As the saying goes ‘Tough times never last but tough people do’ couldn’t be more fitting than that of local lad Andy Grant.
Andy has received more intolerable hardships in his past years than others have in a lifetime, which has only made him strive on to greater things, not only in his own life but also helping others along the way.
From losing his mother at an early age, joining the Royal Marines, being injured by an IED and facing life as an amputee, Andy not only went on to become the fastest single leg amputee in the world over 10km, his career is now of a motivational speaker. sharing his stories, Andy help others deal with their own adversities head on.
We caught up with Andy to talk about motivational talks, how the recent coronavirus pandemic has affected his career and how to deal with the inevitable.
Your life so far has been something of a roller coaster from such an early age, there has been turbulent challenges at what point would you say you seen the light at the end of the tunnel?
Despite the challenges I’ve been through in my life I would say I’ve always saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it was something I was born with or developed when my mum passed away, I have always tried to see the positives in every situation. Losing my Mum to Leukaemia when I was 12 made me realise that if I could overcome that loss, I could handle anything life threw at me. Albeit I didn’t expect to get blown!!!
Your positive outlook has seen you go on to a career of motivational speaking, is there one location or venue in particular that has been your favourite?
I feel I have the best job in the world being able to have a positive impact on people’s lives and I get such a huge buzz from hopefully making me people feel better and uplifted. Being flown to China on two separate occasions to speak to the team at Nike was great for my CV as well as a motivational talk to the England football team prior to the world cup. But my proudest speech was probably when I was asked to speak on Remembrance Day at St George hall in front of a crowd of 20,000 people.
To add more challenges your way, how has the coronavirus pandemic affected you, not only as a person but in your line of work?
Like I mentioned I love my job and get a huge buzz from traveling and meeting new people every day so when the pandemic hit all my work stopped and I initially was worried. I talk about in my talks the Commando ethos and one of those values is adaptability. That’s what I had to do. Adapt and overcome. Thankfully, I have started delivering motivational talks via zoom which has been brilliant. I’ve spoken to people all over the world, from New Zealand to California. Business, schools, and individuals and I’m still able to get that same buzz of hopefully helping people through a pretty uncertain time.
How have you managed to stay motivated during the pandemic?
I think like most people I have had my good and bad days. The biggest thing I have tried to do was not to set any overly ambitious goals like learning a language! Simply making it through the day without feeling to fed up is an achievement some days. I have made sure I have kept a certain amount of routine, getting up early-ish, making my bed, getting dressed etc. The little things i find keep you on track and trying to decorate my house when and where I can. Again, accepting that you aren’t going to feel motivated every day during lockdown is important.
Are there anyways people can still manage to hear your motivation talks at this time?
Even when lockdown is over, I will continue to do talks online. Individuals or companies and can email me andygrantmotivation@gmail.com an organise a day and time. Failing that people can message me on social media and I can send a signed copy of my book out which can hopefully act as another source of inspiration.
Lastly, if you could give people a small bit of motivational advice at this current time what would it be?
I always talk about life being 10 percent the situation you find yourself in, 90 percent what you do about it. At the end of the day there are always parts of your day that you can’t do anything about but try and focus on what you can affect. Put all your time, focus and energy into that and above all, stay hopeful.
You can purchase Andy’s book You’ll Never Walk at www.amazon.co.uk/Youll-Never-Walk-Andy-Grant/
