The explorer Shackleton and his crew set out in 1914 to cross Antarctica on foot with a team of dogs. The ship gets trapped in an ice pack and sinks.

The 28 men, many who have no experience in the Antarctic, are faced with the prospect of drowning when the ice melts. The men fall into feelings of hopelessness, despair and anger. Shackleton's only hope is to assert his leadership and force unity amongst the men. He is successful and in desperation they try and drag their life boats across pack ice to land 85 miles away. He gives them the slogan, "Five miles a day!" But they barely manage 1/2 a mile.

When the ice pack begins to melt they find themselves stranded on an ice flow. They abandon their sledges and eat the dogs. Eventually they are forced to take to the life boats and row towards Robinson island some three days travel away. With some luck they all reach the tiny island alive. Most of the men remain on the island while Shackleton and six men set out on a two week journey in a small row boat towards a whaling station on the mainland. They are successful and return to save the stranded men.

Many times the men are faced with the seemingly impossible task of reaching their desired outcome. If they procrastinate or give into feelings of helplessness then they will certainly die but Shackleton gives the men a vision of a possible future, with a date stamp, and then motivates them to take action. The men are forced to tap into energy levels that they never even knew existed. They learn to move beyond their limiting beliefs and follow their raw life energy. The film, based upon true events, demonstrates what can be achieved when a group of people share and maintain a singular goal. And by the way all of the men survived and many returned some years later for another expedition.

If you want to develop your leadership qualities and motivate your team to achieve extraordinary outcomes then watch this film and practise identifying with Shackleton. To learn specific modelling techniques so that you can take on the attributes of the character Shackleton you are invited to attend Zen and the Art of Living.

Abby Eagle 23/05/2007