WHAT IS YOUR SOUL WORTH?
30 Sep 2026 3:07 PMWHAT IS YOUR SOUL WORTH?
I still wear a $50 Casio… There is a reason.
Years ago, after an event I had organised raised $1.2 million for suicide prevention, I was invited to meet one of Australia's most powerful media moguls. A man worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I walked into his office and we shook hands and as we did, I noticed his sleeve was rolled up. It was clear his watch was deliberately on display.
He looked at mine and asked “How much is your watch worth?”
“About $50,” I said.
Then he looked at me and asked: “How much do you think mine is worth?”
I looked at it and replied “I honestly wouldn't have a clue… no idea”
He smiled and said “$350,000.”
I remember looking at that watch and then looking back at him.
And I said:
“let me tell you what I see when I look at your watch?”
“I see four years of education for young people in the communities along the Kokoda Track.”
“I see classrooms, I see teachers, I see children being given an opportunity their parents never had, I see lives changed.”
His smile disappeared and he went silent and then offered to write me a cheque.
But the thing was, I didn't want his cheque, I was after something far more valuable.
And that was.. his time. I wanted him to come with me, to walk into those communities and sit with the people and look into the eyes of the children.
Walk the ground where Australians fought and died. I wanted him to understand that sometimes the most valuable thing you can give someone isn't money. It's yourself.
But as we talked, I realised something, we were never going to see the world through the same eyes, because he saw a $350,000 watch and I saw what that $350,000 could become.
He saw something on his wrist. I saw children, Education, Opportunity, A future. So eventually I walked out, not angry, not bitter, but certain.
Because there are some things you cannot negotiate. Your values are one of them.
I've spent much of my life working with people who have been told they aren't strong enough.
People standing at the edge of no hope, families who have lost someone to suicide, Police officers, veterans, young people, parents.
People walking Kokoda carrying things far heavier than the packs on their backs.
And I've learned something…. When life strips everything away, nobody cares what watch you wore. Nobody cares what car you drove. Nobody cares how much money was sitting in your bank account.
They care about who you were. What you stood for. Who you helped.Who you loved.
And whether you made a difference. That is why I still wear the $50 Casio.
Not because I can't afford something more expensive.
Because every time I look at it, I remember that conversation.
I remember that $350,000 can buy a watch. But it cannot buy back a child's lost opportunity.
It cannot bring a son home. It cannot undo a suicide. It cannot buy another day with someone you've lost. And it cannot buy your integrity back once you've sold it.
That's the part that has stayed with me most.
If you sell your soul once, it always has a price.
And eventually, someone will come along who can afford it.
So I chose differently. I chose the $50 watch. Because I know what it represents.
My time.
My values.
My freedom.
And the ability to look in the mirror and know that I didn't sell the most valuable thing I ever owned. Myself. No regrets. Not one.
Because I'd rather wear a $50 watch with a clear conscience...
than a $350,000 watch that reminds me what I gave away to own it.