Athlete Stories Hall of Fame Jenny Thomas

Jenny Thomas

First appointment in January 2019

Back story to my decision: I read a book called “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman. In quick summary, our average life is 4000 weeks (76.92 years of age). (Remember this is an average only)
The general acceptance is for us all to work until retirement age, then start ticking off items on our bucket list with the notion that we have unlimited time to achieve this. Life is ‘finite’, not infinite.
When I read this book, I was 51. I worked out that I had already used 2,652 weeks.

What would you say to someone starting their journey at PEAK?

PEAK offer a friendly, supportive and caring environment for all their athletes. I would highly recommend the strength and conditioning classes. They may be small in number by attendance for each class, but huge in support, not only by the coaches that run them, but also by the like minded athletes that attend. Because of the unique environment PEAK provide, friendships are made with coaches and other athletes and regular attendance to these classes provides a social benefit whilst working on your individual goals. So much confidence is gained by an individual athlete through the supportive nature that Peak create and provide.

Why she had the mindset shift

It raised the question of how I wanted to spend the remaining 1348 weeks if you worked off the average – which I do not – I plan to live much longer than the average!
Working in management is a very rewarding career. For the past 10 years, I was running a private painting company (1 day per week), and at the same time, with the last 6 years holding the position of Business Manager for the Master Painters Association 3 days per week). Both roles included HR, Finance and Facilities.

I loved both of these roles; they were challenging at times yet always rewarding personally. In the last couple of years, these responsibilities were starting to take their toll. I started to realise that there was more to life than eating my breakfast at work, at my desk, at 6.30am every morning. Never taking a break at lunch, always eating at my desk as I continued to work.

Believing in myself, having solid faith knowing that with the skill set I had acquired throughout my career over the last 30 years, enabled me to resign from both positions, take time away from work, and feel assured that in 2025, I would not have a problem locating casual/part time work in an area I would enjoy. Management positions with lots of responsibility are a thing of the past, my plan is to look for fun and interesting positions – like working in a bookstore – helping people to continue with their love of reading like me.