Manuel Bustelo Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Manuel Bustelo
Manuel Bustel is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.
He is a man who quite simply it seems does things his way.
He is living life to the full and experiencing in a few hours the kind of stuff that most of us wait until a vacation for.
Born in Mendoza near the Andes in Argentina, it would seem obvious that his path would have gone the way it has in some ways, but then again we see time and time again on Join Up Dots that the obvious is not the normal.
He was born with asthma, and instead of his parents giving him medicine when he needed it and keeping him away from sport and exertion, they instead encouraged him at the age of four to go skiing.
On the mountain tops, where the air is thinner would seem a strange place to send an asthmatic child, but actually they laid the first dot in his life…the love of doing things differently.
How The Dots Joined Up For Manuel
And from that small boy, he has grown into a man who is now tackling the land above and below the water to bring the fragile but astonishing beauty of the world to all of us.
Mountain biking down volcanoes, diving the oceans of the world, he is inspiring a generation to take care of what we have all around us
As he said when asked about his desire to be a true adventurer “The notion of being an adventurer is great, the more adventurers we have in the world, the more nature will be respected. By getting closer to the environment – at 3000 metres watching the sunset, or being underwater with a clownfish, seeing the difference between corals that are alive and corals that are dying, we better understand the world around us.
We, as humans, need to touch or see things for ourselves otherwise we can’t fully relate to them.
If you don’t see something, you don’t feel it. I think that can be extended to everything.
The more people that ride bikes around the world, the more people that climb mountains, the more people that get close to nature in any form, the more advocates we have for conservation.”
So is this a message that is getting through to the world, or are we all programmed by the “Well I can’t do anything on my own” mentality?
And what would he choose if we only allowed him to keep doing one of his three main passions “Biking, mountain climbing or diving?”
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Manuel Bustelo
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Manuel Bustelo such as:
Why you gain such an appreication of what is going on above the land, by diving down below the waters of the world to see the true fragility of the world.
How there are very few people in the world who can cover all their living expenses to become true explorers without outside help.
How he has struggled to balance the life that he wants to live, with the life that his family wanted him to live, and is precious about the time he has with his loved ones.
And lastly….
Why he experienced a strong feeling that he needed to get out of New York City and lasted only three days before saying farewell to the Big Apple
How To Connect With Manuel Bustelo
Return To The Top Of Manuel Bustelo
If you enjoyed this episode with Manuel Bustelo, why not check out other inspirational chat with Mimika Cooney, Crossnet, One Year No Beer and the amazing Jack Canfield
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription Of Manuel Bustelo Interview
David Ralph [0:00]
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Intro [0:22]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be but somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:48]
Yes, hello there, everybody and welcome to Join Up Dots. This is an episode that I have been looking forward to for a long time. Just recently we’ve been very entrepreneurial. We haven’t had an adventure. For a while, but we’ve certainly got a good one today and he is somebody that quite simply has a fascinating story of being the kind of man who quite simply seems does things his way. He’s living life to the fall and experiencing in a few hours, the kind of stuff that most of us wait until a vacation for Boney Mendoza near the Andes in Argentina, it would seem obvious that his path would have gone the way it has in some ways. But then again, we see time and time again on Join Up Dots that the obvious is not the normal. He was born with acetone instead of his parents giving him medicine when he needed it and keeping him away from sport and exertion. They instead somewhat bizarrely encouraged him at the age of four to go skiing instead and on the mountaintops where the air is thinner. It would certainly seem a strange place to send an asthmatic child but actually, they laid the first.in his life the love of doing things differently. And from that small boy, he’s grown into a man who was now tackling the land above and below the water to bring the fragile but astonishing being beauty of the world to all of us. Mountain Biking down volcanoes diving the oceans of the world is inspiring a generation to take care of what we have all around us. As he said, when asked about his desire to be a true adventurer, the notion of being an adventure is great. The more adventures we have in the world, the more nature will be respected. By getting closer to the environment at 3000 metres watching the sunset or being underwater with a clownfish seeing the difference between corals that are alive and coals that are dying. We better understand the world around us. We as humans need to touch or see things for ourselves, otherwise, we can’t fully relate to them. If you don’t see something, you don’t feel it. I think that can be extended to everything. The more people that ride bikes around the world, the more people that climb mountains, the more people that get close to nature in any form. The more advocates we have the conservation powerful stuff. So is this a message that is getting through to the world or are we all programmed by their Well, I can’t do anything on my own mentality and how What would he choose if we only allowed him to keep doing one of these three main passions biking, mountain climbing or diving? Well, let’s find out as we bring them to the show to start joining up starts with the one and only Mr. Manuel Bustelo. Hello, how are you, Manuel?
