Page 10 - rp-may-2020

NEWS IN FOCUS 8
RET AIL PHARMA C Y • MA Y 2020
PHARMACIST, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, MENTOR AND COACH
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Peter Thurin
Peter, you’re a pharmacist, motivational
speaker, mentor and coach. Please give
a snapshot of your professional history.
I’m a pretty ordinary bloke, but I was
always itching to get into business rather
than be an employee. I qualified as a
pharmacist and ran retail pharmacies
from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s.
Along the way, I got married to Sharon
and had three kids: Jamie, Mel and
Matt. The point is, there’s nothing that’s
special about me. My story isn’t one
of extraordinary achievement. It’s a
story of what ordinary people like me
and you can achieve when they focus
on what matters to them and build
the momentum they need to reach
their goals.
My whole life – professional or
otherwise – has been a series of choices
I’ve made that were ‘easy to do’ and
‘easy not to do’. I now teach that concept
right around the world and help other
ordinary people achieve their goals.
You speak about your epiphany
moment. Tell our readers a little
about that.
It was a phone call, but it wasn’t one
I received. It was one I made.
Ever since I was a boy, I’d wanted
to be a black belt in martial arts, but I
hadn’t done it. I was 36 when I finally
made the decision to do it, and I did it
by making a simple phone call to my
local taekwondo school to arrange my
first lesson. The epiphany was about
how easy that was for me to do, but
for 36 years it had also been easy not
to do. Now I’m a 3rd Dan Black Belt
and I see everything in life as a choice
between ‘easy to do’ and ‘easy not to
do’. It was a phone call.
You’re in a unique position, mentoring
people across many businesses,
yet you’re a pharmacist. You speak
about ‘choosing to do’ something.
Give us a sneak preview of why this
is important.
Well this is the thing … I started as a
pharmacist. I owned and operated retail
pharmacies for about 20 years. It was
my life. I was successful, too, because I
focused on creating environments that
brought out the best in my people and
enabled them to shine.
Now, the side effect was, we grew an
awesome bottom line but that didn’t
excite me. What excited me was the
people part: helping them get into the
game, rise to the challenge and be
remarkable. That always started with
getting them to ‘choose to do’ something.
My choice was to use my experience as
a pharmacist and businessperson to take
my message of ‘easy to do’ out to the
world and share it with everyone I met.
That’s what I do to this day. I help people
make the same kind of choice I made:
find something they’re passionate about
and then choose to do something to
make it happen.
With your broad knowledge across
industries, what are one or two
insights that pharmacists may not
realise are key to success across
all sectors?
Big-picture goals can be so daunting
that often people don’t have the
courage to get into the game. I say,
‘It’s OK to feel awkward, it’s OK to feel
uncomfortable’, but don’t allow those
feelings to prevent you from making
a start. Good intentions will get you
nowhere. You have to do something.
Taking that first step is always ‘easy
to do’ but it’s also ‘easy not to do’.
So is the second step and the third …
That’s your choice.
Why should conference
delegates attend your sessions
at Pharmacy Connect?
Whatever your challenge or goal is,
if you want to change your life or your
business for the better, you have to
‘choose to do’ something. I want to
help you make that choice. I’m here
to help you focus on what you can do,
rather than what you can’t. So, if you’re
ready to make a start on achieving
something meaningful in your life or
business, come and see me and let’s do
it together. After all, it’s ‘easy to do’.