Paul Polak inspired so many of us who follow his work, his teaching, his life story. We will be sharing these remarkable stories, told by the people Paul inspired.
Are you one of us? Share your story for future ‘Inspired” posts at [email protected]
Here is our first inspired story by a new friend in Australia – Gihan
Dr Paul Polak was and will continue to be one of my heroes. After reading his book “Out of Poverty”, I had a life changing shift in my mindset. I became determined to make an impact on a large scale as I knew from Paul and his team’s work that it was possible. As a doctor myself, it was particularly inspiring to see a fellow doctor take the skills from his one on one work and use them to transform the lives of millions.
This new found energy inspired me to create a social business aimed to help Australians lose weight. This flopped. However, I employed Paul’s trademark quality of listening and I learnt quite a lot. Fast forward a few years and I am knee deep in my second attempt at creating large-scale impact.
The company is called Atomic Wellbeing and our vision is to eliminate preventable disease in the future generation. Our mission is to teach every single primary school child in Australia, that’s approximately 2.2 million in total, the skills they need to eliminate their risk of developing preventable diseases. I know that is far from the 100 million Paul was suggesting in his second book, but it’s a start!
When people ask me who my hero is, outside my parents, I always say “Paul Polak”. He had an unimaginable impact on my life so it is with the deepest sincerity, I want to express my utmost gratitude to him, his family and all the people that worked with him at iDE and his other companies to change the world. In 2016, I reached out to him to see if I could support him with his work and perhaps even buy him a coffee. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to buy him that coffee but I do have an email from him that I will continue to cherish.
His final words to me, someone who he hardly knew, was “my experience is that if you’re really motivated to change the world, it will happen!”.
Although Dr Polak is gone, Atomic Wellbeing looks forward to partnering with Transform Poverty Global and other initiatives that represent his ongoing legacy. If he were alive today and I had the chance to speak to him, I would tell him, “Dr Polak, thank you for the immense impact you had on my life and just in case you were wondering, I am really motivated to change the world”.
Thank you Gihan! We look forward to working with you!!