Point Assist

Point Assist The Value of Experience
Exploring how we use our experiences to live well
Writing | Speaking

Mark & Sam Direen

Patience is one of the many things where Mark and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum. He has an extraordinary abilit...
03/09/2026

Patience is one of the many things where Mark and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

He has an extraordinary ability to wait. To sit with something, let it unfold and trust that the right time to act will become clear.

Me? Not so much.

If there’s a decision to be made, I want to make it. A problem to solve, I want to fix it. Something I’m excited about, I want it to happen yesterday.

Waiting does not come naturally to me.

And modern life certainly doesn’t help.

I can google the answer to any question immediately. Shop from comfort of my couch around the clock. Order dinner to the door. Pay extra to ‘skip the queue’.

But lately I’ve been thinking about all the things in life that just don’t work that way.

Trust takes time.
Experience takes time.
Relationships take time.
Building something worthwhile takes time.
Even figuring out what we actually want from life can take time.

And no amount of forcing, pushing and hurrying makes any of them happen faster.

Maybe that’s what I’m slowly learning from living with someone far more patient than me.

Patience isn’t always about sitting around waiting.

Sometimes it’s accepting that the things worth having don’t necessarily work to my preferred timeline.

— Sam

People sometimes ask me what the most dangerous moment of my life was.The truth is, that’s never been the question that ...
03/09/2026

People sometimes ask me what the most dangerous moment of my life was.

The truth is, that’s never been the question that interested me.

The better question is:
What did those moments teach me about how to live?

Over the years I’ve had experiences that reminded me just how fragile life really is.

Those experiences didn’t leave me fearless.

They left me with a greater appreciation for what really matters, long after the experiences were over.

Eventually I realised they were worth writing down.

Not to recount adventure stories.

But to share ten lessons that changed the way I think about life.

If someone closes the last page with a greater appreciation for the life they’re living, and the courage to make the most of it, then it was worth writing.

Grab your copy:
Paperback: https://pointassist.com.au/product/whats-the-point/
Kindle: https://amzn.asia/d/0d268OMT

02/09/2026

Patience isn’t always something you’re born with.

Sometimes, it’s something experience teaches you.

Understanding that not everything needs to happen now.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing at all. Patience. Imagine lying in wait. You know the enemy is approaching....
31/08/2026

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing at all.

Patience.

Imagine lying in wait.
You know the enemy is approaching.
Every instinct tells you to act.

But sometimes the advantage comes from holding your nerve.
From being composed
Watching.
Listening.
Assessing.
Letting the situation develop before deciding when—or whether—to act.

That’s not passive waiting.
It’s having the restraint and discipline to resist the urge to react.
To observe.
To think.
To understand the importance of timing.

I’ve learned that patience matters just as much in everyday life.
Not every question needs an answer
Not every problem needs an immediate response.
Not every decision needs to be made today.
Not every opportunity needs to be chased.

Sometimes patience gives you something action can’t:
a clearer view of what to do next.

We tend to admire action….The quick decision. The decisive move. The person who gets on with it.

Waiting can look like hesitation. Like we should be doing something, fixing something, making something happen.

But experience has taught me that knowing when not to act can be just as important as knowing when to act.

There’s a lot of noise in the world telling us to move faster, decide sooner and respond immediately.

Patience creates space between what happens and what we choose to do about it.

And often, that space changes everything

“Back in my day...” seems to be a phrase repeated by every generation.But when it comes to resilience, is there actually...
30/08/2026

“Back in my day...” seems to be a phrase repeated by every generation.

But when it comes to resilience, is there actually something to it?

Are we becoming less resilient — individually and collectively?

Or are the challenges we face simply different?

If you think resilience is declining, why? And what do you think we should be doing differently?

If you disagree, we want to hear that too.

Agree or disagree? Tell us why.

I don’t wish you an easy life.I wish you a life worth remembering.I hope you climb mountains that make you question your...
28/08/2026

I don’t wish you an easy life.

