Why The World Needs GoGetters
The Original GoGetters
GoGetters began with a simple idea — how to help people get unstuck from the rut and live a life full of fun and fulfilment. The first question we began asking is:
What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do, but held back from doing?
That was six months ago, and looking back it has already been a whirlwind adventure. Along with my co-founder Harry Coburn, we’ve tested and proven the concept with a community of 20 GoGetters who took on a host of challenges over 3-week periods. If they failed to complete the challenge they set themselves, then they paid a stake to their chosen charity. The results have been amazing. Discovering new ideas for challenges got people genuinely excited, people liked to attempt challenges together, and the community helped each other achieve their goals by harnessing their eclectic expertise. Here are some of the challenges our pioneering GoGetters achieved:
Health, Fitness, Wellbeing
Cold showers everyday for a week
Give up caffeine for a week
Go Vegan for a week
Do sit-ups and press-ups everyday for a week
Learn to handstand
Leadership, Contribution, Impact
Buy coffee for a stranger
Have a chat with a homeless person
Visit an old people’s home
Give a stranger a compliment
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Wealth, Lifestyle
Ask for 10% off everything for a week
De-follow posts on Facebook
Invest in a stock
Ask for something for free
Give unneeded clothes to charity
Love, Relationships
Meet someone face to face from a dating app
Speak to 5 people randomly in the street
Host a meal for my friends
Contact a teacher from the past
Send a letter of appreciation to a family member
Leisure and Fun
Solo travel across a country without a plan
Paint a painting
Do the full length of a London bus route
Drive a train
Brush your teeth standing on one leg
Education, Skills
Watch a TED Talk each day and write what I learn
Learn a new word a day
Practice piano
Learn Javascript basics
Go to an acting audition
Everyone’s comfort zone is different, but all these challenges — big or small — helped our GoGetters to learn and grow. As a result 100% of the community said their lives improved because of GoGetters.
“GoGetters surrounded me with an incredible group of highly talented and inspirational people, all who want to help each other achieve their dreams. It’s made me much more GoGetter and got me doing things which I would never have done before” — Stephen (Engineer at Heathrow Express, MBA at London Business School, GoGetter)
“To be connected to a new likeminded community makes my life happier. Challenge myself into the unknown gives me a kick and therefore those experiences enrich my life.” Cristina (Ex-Ecommerce at Unilever, worldwide traveller/explorer, ex-professional tennis player, GoGetter)
“Everyone has things they’d like to achieve, so why *wouldn’t* you want to be part of it?!” Zina (TV Script and Development Editor, GoGetter)
Building on what we learnt, we’re now moulding the GoGetters vision into a boldly creative community with one core message at its heart — turn your world into a playground to GoGetIt.
Turn Your World Into A Playground
Why a playground? Because it’s that authentically playful mindset and space that we really want to create with GoGetters — where you can test your limits, explore, step outside your comfort zone, fall down and get up again with a smile, learn, play, create, go get the meaningful experiences you really want, and share it all with amazing people.
This playful space to learn and grow with other people is increasingly hard to find. Right now, we are living in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Nothing is fixed and everything is changing. We are also in the middle of the technological revolution — the Internet connects us to more information and people than ever before. Yet we risk spending all our time staring at screens alone and passively consuming information, rather than interacting in person and intentionally making those dream experiences happen.
When you approach the world as a playground, everything changes. A lens of playful wonder lets you turn the scary shit that you might run away from, into the exciting opportunity for engagement and fulfilment that you run towards. This, in essence, is the GoGetters Challenge.
The 5Cs to GoGetIt
To take on your GoGetters Challenge, there are 5 core principles that, if you live by on a daily basis, can really help you get there.
GoGet Curious
Always ask why, ask better questions, and understand your Why
GoGet Creative
Find your creative passion, the thing that lights you up; practice and master it; share it with other people and the world
GoGet Courageous
Stretch your comfort zone, feel the fear and do it anyway to level up your learning and growth
GoGet Connected
Explore your authentic self, and use this to connect with the right people
Go Contribute
Give back equal to or more than what you get, so that everyone win-wins
And that’s it! Of course, like most things of value in life, this is easier said than done. That’s why we are building the GoGetters Challenge Community to show that with the right challenges and support network of GoGetters, anything is possible.
Join the GoGetters Challenge Community at www.gogetters.live
#GoGetIt
Harry Coburn
When Harry was 19, he was rushed to hospital with Meningitis and told he had half a day left to live. Thanks to the right treatment quickly, he made a full recovery and since that day he has valued things quite differently. After roles at IBM, Credit Suisse, Google, and Lloyds Banking Group, he became frustrated with the corporate world and began to take life into his own hands. Since then he’s travelled across all 7 continents, lived in the Jungle with Jaguars, swam naked in Antarctica, helped build a multi-million-pound business, built a community centre in Nicaragua, hitchhiked from London to Morocco, cycled across Europe, competed in the world’s first Ice obstacle course, ran multiple marathons, mentored dozens of start-ups. And he’s just getting started.
As Harry has pushed himself out of his comfort zone to achieve these experiences, he has inspired and been inspired by people who exhibit key qualities that help get the best from life. To bring these learnings and people together to have the biggest impact possible — GoGetters was born.
Dr. Josh Phillips
Josh is co-founder of GoGetters. He has been many things — a travel entrepreneur, a social innovation consultant, a development team leader in Zambia, a researcher in the UK, St. Lucia, Ghana, and Poland, a teacher in France, a volunteer in Borneo — but always a GoGetter. His motto for life is do, learn, do better.
After completing his PhD at Cambridge University and Queen Mary University London, he’s focused on designing and implementing social innovation, entrepreneurship, and impact projects around the world. He’s passionate about maximising the innovation and impact of the global GoGetters Challenge Community.
