Born March 23, 1977, in Melbourne, Australia
Personal Success Definition
I define success as anyone who is doing what they love in life, while also helping as many people as they can.
Paul de Gelder has achieved so much in life, he was able to make a major difference for his home country of Australia by serving in the army as a paratrooper and in the navy as a bomb disposal diver. He is now continuing to better the world around him by working as a passionate environmental activist, motivational speaker, and mentor to children in his home town
Skills for Success
Paul de Gelder is successful because of his 1)His drive 2)his unwillingness to give up 3) and his heart. Paul was kind of a troubled child growing up, he caused a lot of mischief but he was able to get his life back on track when he joined the Australian army in 2000 at the age of 23. In April of 2006 he officially switched into the navy as a diver. But it was in February of 2009 that he was attacked by a 9 foot bull shark while diving. He lost his right arm and right leg to the shark.
How Paul Uses These Skills
His drive in life is what led him to give up his life of partying to serve his country to get his life back on track. without his drive, he likely wouldn’t be where he is today. His unwillingness to give up can be seen in many parts of his life. Military training is very rigorous and he could have given up at any point but he didn’t. When he had his shark attack he could have very easily just given up, but instead he decided to persevere through his physical therapy and become a better, stronger person because of it. Paul also has a huge heart. He works as a motivational speaker for other amputees, he also does a ton of environmental work with sharks, despite the fact they almost killed him. Instead of believing that sharks are evil man eaters, he decided to take it upon himself to learn about these beautiful creatures in their habitat. He continues to dive with sharks while educating people on this very misunderstood animal.
Challenges Overcome
Paul has faced many challenges in life despite the obvious challenge of losing two limbs in a traumatizing shark attack. He was the oldest of four growing up, and his dad was a police officer, meaning he was gone often. this left his mom to raise him and his siblings practically alone, and with Paul being the oldest, he was given the least support. He then struggled to hold a job for a while, working in strip clubs, bars, and even trying to start a career as a rapper. When he was attacked by the shark, his hand was completely gone, his hamstring was shredded and his sciatic nerve was torn. The pain he felt in the hospital was so horrible that he thought about ending his life then and there, but he persevered. He has suffered from PTSD ever since, but instead of hiding from his fear, he faced it head on and now has a incredible passion for the very thing that almost killed him.
Significant Work
Paul has wrote a book called “No Time For Fear” where he details his whole life from his childhood, his career in the military, to post shark attack. He has been featured on the Discovery Channels “Shark Week” where he has been a part of many research projects from tagging, to monitoring migratory patterns. He has also become part of an anti-poaching team in Africa to hunt poachers and film the amazing work done by the Rangers there for “FEARLESS”, aired on National Geographic. Paul has been recognized as one of the top fifteen most inspirational Australians and top ten speakers.
Resources
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