Marko Radanovic
I attended Sail Week-Croatia expecting lots of partying, tons of dancing and many stupid decisions. Sail Week, is of course, the ultimate party trip; yachting around the coast of Croatia, partying in the ocean, and dancing away at beautiful island nightclubs. As expected, the experience ended up being one of the most wild, insane and crazy weeks of my life. What I did not expect however, was to walk away from that trip with a valuable life lesson.
Enter Marko Radanovic
Marko was the skipper of our Yacht for Sail Week. It didn’t take long for me to realize that there was something unique about him. The wide range of skills that he possessed made him such an interesting person. I liked to refer to him as the Dos Equis man because he just seemed to be able to do it all. Sailing a boat, catching fish, treating a wasp sting in someone’s mouth (yup that’s right!), cooking delicious meals, carving watermelons, all while providing incredible hospitality.
When talking more to Marko, I soon realized why he was such an interesting man. Over dinner, he told me about the plethora of jobs that he has had in his life. Sailor, Dentist, Model, Cop, Animal Rescue Volunteer, Hotel Staff, Sniper in the Army, Bitcoin Adviser and the list goes on. I was amazed, and what amazed me was the fact that each of his jobs were so different from the next. That meant that each job required a completely new learning experience and ultimately showed me that Marko wasn’t afraid of change.
Just like most of us, Marko too has career aspirations. As a kid, he grew up in a house located near the sea. He spent a lot of time by the waterfront and even got his first job at a beachfront hotel. Over time, he developed an incredible passion for the water and has had a dream of becoming a captain of a large boat ever since. What makes Marko’s story different from many other people is not that he has a dream, but that he isn’t afraid of detours while pursuing it. These detours allowed Marko to tap into his other potentials and work on becoming as skilled of a person as he could possibly be. In his spare time, he used to fix furniture, renovate apartments, and make arts and crafts. Of course, he also enhanced many other skill sets through all the time he spent in different career fields. Not all his jobs and hobbies were directly related to his career goal, but they all have helped him learn in one way or another.
Fast-forward several years (and careers) later and Marko is now the head skipper for Sail Week Croatia and on his way to accomplishing his dream. He absolutely loves sailing along the beautiful Adriatic coast and visiting all of its islands. His favorite Island of them all is Vis, which he describes as the most authentic and well-preserved islands in Croatia. His job is by no means easy and definitely has its cons but then again, nothing is perfect and what really matters is he is doing something he loves.
"As a kid I dreamed of becoming a captain of a ship. For now my dream came true only partially, I became a skipper on a sailboat which is not the same as a captain of a large ship, but we will see… who knows what tomorrow brings ... For now, I enjoy my job. It only matters to me that I am at sea. The sea is the source of my joy and the satisfied crew members give me the impetus to endure the life at sea that can sometimes be exhausting."
It is clear that Marko is progressing towards the job he always wanted to have. He gets to spend months at sea and is already highly recognized as one of the best skippers on the Sail Week team. What may go unrecognized to the average person however, is Marko’s fearless pursuit of joy and learning. Marko’s life story ultimately shows us that not everything has to be part of a big plan. We can learn just to learn, and we can try something just to try it. A lot of us rush so quickly into “establishing” our lives or “securing” our future that we fail to ever truly understand who we really are, what we are capable of and what future it is that we are trying to secure. Stability is a luxury, but it can also induce complacency and complacency is when we as humans stop growing. We can work hard for a life that allows us to be complacent or we can work hard for a life that allows us to learn about ourselves and the world around us. And as Marko states best, there really is no such thing as stability:
"Nobody can guarantee you stability. If you specialize in just one job, it can be risky, and you automatically narrow down the range of jobs you can apply for. If you gain experience in multiple jobs like I do, it will always be easy to find. Personally, I think people who have knowledge of particular craft should never be afraid of being hungry. My goal is to master as many jobs and skills as possible that would give me a sense of independence. As soon as I finish one job and it becomes monotonous to me, I move on to another."
He also notes that not everything will always work out when living with this mindset. He too, does have some regrets. One being the amount of time he spent going to school for dentistry, given that he never thoroughly pursued it. However, life really is all about mistakes and learning. There are no peaks without valleys, and every mistake will somehow, someway, pay dividends in the future (think back to the wasp sting in the mouth). We as humans should be less afraid of going down a path we do not like and more afraid of tunnel vision. With the first, you always have the opportunity to turn around and go back as a smarter and stronger individual, with the latter however, you will never know if you are on the correct path for yourself. We don’t necessarily have to get 10 different jobs or be in several career fields like Marko has done to do this. We can read books on different subjects, talk to people from different industries, or just explore hobbies we have that don’t relate to our ultimate goal. In the end if we go out, try new things, and learn as much as we can we will somehow someway become the best version of ourselves.
There is only one thing that is hard to do if you are never at home and that is starting a family. However, starting a family is not conditioned by a certain date or age, as most people think, so there is time for that...
We have to avoid following other peoples paths and focus on creating our own. There are many ways to get to one finish line and sometimes we end up realizing that the destination is not really where we wanted to go. Marko’s constant on-the-go lifestyle is the main reason he is unable to settle down and start a family. But in his eyes, the age to get married and start a family is another path that is predefined by society. He is not worried nor afraid, and he knows in the end if he determines that it is something he wants, he can find a way to work for it.
When life’s race starts, most of us look around, see where everyone else is running, and run in that same direction. The finish line is the focus before we even know where we are running to and why. Marko carved out his own path, his own journey, and his own finish line. Some may say having so many jobs is foolish, others may say he can’t start a family without a stable job that is located in one place. Those are comments of fear. Fear of being different and going down a different path. We all have our own paths to create. Don’t let the fear of living a different life or the fear of being wrong stop you. Never fear a wrong turn because there is no such thing as a wrong turn. One person’s wrong turn is another person’s destination. No one can tell you who to become, but what we can learn from Marko’s story is that you should never be afraid to pursue your passions, hobbies, and curiosities, even if it results in adversity.
"When you get old you will regret two things - what you did wrongly and what you have missed to do. What you did wrongly will hurt less than what you missed to do."
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