Manuel Bustelo [3:13]
Well, hi, David. Well, that was an awesome introduction. Thank you very much. You’re very humbled by your words very well. I’m very happy
David Ralph [3:22]
Your actions lead to the introduction. Yeah. And I’m gonna get straight to it because we’ve got so much to talk about. It’s untrue. But you seem a romantic guy just the way that you explain things in such vivid imagery in that introduction about watching the sunset at 3000 metres and being underwater clownfish. Are you a romantic guy? Have you always seen the beauty and stuff?
Manuel Bustelo [3:48]
Well, perhaps, if you define romantic as not only being touched by the things that I see and the nature that surrounds us as human beings, but by always needing people around an apartment and lova Rami? Yes, I’m a totally romantic guy. I love to be to be with a partner. I don’t to have a girlfriend. I recently got married, by the way.
David Ralph [4:13]
Oh, congratulations.
Manuel Bustelo [4:14]
Yeah, thank you very much. And as I spent a wonderful honeymoon secularity with my with my wife. So I am I’m very romantic. It is true that you know by watching sunsets. It has happened to me in the past or by reaching summits. on my own, I have been close to tears or crying because I, I took out of the boogers of my Zagat photo of my mom and my sisters and my that alone made me cry. Therefore, I think I’m a romantic person. Perhaps someone that cries a little bit more than than a normal man as
David Ralph [4:51]
well. I think that’s the case of why your story is so powerful. You care about things that most of us Don’t even think about and I will put my hands up. And I would say that the thought of the coals being alive or dying don’t really sort of impact me until somebody sort of mentions it. Is it something that you would feel differently about? Do you think if you weren’t so involved in your kind of life that you build for yourself?
Manuel Bustelo [5:20]
Absolutely, absolutely. He has certainly has evolved very much. I mean, as you very well described, I was born right next to the Andes Mountains, and I was lucky enough to be born in the era where the unders Montana are the highest. Therefore, there’s a mountain they are called Aconcagua, which is very well known through the undertaking on an on a I was lucky to climb a mountain. And I spent, what 2425 years of my life basically spending every every weekend cool. It either up in the mountains or riding your bicycle. But then it is cores cube 11 and is quite funny because partly, you know, is the main or perhaps it’s the biggest commercial organisation for divers says that if you’re not scuba diving where you are, and the reason why they asking that is because 70% of the planet is water, and 30% of the planet is earth. And you know, we’re getting more and more cramped in in our planet, while 7.5 billion people in the 30% of the surface that we have in our planet. So, you know, by by incorporating scuba diving into my life, it changed a lot the way I see the way I see how I have to live my life before I enter into a different form.
David Ralph [6:49]
And does it make such a difference going under the water? Do you understand more about what’s going on above the water by going below?
Manuel Bustelo [6:57]
Yes, absolutely. And it doesn’t refik connection there is even a connection that is also not not it’s not very much notice yet you will be in the future. It is beginning to be spread in as human beings that we are born above the water. And the Let me tell you briefly about two of those. The first one is that the richest ecosystems we have in the planet are actually on the water. The coral reefs are the richest ecosystems we have in the planet, you will never see as many live species such as corals themselves, their living plants on top of Iraq, or fish around the chorus, as you will see in in any forests in planet earth or say the Amazon forest or for instance America. So, the oldest riches ecosystems we have in the planet. They’re all on the water. Bigger underwater. And the second one is the connection that there is between everything that is happening on land and in the sea. Most of us like to eat fish. We know since the very old types of fish are a rich source of proteins on on omega three and six are lots of different you know stuff that are useful for our health. But not that many of us know that since we began the Industrial Revolution and if you they case after that we began using oil to produce produce plastics that we all use, you know are they laid off. I right now while I’m talking to you how a plastic pen in my hand and he’s got a plastic cup as well. All this plastic plastic has gone or some of it has gone in To the oceans already, when we began producing plastic for different human needs, and he has been broken down into small particles. So we probably all have seen a plastic bottle in the ocean or in a river of well, we don’t know, we’re beginning to know is that the political Thrones? Are they good or broke down these now something called classics. And the microplastic is a real problem for everybody, for all the fish in the ocean, for all the big fish that eat the small fish that eat that microplastic for our self as well because we’re beginning to see that the fish that we eat has a certain amount of level of chemical contamination and that can because some of them they come from a plastic cup broke down into small particles and he was eaten by fish. So there’s a there’s a very strong connection between the oceans on on us as human beings. living above the water,
David Ralph [10:02]
though, so if we asked that question to you, man, well, if you could only do one thing biking, mountain climbing or diving again, which one would you choose them?
