Joey Kelly: No Limits - How Do I Achieve My Goal

Interview with Joey Kelly - from street musician to acclaimed and multi-award-winning stage star, now primarily known as an endurance and extreme athlete. With your lecture "No Limits - How do I achieve my goal," you will be a guest at the 5th South Tyrolean Knowledge Forum on September 14, 2018. What can visitors expect in Rosenheim, and what tips - not only in terms of sports - can you give to the participants? At the event, I will present a visual lecture with many pictures and film sequences, a colorful mix of competitions, marathons, and triathlons from almost 20 years of endurance sports and adventures, such as the race to the South Pole and my Germany crossing in the style of survival expert Rüdiger Nehberg. Extraordinary landscapes and areas that normal tourists do not get to see will also be shown. "No Limits - How do I achieve my goal" is not a motivational talk like "Tschakka," but I would be happy if visitors afterwards continue their own path with more courage. I want to point out that we all actually have possibilities and the limits are much further than we think. Life is a marathon, that's the motto, everyone should stay on their path and pursue their goal in their own way. Your list of sporting achievements is very long. What drives you to always face new challenges? After achieving so many goals, does it become more difficult to motivate yourself? No, motivation becomes easier because I benefit from my experience, knowing better how to manage my strength or prepare myself. Nevertheless - every competition is different, you reach a different limit. It's hard every time, you have to fight and doubt what it's all for. But at the latest, when everything is behind you, the euphoria comes, and you see the positive. Iron will and self-discipline characterize your sporting achievements. What is your tip for a couch potato who wants to overcome their inner laziness? I have never found something in which I believe I am talented, I have to work for everything. Endurance and discipline are two qualities that do not require talent. Pursuing and executing something automatically leads to greater achievements and then to success. If someone is happy without sports and has no health problems, that's okay. But if they complain and would like to run 10 kilometers and have a higher quality of life, then I can only say: Get up and do it! The first hurdle is the hardest, but afterwards, you get momentum and if you manage to move every other day for ten weeks, it becomes a habit. If you take a break after three or four months, something will be missing. From that point on, it becomes easier to stick with it. Extremes attract you: scorching heat at the ultra-marathons in Death Valley and Namibia, freezing cold on the way to the South Pole or in wintry Alaska. It's hard to imagine that you wouldn't also reach a point where you feel like you can't continue pursuing your goal? During competitions, you always doubt whether everything will work out. But if you have firmly set your goal, you also know that it will work. With passion and discipline in training, you overcome these moments. It is important to be passionate and enthusiastic about what you do. With passion, it's easier. Was music with the Kelly Family not such a great passion for you? We started as street musicians, the financial breakthrough came in 1994, and we had extremely great success for years. For me, that time was fantastic because I learned how to work as a team, and the Kelly Family was a strong team! I was also able to accompany the company as a managing director and have remained an entrepreneur myself. I gained a lot from that time, but I was clear that making solo music and being on stage was not my calling. That didn't appeal to me, but endurance and adventure sports did. Is public recognition helpful for motivating you? As a young person, that was certainly important. The Kelly Family was a very strong team. When I detached myself from that and was then reported on for my own achievements in marathons or Ironman competitions, that was an additional motivation. Now, 20 years later, it's different. Most competitions are no longer documented and don't interest anyone; they repeat themselves, just in a different location. I do this only for myself. Besides, there are fun stories like the competitions with Stefan Raab, but those are only three or four events a year. In your book "Hysterie des Körpers," you describe your 900-kilometer walk through Germany from Wilhelmshaven to the Zugspitze - without financial means and only with what nature provided. What was the biggest challenge - the physical strain or the mental boundary experience? Clearly in the mental area! It was a challenge because I was always aware that I could be back home in a few hours, warm and with all the comforts. And then you're in Germany on the street and have nothing to eat... Undernourishment feels like withdrawal; the lack of food is a mental struggle. Additionally, 900 kilometers is a long distance, and you don't know if everything will go well. Mentally, the Germany run was one of the toughest challenges. In the summer of 2012, you crossed the USA within 16 days, and you had to earn the necessary money along the way. Can this adventure be compared to the foot march through Germany? No, crossing the USA was much, much easier. Here, I set the rules and could also accept help. If you are friendly and gain people's trust, almost everyone gives something. Virtually everyone I approached could help me or called someone to organize help. I couldn't escape from food; it was absolutely phenomenal! In the USA, I didn't have to fight much; I just went from help to help. After explaining the concept of my tour and promising to send the book about it, people were excited. People were totally enthusiastic; I could tell many colorful stories about my ventures or the Kelly Family, which I never do otherwise. You just have to approach people honestly, and then they help! Do you also engage in social activities? If, like me, you are allowed to work in public, it is also an obligation, and you have the responsibility to help. For me, it is much easier to raise a large sum of money than for someone unknown. Through "senseless records," such as 24 hours against an escalator or 24-hour treadmill running, I get attention, and it is much easier to gather donations through companies that can present themselves in this context. --> More information about Joey Kelly --> Tickets and information about the South Tyrolean Knowledge Forum