Lee and KATE discuss:

• Kate’s extraordinary triathlon world championship success and cycling world records

• The experiences amassed from extensive and ambitious travels

• Inspiration that Kate draws from everyday champions, more so than typical role models

• Struggles with identity in finite careers, such as that of an athlete

• How Kate thrived in the wake of financial and emotional challenges

Links & references:

Lee Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leecooperrecruiter/

Kate Strong: https://katestrong.global/

https://www.instagram.com/katestrong01/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katestrong01/

Strong Voice Podcast: https://katestrong.global/podcast-copy/

Get in touch: lee@extrology.com

Episode highlights:

“I think the entrepreneurial buzz was always present, but I kept snapping back into a compliance role of fitting in, pleasing my parents, making sure that I played the role of what was expected of a woman, in whatever I created of society. Then after a few months or years, I'd snap and pull myself out and start being myself, maybe a little extreme with moving to Australia, but then finding myself slowly slipping back into that compliance role.” - 8:00 - Kate Strong

“Successful businesses aren't the best product or the best service. It's actually how to make sure we can replicate it and we get those feedback loops. Buying an off the shelf business such as a franchise in Subway, you do get that benefit.” - 9:30 - Kate Strong

“In 2012 when my relationship broke down and I was left with significant debt, a lot of self doubt, a lot of questions and confusion around what I was doing with my business, my life, every part of my being, I knew I needed some element of focus to stop living in the past with that bitterness and regret and the ‘What if’ of the last 9 years and pull me into the possibility of a new future. So it was around early 2013 that I revisited that triathlon dream.” - 19:00 - Kate Strong

“To find out my best level I have to aim to be the best, because if I aim just to finish, that's where I'll be. So I said I’d aim for number one, and you'll see me on the podium, and if I don't make it then it's obviously because someone else turns out better. But that was my new goal.” - 27:45 - Kate Strong

“I believe everyone has the capacity to reach whatever goal we set, and it's up to the size of the game we play to determine what we achieve. I had the courage to set world champion as a goal and achieved it in incredible time. So on the day it was more of a confirmation of belief that we are capable of so much more than we can ever imagine or even try to achieve. Suddenly, the world opened up and I went, ‘Where else am I playing small? How else can I step up and do more?’” - 34:55 - Kate Strong

“That's what keeps me going; I love to feel like I'm supporting and helping and contributing and bringing in awareness. But I also love that feeling back when I'm learning about some wrong in the world that I'm potentially, if only a drop of water’s size, able to contribute to undoing it as well.” - 45:20 - Kate Strong

“There is gold in every single person's story because they've lived 24 hours a day, in an experience that I will never probably experience myself. So it's up to me to find gold in their story, not for them to show me how good they are. For me, the role models are the people on the bicycle, obviously struggling because of their weight - they are my champions on the bike. The single mother who has five jobs and cooks microwave meals, she is my champion.” - 50:20 - Kate Strong

“I fixated on what strong meant in that strength attitude, but strength can come through being me. It can be through explaining that I'm struggling to share the question marks of my life as well. So I think that's something else that I can cope with anything that comes, but my power is my strength, and I make sure to share that as much as possible.” - 52:00 - Kate Strong

“Just be you. Stop playing the game of society. Stop trying to please other people. My parents have never been more worried about me than when I tried to please them, try to play that role, try to hide the toxic relationship and the struggles I was having within that sphere and that sector of my life.” - 59:55 - Kate Strong

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