Manuel Bustelo [10:12]
As soon as you mentioned that in the introduction, it trigger me, you know, to start thinking or the answer, and it’s a really tough one I have to I have to admit because, well, you know, I, I think I wouldn’t be I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have done the things that I’ve done through my 30 years of life. If it wasn’t because I was born close to the mountains, seen loads of friends and I made loads of friends. Through my life, I spent 24 years he knows and then I move to Europe. I live in three different countries in Europe. I am lucky enough to have two citizenships. One of them is European and one is nothing American. And I love making friends with all around the world. I see now those friends who are born in big cities, sometimes they do not tend to go the way I chose. Therefore again, the fact that I was born close the mountains and close to nature made me the man that I am. So mountains mountains are really important in my life. I have had wonderful experiences because of the bicycle. I have been able to travel to lots of different countries and I still do it. I recently spent two weeks in North Wales should in mountain biking documentary with a friend from from UK. But I wanted to dive in I want to just keep alive in that is was scuba diving ended up giving me the
Unknown Speaker [11:53]
in they’re giving me the
Manuel Bustelo [11:57]
the way to think more carefully about the planet where we live. That is what gave me the chance to see the difference between something that is alive and that is completely dead, such as a dead car system and very little fish. Very little forms of life around the chorus and a chorus system that is alive that is healthy. And the amount of light from big fish to small fish to sharks to turtles, to newly branches for return little ones that you can find here and in cars. And that again gave me the touch to understand that that our planet is it is extremely beautiful, but at the same time it is extremely delegate and we as humans right now are creating trust that the planet has never seen before. At least not created by us.
David Ralph [13:04]
And I suppose because you’ve chosen to go under the water. That is the ultimate true adventure now, isn’t it? Because my my idea of an adventure is somebody bat coming to finds places before anybody else has. And most of the land unless I’m being naive has been sort of discovered, but under the water, you’re literally breaking new barriers every time you kick your feet on you.
Manuel Bustelo [13:28]
So yeah, David, that has been a very interesting question you put forward as I mentioned before, I spent two weeks in the in Egypt, in the Red Sea. I’m always very interested in going to countries where there’s a connection as well with ancient cultures. I love knots. I like a lot the history of human beings and I’ve been to Guatemala and Mayan ruins now twizy on all different places on the way back reading about all the history of physics and reading about different stuff, I also came across an article in National Geographic, the one from May, sorry, the one from from all that I highly recommend. And he’s about a lot the group of American climbers that after summit in Paris in 2009, they were looking for another mountain, of course, wasn’t as populated cities erase all the other mountains around that one nowadays. And it took them quite a while to figure out where they Google that wasn’t, there wasn’t a climb before or explore before. And, and as I was laying back on the plane or in that article, he made me think that the ocean actually have only explore 1% of the ocean waters. Therefore when it comes into exploring places that humans haven’t been yet and things that we still have A lot to learn the ocean is the perfect playground.
David Ralph [15:04]
So if we took you back to that that young child could you see that child now ever working in an office? Is that never gonna ever happen? Are you always gonna be somebody who’s out and about doing this stuff? Because what I find fantastic man well and I think so many of my listeners struggle with is the fact that you are doing these things but you’re kind of earning money at the same time it’s a job, which they kind of find it difficult to quantify in their head how that’s possible. So could you spend your time working in an office or would that just be a no go?
Manuel Bustelo [15:41]
I like to make a little clarification of our this this question because it is it is quite important for for everybody that wants to somehow leaf leaf a lifestyle such as this one. To understand that there’s there’s not that many people around the world That completely cover their life expenses with these, all of those who can do it are the professional explorers, for whom I have a very great admiration and lots of respect. And I hope one day I can become one. So I do have to spend some time sitting in front of the computer. Luckily, the office is my computer, and I can take it anywhere. And I have to work for projects that are not totally under my interest. But those are the ones that gave me the money to leave. I co finance all of my expeditions and all of my sports with the support of sponsors, and with the support of the destinations that I touch on that I explore that are the At the end of my trips, I somehow promote if there are, if they are to be promoted because those are places where people should go such as what I have we Mota when I was cycling and scuba diving in Malta, what I’m doing now with the Red Sea, or the Great Barrier Reef, the year before and so on. But again, if you want to live a lifestyle ladies, you become a professional Explorer, which is really, really difficult to to achieve. Or at least you have to start before I did it, I became or somehow I made the switch when I was 30 until I was 30. I love doing sports and I love climbing mountains or riding bicycles. But I was working in an office and I go to enrol in a Master of Business Administration that made me quit my job for a year. And so I was back in university. When I came out of university I somehow found the strength I found The knowledge and I found the freedom that I was looking for to begin working and living the way I’m doing it now.
