476: Rod Cottam - Building resilience and the Spirit of Invictus

The Savvy Dentist

One of the things about life and business is there are always going to be setbacks and adversity. Our lives will be full of challenges and things to overcome.
And the degree to which we experience success in business, and indeed life, is related to our ability to overcome these obstacles, these hurdles, these setbacks. And if we don't already have this skill set, we've got to develop that skill set and build resilience into the way we approach life.

In today’s episode of The Savvy Dentist Podcast, Dr. Jesse Green is joined by Rodney Cottam. Rocket Rod Cottam has resilience in spades.

Rodney is an ex-military man of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment who loves to run — and whose love of running has helped him overcome some pretty major challenges.

In 2004, Rodney was in a serious motor vehicle accident, sustaining several injuries including a spinal injury, fractured pelvis, broken ribs, punctured lung and multiple lacerations. After two 10-hour surgeries and 12 months of treatment, his long-term prognosis caused by spinal nerve damage is a condition called Brachial Plexus Palsy, which has left Rodney permanently paralysed in his left arm.

In a split second, Rodney went from being an elite soldier, in the best physical shape possible, to completely losing all movement and feeling in one arm, from shoulder to fingertips.

www.runrocketrun.com
Rodney says, “I’d always loved running, but after the accident it was a challenge as I had no strength or support in my shoulder joint. Over time, I found my balance and rhythm, transitioning from an elliptical machine to a treadmill, then to road and trail running.”

Now Rodney runs at least five days and up to 100kms per week, and in October 2024, he will run his third trail run challenge in support of Invictus Australia. This year he will be running for 7 days, covering 560km.

The plan is to complete a major challenge each year and participate in ultra-trail events in Australia and around the world under a project called Run Rocket Run.

“When we believe in ourselves, we are capable of so much more than we think. We can push ourselves, physically and mentally, way past any perceived threshold. And this journey—this commitment to ourselves—is an incredibly special and rewarding one.”
~ Rodney Cottam

• [5:50] - The Military is much like your Dental Practice, it reveals more about you as a human than you possibly think.
• [8:03] - The day that changed everything. Rod was simply riding his motorcycle to work …
• [17:01] - Laying in hospital with a broken pelvis, punctured lung, broken ribs, an arm that's not doing what it used to do. How do you reevaluate your life, stay optimistic, and what do you think about your future?
• [23:01] - So how does a person who has had muscle surgically removed from his legs and attached to his paralysed arm, find relief and harmony in ultra-running?
• [25:34] - How the Invictus Games became Rod's purpose in life.
• [28:04] - What does resilience mean, and what does it take to be resilient in business?