Ryan Van Duzer is a US television presenter, cyclist and travel video journalist and filmmaker. He can be seen surviving in the jungles of Venezuela on Discovery Channel’s Out of the Wild.
My Definition Of Success | Success is living a life true to your heart. It’s about serving your community, your family and having enough money at the end of the day for an ice cream.
I Am Driven By | I’m driven by the desire to make a positive impact on this planet.
My Highlights | I’m most proud of the fact that when I wake up everyday, I get to work for myself and do what I love. I’m very proud of the two years I lived in Honduras, working in youth development for the Peace Corps. It was the most challenging, yet rewarding experience of my life. I’m proud that I live a life that inspires other into action.
A Key Talent | I’m relentless! I chose a very difficult career and have had to forge my own path, there is no correct way to becoming a TV host. I had to make everything up myself and at times I’ve felt very lost, lonely and confused, but I always keep the big picture in mind. I’ve learned to cope with feeling discouraged, and realized that you can’t always be on top of the world. The battles you fight along the way are all learning opportunities, and in the end, make you well-rounded with a great degree of humility.
The Characteristics Of Success | I value living a life of service. Having a successful career and making money is great, but in the end, it’s important to give back and help create a better world.
Critical Skills I Develop | Patience! We live in a world where people expect everything instantly and this is a dangerous precedent to live by. It’s good to work hard, to struggle, and to be tested on your way to achieving a big goal. If everything was quick and easy, we wouldn’t value it as much.
How I Use My Mind | I’m a positive thinker, always have been, but not to the point of being ‘fake’ happy. Being positive has been my most powerful tool in overcoming hardship, knowing that everything is temporary and something good is always down the road.
Dealing With Doubt | I felt all three of these emotions in a very intense way when I was filming a survival show in Venezuela for the Discovery channel. I had barely eaten for weeks, my body was falling apart, I had very little energy and was getting severely depressed. I felt worthless and battled the feeling that I had become too weak to help my team. I wanted to quit. Starvation not only affects your physical ability, but really depresses the mind. I had to overcome the negative thoughts and realize that my friends did in fact need me. I also knew that if I did quit, it would haunt me for the rest of my life, so I searched for every bit of strength in my soul and powered my way out of the jungle. It wasn’t my physical toughness that got me out of that dilemma, it was 100% my mind.
Dealing With Doubt | I know I’m performing at my peak when I have a smile on my face and ‘work’ seems easy. In this moment, I know that I’ve prepared the best I can, and everything is on cruise control.
My Future Dreams And Ambitions I want to create content that inspires, entertains and educates viewers. There’s so much junk on TV these days that promotes horrible values. My main goal is to always be part of projects that I believe will have a positive impact on the world. Money has never been my priority, I live a simple life. My dream is to inspire people to reach beyond their limits and live a happy and fulfilled life.
The Meaning Of Life | The meaning of life is to make lots of good friends, travel as much as possible, serve your community and beyond, be nice to Mother Nature, eat tons of good Mexican food, laugh as much as possible, challenge yourself all the time, sing and dance like a fool in the rain, climb trees, climb mountains, splash in the waves…you get the idea? Pretty much live life with endless childlike wonder.
Advice On Building Wealth | My outlook on ‘rich’ may be different than the traditional view. Rich to me is surrounding yourself with good people, having plenty of excess time to be active and healthy, the ability to travel, go to concerts, have big dinner parties and always wake up psyched for a new day. That’s rich!
The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | I always lead with my heart, and want people to know that in everything I did, I did it out of love. Love for family, friends, my community, the environment, and the world as a whole.