David Ralph [18:08]
And that’s a key point, isn’t it when you say that you found the strength. So even somebody like yourself, it was a struggle to believe that you could do what you’re doing.
Manuel Bustelo [18:19]
Yes, yes, absolutely. It was a struggle and it is a struggle. Perhaps 100 years ago, 200 years ago, it was still easier to become an explorer or wall Explorer, and so on. Today, you got lots of stuff that you need to cover you have to pay for, for the plane tickets you have to pay for, you know, for for for the promotion that you do that that will require at least a computer and an internet connection is solid one. Therefore, you will have to have somehow a place to live where you’re going to have that solid connection and then come back home and I write articles, edit the photos, put together videos, and all that nowadays cost money. But that doesn’t have I mean, I never really thought about how much it’s gonna cost me I simply didn’t have the enough strength to maybe switch between deciding for what I, what I choose when I was young. When I when I went to the University, I decided to follow a career in international relations. And indeed, I spent a couple of years in in Belgium in Brussels, working for the European Commission. So I was quite close to achieve my dream and to become an international politician, per se. But it was that very moment as well that something inside me was telling me that I was not going to be happy to the rest of my life. By doing that I needed to be back into the mountains I need to walk into the bicycle I need to work out Walking and exploring the war not just spending 910 hours a day in an office. The thing is, I was also asking myself, okay, but I need to do some good for for for myself as human being for my future family and for the people that lives around me. So if I’m not going to do any good by setting up new rules whether it’s in the United Nations or in the European Commission, how am I going to go if I am climbing mountains, because that’s good for myself, but only myself? So yeah, perhaps the most emphasis on istration opened my eyes and made me realise that there was a way of making tiny little bit of money but millennialist by doing what I’m what I’m doing, and at the same time, being able to pass on a message, being able to first of all discover which one was the message that I wanted to pass on. If I was going to climb a mountain or or riding a bicycle in Central America, and at the end of the day, scuba diving came into into my plate around the same time that I was thinking all that.
Unknown Speaker [21:14]
So yeah, but when let’s see something,
David Ralph [21:16]
yeah, it really is interesting. And what is interesting is how you blend us seamlessly to our first motivational speech, which really ties in perfectly to what you’re talking about. This is Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [21:26]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [21:53]
And that’s what you did, isn’t it? Those words are spot on. You didn’t have all the answers. You didn’t know how you’re going to find But just in your your gut, you just knew that you had to do what was right for you. You had to do the thing that lit you up just as Jim Carrey was saying.
Manuel Bustelo [22:10]
Absolutely, absolutely. David, thank you very much for sharing that with all of us. Yeah, Jim Carrey is totally right. He’s touching a very interesting point as well. He talks about his father. So Jim Carrey’s the son, therefore, that’s also an interesting you know, question that you ask yourself again, I mentioned it before I said, myself, the people that lives around me, my future family, my future family means my, my, my potential future son or daughter. And now on the way back from from exit. We had an interesting discussion with my wife, because as soon as we were driving towards the airport, in the private taxi, a guy toys is a very interesting city, but it’s a complete chaos. disorganised mayhem, I’ve seen organised mayhem in other places, but this one was disorganised. So. Perhaps I never seen a city that is in such a chaos as Cairo. I’ve been to New Delhi. I’ve been to Bangkok, and other cities in Asia, but not this one. This one was very disorganised. And the point I want to make is going towards the airport, because of the mayhem that is on the streets. Taxi took a lot of time and there was a little girl that came towards the taxi and she perhaps completely, very fast could see that I was a foreign, so no, go No way. No, I put down the window, I grabbed the few coins that I had left in my pocket. My wallet unfortunately was buried very deep down underneath the camera, so I didn’t have time to grab anything more than just coins. But she in a very, very good English. Much better than mine. She said very well. Thank you. So it triggered a very long discussion with my wife whether we will be willing to adopt kids as part of our family. I’m not sure if that that kid was with a father or mother around her perhaps she was. But what I’m sure that there’s a lot of those kids in orphanage all around the world that do not have any chance and, and well, getting back to the point of Jim Carrey, his father gave him the chance to to be moved by his guts, my guts, telling me that I need to live this life and he’s teaching me is is actually the life teaching me a lot up to the point of no making me think on bringing the discussion towards my family, whether we can adopt a child as well or not.