I wish you a life worth remembering.

I hope you climb mountains that make you question yourself.

I hope you find people worth standing beside, work worth giving yourself to, and challenges that ask more of you than you thought you had.

I hope you fail sometimes.

I hope you get lost occasionally.

I hope life stretches you beyond the person you thought you could be.

Not because hardship is something to chase, but because experience has a way of showing us what matters.

And when the quiet moments finally come — when you find peace, good people, a place you belong, or simply a moment where everything feels right — I hope you recognise just how valuable it is.

An easy life might be comfortable.

But a life well lived should leave a few marks.

Ten years ago when Mark and I met, I was suitably impressed by not just his life experience and adventure pursuits, but ...
27/08/2026

Ten years ago when Mark and I met, I was suitably impressed by not just his life experience and adventure pursuits, but the humility with which he shared them.

I, on the other hand, had little (read.. no) outdoor experience to speak of beyond a few strolls on well-worn trails.

Since then, I’ve rafted rivers, climbed mountains… some successfully, many not… taken up multiday hiking, retired from multiday hiking… and begun again.

And somewhere along the way, I learnt there’s a big difference between feeling capable in familiar surroundings and testing that capability somewhere you have very little control.

Nature adds its own variables.

Weather changes. Plans unravel. You get cold, wet, tired and uncomfortable. Gear fails and injuries happen. And unlike the controlled environments I was used to, you can’t always just decide you’ve had enough and go home.

The outdoors demands a very different kind of resilience.

And I’m not ashamed to admit that along the way there have been a few tears, outbursts and plenty of moments when I’ve questioned why I even thought something was a good idea.

But every trip reinforces the same thing for me.

There is enormous value in challenging ourselves.

Not because we need to prove how tough we are, but because challenge shows us parts of ourselves we don’t always get to meet in the safety of the familiar.

Ten years ago, I had very little idea what I was capable of.

Every challenge since has taught me a little more.

And I’m still finding out,

Sam

I was already being tested physically and mentally when a member of the directing staff told me that even if I finished,...
23/08/2026

I was already being tested physically and mentally when a member of the directing staff told me that even if I finished, I wouldn’t be selected.

It would have been easy to let that judgement become the outcome.

But I wasn’t finished yet.

Someone else had made a judgement about what I was capable of. I didn’t have to agree with them.

So I kept going.

I didn’t know whether it would make any difference. I just focused on what was in front of me and kept doing the work.

I finished selection.
And I was selected for further training.

That experience taught me something about resilience that has stayed with me ever since.

Resilience isn’t knowing everything will work out. It’s continuing when you don’t know if it will.

We can be quick to treat a setback, someone else’s opinion, or even our own doubt as the final answer.

Experience has taught me not to call it too soon.

Keep going until the answer is actually no.

It’s probably overdue that I introduce you to Sam, my wife, and the other half of Point Assist.Over the last few years w...
22/08/2026

It’s probably overdue that I introduce you to Sam, my wife, and the other half of Point Assist.

Over the last few years we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what we want the future of Point Assist to look like. Through all these conversations, we kept coming back to the same thing: the value of experience.

Not just the big experiences, but the everyday ones too. The good ones, the difficult ones, the ones we chose and the ones we didn’t.

Because the value of experience isn’t simply in what happens to us. It’s in what we learn from it and how it improves us.

Sam has been the wordsmith behind many of the recent posts, and going forward you’ll be hearing more from her too.

We both bring very different experiences to the table, which is part of what makes this next chapter interesting.

There will still be stories from the mountains, the military and the experiences that have shaped me. But there will also be more from Sam and from the two of us together as we draw on those varied experiences to explore the same question:

How do we use our experiences to live well?

If something we share makes you stop, think, or perhaps see life a little differently, then we’re doing what we set out to do.

Thanks for being here.

Mark & Sam

Address

Cambridge, TAS

Telephone

+61417098288

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Point Assist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Point Assist:

Shortcuts

Share