EFFORT. PERFORMANCE. ACHIEVEMENT. RESULTS
Father's Day 2026
These four words, said while slapping the back of one hand against the other, are a core memory of my dad. Add this in with other Dad classic sayings of “You’re only as good as your last win” and “you don’t win second place” you get a picture of what my dad is like.
When said like this, all these years later, it makes him sound harsh and driven by competition. Which he was — and still is, now aged 77, but also not as he never put that pressure on the family, just on himself. Dad picked up the Effort saying from a champion dinghy sailor Laurie Chivers when he was competing in the Sharpie Australian Championships at 21 years old. and somehow it stuck. Not just with Dad, but with his five children too. Now even the grandkids can perform it on cue — hand slapping and all.
It does make you stop and think, though. Especially about that very first word: Effort.
Such a tiny word, and yet without it, so many things simply aren’t possible. Dad taught us that if we wanted to achieve a good result in our school, sport, jobs, lives it started with effort and a desire to push forward regardless of the obstacles ahead.
And you thought this was going to be another soppy tale about how great dads are!
My dad is great, and he is an absolute character. A competitive sailor, a successful businessman who grew his own company into the largest marine clothing and accessories brand in Australia, and now a part-time farmer in regional NSW.
Yet, his biggest claims to fatherhood were that he was present at all five of his children’s births and that he was always home in time for dinner. We all rib him about these claims now, but when you look around at families today, being home in time for everyone to sit around the dinner table together is actually a pretty special thing.
Dinners in my family were raucous when I was growing up. With five kids, plus Mum and Dad, there was strong banter, challenging debates and a heavy dose of business talk at every dinner table. Mum and Dad operated the business together and were a dynamic force, bringing very different qualities to the table. Dad was creative and highly driven; Mum was financial and meticulous with detail. It worked. And we all learnt a lot simply from watching the way they interacted with each other and their staff, how they dealt with the many challenges of running their own business, from our time hanging around the warehouse and factory and from listening in at dinner.
It’s amazing how much of your childhood and early adolescence is spent simply absorbing information from your surroundings.
When we weren’t talking business, we were all struggling to eat our peas the “proper English” way during Sunday roast - pushing them onto the back of our forks. A skill we apparently needed if we were ever to have dinner with the Queen. Still waiting for that invitation. If anyone, namely my younger brothers, tried to scoop their peas, Dad’s voice would be raised. To this day, I still can’t scoop my peas, and my brothers still try to get away with it.
And yet, this crazy time of big personalities all vying for their voice to be heard is more than a memory to me. It’s a feeling that sits deep inside.
I was the quiet one, number three in the series and therefore technically the “middle child”. Although I was more a combination of the baby to my older brother and sister, and the eldest to my two younger brothers. Being a shy and quiet kid, my family still make fun of the fact that I would try to say my piece, take a breath, and then be completely overrun by the louder voices around the table.
It’s true. And from that, I learnt to observe. Which, as it turns out, has proven to be a pretty useful skill growing up.
Another favourite saying of Dad’s is “shit time”. And this is something I now wholeheartedly understand and embrace.
Back in the day, everyone was going on about spending “quality time” with your family. It sounds good, right? Making the effort to go out for dinners, events or activities together as a family. But Dad would say that was all a feel-good marketing ploy. Being able to spend normal, average, boring time together as a family was just as important. Not everything has to be a big song and dance. Often, it’s the everyday stuff that counts the most.
To this day, my siblings and I are all very close, even though we live all over the globe and our catch ups are few and far between. We still love getting together and bantering loudly around the dinner table and we all still reference the need for “shit time” in our own families.
Our beautiful Mum is no longer with us, but Dad is still quite the character. My kids love hearing his funny sayings and listening to his stories. And every now and then, the kids can be heard quoting Grandpa.
Sometimes, they even slap the back of their hand and recite it with him:
Effort.
Performance.
Achievement.
Results.
Maybe Dad was onto something after all. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
Fran.