David Ralph [24:55]
It is fascinating as you’re talking about that I’m reflecting on my own family. And of course, your family want you to do amazing stuff. They want you to be happy. They want you to be fulfilled. But of course, what’s making you fulfilled? There’s an element of danger. I don’t have the danger of going under the water and maybe getting bitten by a shark or whatever might happen under there. There’s your family. How do they balance it in their own minds? Are they proud of what you’re doing? Or would they prefer that you weren’t doing it?
Manuel Bustelo [25:29]
My mom has always been very, very worried about things that I don’t mind that. He said he’s not worried about it. Because he’s got a different doctor. My sisters, I have three sisters. They are worried. They actually were very worried last Monday. Unfortunately, last Monday, us I spend, we spend the whole day in the zip Seon pyramids in the Giza pyramids. There was there was a mistake. Mistake between inverted commas made by the Egyptian army, not too far from the pyramids where we were, and they killed 12 Mexican tourists. So why am I mentioning this? Well, I mentioned this because living in a planet that we live nowadays, and particularly turning around and getting out of your comfort zone, it is already dangerous. So, if I am diving, or like within the Red Sea, we do have both my wife and I, we need a shark that is rated on the fourth, the four most dangerous sharks for humans, which is called the oceanic whitetip shark, with all three of those sharks, and I can tell you I was in complete peace. I never felt afraid and they refer in danger. As I did feel in danger when I went back to a hotel and I read the news that not too far from where we were 12 minutes And Tories were killed in the hands of the gyptian army. Therefore, this is a message that I think that is quite important to pass on and he’s I have a great admiration to all those people that you know do crazy stuff. To me what I’m doing is not crazy because as long as you get out of the comfort zone but you understand what you’re doing you read before say you want to become a scuba diver well you will read lots and lots of stories about sharks, but you will realise that there’s very few perhaps non stories about the shark bite in SQL IRA sharks they will bite humans when they’re on the surface but just because they think that is food of course if a shark bites you might not eat you completely but but that’s one bite he will take a big chunk of your of your body and and then the news will say that sharks are killing you know, humans also
David Ralph [27:58]
scared when they switch past you.
Manuel Bustelo [28:01]
No, no, no not at all. I feel incomplete is
an A we all felt incomplete does in fact,
work for the on the labour board world, you know does quit wait to jump into the water and go down there and wait until the sharks get close to you because that’s what we have to do you have to just wait and basically
Unknown Speaker [28:24]
remain
Manuel Bustelo [28:26]
neutrally buoyant. I think even if I wait until the shark comes close to you. I think there’s a few things that scare me most from what I have done such as riding downhill at full speed from 6000 to 100 metres on a mountain bike in a very, very remote volcano in the Atacama Desert. That he says he happened. I was I was a few days away from the nearest clinic not even a hospital. I’m not even a helicopter could fly into the air where we were shooting the documentary to Pick me up. Now, would I do that again? This age 30 with Whiteford? Perhaps I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t do that. But, uh, because yeah, that’s more dangerous than diving with a shark. Totally.
David Ralph [29:15]
Did you feel older than 38? With the amount that you packed into your life? Do you actually sort of look back and think, Oh, I’m only 38? Or do you feel weld weary somehow?
Manuel Bustelo [29:26]
I never really think about my age. I mean, sometimes I’ve been pushed to think oh my gosh, like, Hey, listen, I mean, you’re not 18 you know? And then you think, oh, okay, I’m not 18. But I always tell people, when when they have birthdays, you know, and I call them. Some of my friends. You know, they know what I’m going to say because I said repeatedly, and I’ve been saying it for years, but it’s basically and I tell this to myself, facilities, do not add years to your life, but life To your ears. Yeah. So that’s what basically I’ve been feeling that I have more life in my years. But I do not feel older, at least not yet.
David Ralph [30:08]
I think it’s fantastic what you’re doing because you are packing in so much on a sort of daily basis. But I can also imagine that it must be. It must be terrible to be in have to sit in front of a computer doing something, but you don’t want to it is this sort of hustle that you have to do try and to get sponsorship, and dealing with projects that aren’t your thing just to sort of maintain this lifestyle. Does that get you down with would you just like to wave a magic wand and get three of that?
Manuel Bustelo [30:39]
Well, we have to be released, we have to, you know, be down to earth as well as human beings and I don’t know maybe in the past, if you look at the phones, or if you look at Kings, you know, they had a nice life. What was one time they got loads of responsibility. We all have responsibilities and we all need to I mean, life is not easy. We all need to do things that we don’t like known for cheap things that we don’t like.
