Alastair Humphreys Adventurer | Author | Motivational Speaker

See Imitation as a Compliment, Competition as an Incentive

My advice for people who are trying to make their way in a niche, whatever the niche may be.


- don’t be jealous of the success of others. Give praise where it is due and set about working even harder to catch them up.

- don’t big yourself up more than within the acceptable bounds of necessary [...]

Comparing Scotland with the M25

I sometimes feel that I am caught somewhere between two camps.
One side of me is drawn towards hard core physical expeditions, pushing my mind and body as far as they can go. The other part of me is more interested in travel and journeys that broaden the mind and teach me about myself and the [...]

16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump

I couldn’t be bothered to write my own list today so here’s someone else’s tips on what to do when you’re not feeling motivated!
1. One Goal. Whenever I’ve been in a slump, I’ve discovered that it’s often because I have too much going on in my life. I’m trying to do too [...]

How to become an author

Mark Pilgrim, writer and Google employee has these fine, ferocious words to say about aspiring to be a writer. Read them, turn off the internet and then get on with writing your next book. (That’s a message to myself, not to you!)
“I’m a three-time (soon to be four-time) published author. When aspiring authors learn this, [...]

What’s your excuse today?

So, what’s your excuse today?

(thanks to www.mordenhaikupoetry.blogspot.com for the link)

10 Ways to Overcome Resistance

Inertia means that a body remains motionless until a force acts upon it. The larger the object, the more difficult it is to move it. So it is with life.
The longer you have been stuck in your ways – doing the same things year in, year out, without questioning what you are doing, why you [...]

Self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable

I love dipping into the TED archives now and then when I feel I need to tighten up my own work as a speaker.
Yesterday I listened to a basketball coach, John Wooden, talking about his definition of true success. He describes it as: peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the [...]

Explorers share their Inspirations

I spend a lot of my time speaking in schools, trying to encourage young people to indulge in a little bold dreaming.
One question that I am often asked is what inspired me to begin travelling and living the way I do.
My answer is that I enjoyed reading books of great journeys (in particular Living Dangerously [...]

Fill the unforgiving minute

Things become cliches when they become too popular, too common. To become a cliche you first need to strike a chord. Kipling’s ‘If’ is, I believe, a poem worth re-reading as we head into the New Year. What’s your favourite line? Mine is “if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk [...]

What I learned from Innocent Smoothies

I really enjoyed reading Innocent Smoothies’ latest book, the account of their development and some of the lessons they have learned along the way. I met some of the Innocent team at last year’s Do Lectures and was very impressed with their ethos.
It taught me lots about ethical business, and gave me stacks of [...]