s not what you do. EVER.”

His message throughout his journey, which I wholeheartedly support is ‘get comfortable being uncomfortable’.

6. What might seem like game over isn’t

“You’re never ever out of the fight. Keep showing up, give yourself a chance, put all your energy towards getting whatever it is done, sink your teeth so far into it, get fucking scared, brace yourself, freak the people out around you and you may just pull through with the goods. Tomorrow we go again.” Nedd Brockmann

On day 11 the pain really started for Nedd. Day 12 he pulled the pin after walking 42.2km and it was decided he needed to get scans.

He had extensor tenosynovitis. The options were: pull the pin, go in a boot for six weeks or two cortisone injections. He chose the latter and the following day knocked out a 100km run and 675km the following week.

He shared this on day 27:

“I’m fighting off immense sleep deprivation, I toss and turn all night as my body aches like nothing you can even imagine. I’ve got severe tenosynovitis in my shins, Achilles tendinitis, pussed up blisters, maggots growing in toes, patella femoral pain, IT band rubbing, hip flexors shot, biceps can’t straighten because they’ve been in the flexed position for average 100k a day.”

He carried on and gritted through it. While he could put one foot in front of the other, he was going to keep going. His mantra was — just keep fighting.

7. How to take away the overwhelm

“Just keep showing up, that’s all you can do. One day after the other, the brighter days will come.” Nedd Brockmann

Each day was broken down into 20km chunks and these were then broken down into about 5km. At times he would focus just on the next kilometre, or 100m or one step. Whatever seemed possible.

If we focus on how far we have to go, we can psych ourselves out. If Nedd had spent every step thinking about how much further he had to go, he wouldn’t have made it.

Whatever you are working toward, break it into smaller chunks. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just focus on the next task, the next step.

8. Power of purpose

“If your reason to get something done is bigger than your reason to quit, you’ll just keep going.” Nedd Brockman

Purpose gives us our ‘why’ and gives our life meaning. It gives us a reason to get up, get off the couch and get going and the determination to overcome obstacles, to not back down.

It is like wearing armour that lessens the impact of setbacks and tough times and buffers us against suffering. Purpose gives us extra energy and motivation.

Nedd had multiple goals and reasons for this undertaking. This along with an unbreakable mindset, kept him going through the most brutal of situations and achieve the seemingly impossible.

9. Have a support team

He had a strong support team with him — his Mum and Dad, girlfriend, a physio, photographer and videographer. While they all had their roles, collectively they were there to support him, encourage him, hug him, and be a screaming wall when he needed it. To be whatever he needed at any moment.

As his following grew, a supportive community grew around him and he was inundated with encouraging comments. Or rather, he grew a community around him, he allowed us in and we reciprocated.

He didn’t cover up the lows. Here’s a post from Day 33:

“At the 20km mark today, I broke down so bad. I cried and cried and cried. I was so scared. Felt incredibly vulnerable. I had all my team around but I was honestly so in my head and just dead set petrified. My body was screaming at me. I really didn’t think it was possible to keep going.”

And he had his mates on the end of a phone and sending messages. The post above continued with this: “Then of course, as he does, my mate smacked me through the phone and told me to sack it up, it’s only two weeks until I’ve pulled off the unthinkable.”

As the African proverb goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

10. It’s the journey, not just the destination

Ned realised he wasn’t going to make the world record. But this run was about so much more than that.

“On 1st September I set out to break a world record, raise 1m for the homeless and inspire a bunch of people off Instagram to get after it in their daily lives. To give people the belief that they can do anything if they sack it up and have a crack. The record is out of the picture, but myself and my team getting to Bondi is without a shadow of a doubt going to occur. The million dollars is looking promising and judging by the 100s of messages I’m receiving daily, I believe the inspiration to keep fighting each day is wearing off on each and every one of you. Whether you want to admit it or not.”

It would have hurt like hell to not make the world record and it would have been easy to drop to say 50km days, which would still have been amazing. No one would have judged him for it. But that wasn’t going to inspire people, or help him reach the fundraising target.

And it was about giving it his all every day. The fact that he did that, even when the record was out of the picture says everything about Nedd and I think made his achievement and message more powerful.

Thank you Nedd for taking us on an amazing journey, for inspiring me and for making me laugh, cry and think.

I’ll leave you with this from Nedd:

“When you string together a few back-to-back hundreds, you start to believe anything is possible. No matter how fucking big. So go out and get SOME. Do that marathon, start that book, dream fucking big and live a life you’d be proud to tell your grandkids about.”