Unknown Speaker [31:08]
So,
Manuel Bustelo [31:08]
because that is part of what makes us human, it all comes down to the attitude. If you change your attitude to do things that even if you don’t like them or you dislike them, you think them as a mean tours as a mentors, chance of exploring a new mountain or it doesn’t have to be a new mountain, perhaps you will be an area that is only 100 kilometres away from where you live, or you have never been, because every time you have some time for free, free time from from your work, you go and take a plane and go into a resort somewhere. So again, he’s he’s if you change your attitude and you see that everything you do in life is a mean towards something else and at the end of the day, you If you help your body, you learn, you don’t feel stressed anymore. Or that’s, that’s at least what I try to. I have to admit and be very honest, that doesn’t always work. But that, again is part of being human, isn’t it? That you’re never completely happy sometimes.
David Ralph [32:18]
No, I agree with you. That’s absolutely true. No matter how much success you have, there’s always another mountain to climb. And there’s always somebody already standing on top of that mountain that you’re trying to aim for. Now, one of the things that we talk about a lot on Join Up Dots is the kind of mini adventures for people that are looking to do something bigger with their own life. One of the great ways is starting doing things very small and maybe just going a different way to work one morning or going into Starbucks and ordering a different coffee than you would normally do. Do you think that is a good way because it seems a lot of what you’ve been talking about man well is about mindset, more than the adventures more In anything, it’s the deciding that you’re going to do it and finding a way of actually vane achieving it.
Manuel Bustelo [33:07]
Yes, David, you’re totally right. many adventures, they could be great. And it’s a good way to start. But if I may, I might put it into different worlds we’ll tackle the first tip with something different than is get out of your comfort zone, whichever that means to you. If getting out of your comfort zone means that you’ve been drinking all the time, the same coffee in Starbucks, or you don’t drink a given type of drink because it’s not so tasty or because you are totally not so tasty, would get out of your comfort zone and try. Try that little step and then try another state. If getting out of your comfort zone means that rather than going to a resort where you have all inclusive Which is very nice. We all have done it. You have to go somewhere where perhaps you have to volunteer to clean rhinos pool from a rhino conservation resort in Africa, well, then go on to that. And at the same time when you get off your comfort zone, it is quite interesting how you see that not only you’re helping yourself, but you start helping other people as well. Don’t ask me to explain exactly how it works. But he does. He doesn’t just work with me. He has worked with lots of other explorers and adventurers that I’ve seen or that i i read, I want to know all perhaps by getting out of your comfort zone, drinking a new coffee, you will make the person that always gives you the same coffee laugh and that is already helping someone else to have a good start in the morning. You see what I mean?
David Ralph [34:56]
I say I totally see what you mean. And it seems to be a key theme. To all the shows that the true successful, we’re not talking financially successful, we’re talking about the people that are living their life, enjoying their life, they seem to spend more time trying to help other people, it seems to be a key fact. But the guys that are unhappy, just seemed to go for what they can get. And the people that are really happy are balancing it by putting more back into the world when they’re taking and subsequently gaining a lot themselves is a real Win win. And that’s the mindset where it only comes about when you truly find yourself somehow.
Manuel Bustelo [35:37]
Yes, this you have to find yourself first that that is true.
Any action that you do nowadays, of course,
helps other people who can roll out that
that you know, even if you’re sitting behind a computer in an office, you’re doing some good I mean you’re being part of a team in a company that is running business with whatever that one is. But, but, and the big bad is that
I last year I spent
I spent six weeks in Australia and how wonderful talks with a friend who’s gone conservationist. She graduated only a few months ago. And she’s very much involved with the rhino crisis taking place in Africa is a very sad moment of our history as human beings because we’re losing the rhinos, and we, if we continue with this rate, and he says that we will, we’re going to lose all the rhinos in perhaps five years, six years from Africa, unless a miracle happens. And so, so, helping out helping yourself to understand the world we live in will not necessarily make you happy because there’s a lot of travels But will at least make you change the attitude and when you change the attitude is when you you become happy you perhaps find yourself and start doing things that will put a smile, a smile on your life
Unknown Speaker [37:16]
in a different way.
David Ralph [37:18]
Well, we started the conversation with talking about your sort of romanticism and the enjoyment you get for experiencing things. I think he’s telling you right to touch on the sort of the unpleasant side Have you been to places but you’ve just thought this is dreadful. I can’t wait to get out of here, no matter how positive you are in your mindset.
Manuel Bustelo [37:41]
That’s a difficult question.
