Why Not? Breaking Limits in Sport, Business and Life

Stop saying, "I can't." Start asking, "Why not?"

Matt Formston AM is legally blind. He holds the Guinness World Record for the Largest Wave Surfed by a Para Surfer;  a 51-foot wave at Nazaré, Portugal. He is a four-time Surfing World Champion, a Cycling World Champion and World Record holder, a Paralympian, a Member of the Order of Australia, and the subject of the Netflix documentary The Blind Sea.

None of it was given to him. Every record, every title, every wave was built on principles forged through four decades of adversity, elite sport, and senior corporate leadership. Principles he calls the Hard Standards.

Why Not? is the raw, honest story of how those standards were forged. From a childhood diagnosis that told his parents to lower their expectations, through violence, shame and loss, to world championship podiums, fifty-foot waves, and the boardrooms where Matt now chairs and coaches senior executives.

Woven through every chapter are the eight Hard Standards: a tested framework for consistent high performance when the pressure is real, the stakes are highest, and excuses are easiest. Not motivational theory. Not productivity hacks. A system built from a life at the pinnacle of both elite sport and corporate leadership, applied every day in boardrooms and executive coaching.

For anyone who has been told what they can't do and refuses to accept it. For anyone who performs well sometimes, but not when it counts. This is the system that changes that.

• Hardback edition, published by Wiley
• Foreword by Matt's father
• Released July 2026 (pre-orders ship end July / early August 2026)
• Pre-order incentive: exclusive launch giveaways (details announced closer to release
  
• Signed copies available on request
• Bulk orders for corporate teams and L&D programs welcome — contact info@mattformston.com
• For readers of David Goggins, Bear Grylls, and Malcolm Gladwell