I never really been to a place where as soon as I got to the place I told myself I want to get out of I want to get out of here unless I felt threatened physically.
And that likely hasn’t happened as well. Although I’ve been robbed. I mean, put a gun in my in my head.
But no, I never felt that I reach a place and I wanted to get out of there. I have felt nonetheless, after a few days that I wanted to get out of there, one of those places in New York, I loved it. I completely love the city. But the hustle and bustle of the city and all the pollution and the big buildings, the fight but you’re not able to see beyond those skyscrapers, sometimes depending on where you are. Maybe if you one day that I wanted to get out of there. A recent a recent feeling that I still have a very vivid with me is kind of, I also felt after three days that I needed to get out of there. Although I am very happy that I visited Kidal because I once again being put back into reality I live in Andorra which is a very small country in between France and Spain. As a European part of this region, this continent that is called Europe, we most of us live in a very comfortable life. But that is the minority, the minority of the people in the ward if you Europe only has 7% of the total population of the world, Europe is a 500 million geographical area 400 million people living in Europe. So I do need to go to countries where I can see that there’s destruction, with with, you know, the natural resources, that there’s a lot of people that are living uncomfortable life. I don’t really need to go too far. I mean, I was born in Argentina, and Argentina is a country that has lots of trouble as well. Lots of differences in between. Very few rich are lots of people living in trouble. I’m not sure if I’m answering your question, but I have done again, yes, twice that I need to get out of a place that was New York. And they are almost kind of now because of importante. I want to make this clear, but because of the pollution,
David Ralph [40:14]
but what seems to come across with yourself, man well is it’s not the natural world that bothers you. It’s the human world that seems to have come over strongly from what you’ve been saying. When that person pointed a gun at your head.
Manuel Bustelo [40:30]
Did you think that was it? I wasn’t sure it was. The whole episode happened in about 10 minutes. But if I try to bring it back into my memory looks like just 10 seconds. I was with a group of American tourists that I was guiding back at home in Mendoza which is my homeland in Argentina. And I’ve into five continents in the world never been put again in my Hit, but it did happen back at home. You happen not too many years ago happened six years ago with a group of American friends that I was guiding in a very posh Hotel in a vignette. No one was injured except a few punches to some of us. But no, no gun was was shot. Oh, no, I think that when the moment comes, you can’t send anything where there’s going to be no or tomorrow. That’s that’s the reason why I also tried to leave life. Before this. Steve Jobs mention in his speech in Stanford waggons Association for something very interesting is that the fact that we’re going to die one day, he said that dying is one of the best things that could happen to a human being because the fact that we all know that one day we’re going to die is what make us leave life to the fullest once you understand what that means for for for you. And then coming Back to the previous comment you made. Unfortunately, I don’t want to sound I say an anti human. I mean, don’t get me wrong I love. I love being a human being. But what I do not love is what we’re doing to the planet. I do not love knowing that I am being part of the generation of of the history of the planet that is now being marked for the very first time by the change is now being marked by a meteorite hitting the planet and wiping out the dinosaurs. That is being marked by the changes that the planet is suffering in the hands of human beings.
David Ralph [42:43]
Well, let’s play the words of the rest of that speech actually not a whole part of it that Steve Jobs said back in 2005 because it was quite simply one of those speeches that has gone down in history and people will focus in on a specific part that really resonates with them for us. It’s this bit. This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [43:02]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [43:37]
But you’ve really been off the well worn path in your life. Is there. Is there a big.as He says, Is there a moment in your life that you look back and you go Yeah, that’s when it all come together. For me. That was when man well was really sort of born or reborn as opposed.
Manuel Bustelo [43:55]
Yes, yes. Steve loves his speeches. Great. He somehow set up a guy that I know every every humans that understand that somehow in in a given moment of their life, when they look backwards, they begin connecting the dots or they think they are going to be connected. And there was there was a crucial moment in my life. I think I already mentioned it very quickly before in this talk on is when I did the master in Business Administration. It is very interesting because I decided to quit my job and I decided to enrol and pay lots of money to an MBA, because I wanted to become a better businessman. I wanted to earn more money, I want to increase my salary I wanted to make that move in their professional career. And it turned out that the MBA was are some times of the NBA that we have to give speeches and be motivational towards our students. And I decided to do it by talking about some of my some of my adventures that I’ve done. In the past, such as climbing, they will cane on riding down here on the mountain bike. And I mean, I don’t want to sound sound heavy, but I think he was perhaps the most moving presentation that was given in that particular particular night. And he wasn’t he was moving for my peers, for my for my classmates, but it was also moving for me. And that’s when I began thinking. I mean, it’s okay that I talked to other people that I should talk to myself more deeply and really follow. Follow my guts. Oh my God, he’s not making more money my God sees making sure that I can have a decent lifetime, just the In one, and then the rest of the time, increase the amount of time year by year that is that I spend on on expeditions or on travels that can teach me and again, help me teach other people become more conscious of the planet we’re living in. So I once again wrote in an MBA to have a bigger salary. And in fact, all I did was to decrease my earnings after that, but I earn, I earn a lot more and he’s earned the connection to planet earth that I don’t think I had, as deeply as before. He is
David Ralph [46:44]
a fantastic story about and it is so amazing when something so insignificant at the time you’re planning a presentation, you’re making a speech, but it becomes more life changing to you then anything you’ve done previously is, it is when all the dots to Together, isn’t it? I had that experience. I was in an office. And I just had one conversation with a guy. And it wasn’t even an amazing conversation. But I walked back to my desk and I knew my life had changed. I just felt it inside me. It is it’s astonishing how these things happen to us.
Manuel Bustelo [47:16]
It is it is. I think that it happens to a lot of people
we mentioned in the past that it is is the strength. It is a strength to really, because you have to look inside yourself as well. That’s not easy. That’s not an easy thing to do. We all make mistakes. And perhaps sometimes you have to recognise that by taking the path that you have taken. You’re making a mistake if you’re not listening to your gods. I don’t think that Steve Jobs Well, I don’t know. I was never in his cane. All I know is what he has measuring his speeches on. I wrote his amazing biography by the same writer that wrote the biography of Einstein that I also read. Perhaps he might have thought he was making mistakes or given points in his life, but he was always following what he loved. told by his guts, do it by passion. And that could be the Golden Boy, a nice guide to all of us. Do what you love. Listen to your gods. I’ll put all the passion into it. It will, it will be would
David Ralph [48:31]
that be a nice thing on your gravestone? I don’t want you to die. But live I lived by passion. That would be a nice thing to have on them.
Manuel Bustelo [48:39]
Yes, yes, absolutely. Sometimes I’ve been told that I’m too passionate. By Hey, well, you know, we’re never perfect. I prefer to be to pasture rather than to,
to to Lacey.
David Ralph [48:56]
Well, when I’ve loved talking to you, and unfortunately, we Now at the end of the show, so this is the part where we send you on another journey, a quick journey this time, but one that’s going to take you back in time to speak to your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young man, well, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out because we’re going to play the theme tune and when it fades you out. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [49:28]
We go
Unknown Speaker [49:29]
with the best bit of the show.
Manuel Bustelo [49:46]
I’m looking at my younger self,
a little boy that had three sisters and my two parents, bad guy homie Mendoza. And what I will Tell my younger self will be you know, you’ll do a lot of you will take a lot of wrong decisions in your life, but some of them will be right and those will be the ones that are that will make you the person you want to be in the future. So listen to your guts, sooner or later that will pay out but above all what I will tell to my younger self would be to cease as much as possible the time with with with your sisters and your parents because the life that you have decided to take which is taking you around the world will will take you away from from them and then you won’t be able to spend as much time as as you want with your with your family. That’s what I will tell our all to 20 year old self.
David Ralph [50:54]
I think that’s wise words for all of us. No matter what we’re doing in our life. We seem to spend more time away From our family, convincing ourselves that ultimately we’re providing for our family, but more often than not, they just want you to be around. Well, man, well, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you, sir?
Manuel Bustelo [51:12]
The number one best way that the audience can connect with myself, and it will be very happy to listen to feedback, or whichever questions they want to ask me is to go to my website, which is WWE www dot Manuel bustillos.com. Or you can just type my name is Taylor in Google, and I think is the first option that comes up. Yeah, so they can connect through, they’re gonna send me an email on my phone, and I’d be happy to take any phone calls. if, if, if I may.
David Ralph [51:47]
It’s very generous. We have all the links on the show notes, man. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots of your life and please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. Manuel Bustelo, thank you so much.
Manuel Bustelo [52:06]
Thanks to you that it has been very inspirational talking to you.
Outro [52:10]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free. And we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [52:36]
Thank you so much for listening to Join Up Dots. Please help us with our experiment of trying to get the show out to as many people as possible by simply telling two of your friends, they don’t even have to be friends. You might not even like them, but tell them about Join Up Dots. And then hopefully we can get the show higher and higher into the ranks and overthrow governments and do some quite creative things. Thank you so much. for sharing, thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you again next time.
