The Untapped Potential Inside You | Colin O'Brady

23:08It's about flexing your mind is really what it comes down to. And I described that moment of Jen and I writing our dreams onto this whiteboard. Sadly, as you know, that's where 99.9 % of dreams die as an idea. Because all of a sudden we have these doubts in our mind. Oh, I can't. Or it's going to take 10 years. or I could never catch up to this person or that person or this metric or that metric. But it's about showing up. It's about getting out there every single day. So in Antarctica, and it's also the ability to be able to adapt. So actually, my first day in Antarctica, I think, is really emblematic of that.

23:38And to be fair about the 2019-2019 event, you're like, Colin, what are you doing in a couple weeks? You seem like you're in pretty good shape. And I was like, well, I'm going to try to cross Antarctica by myself. It was like two weeks before I was leaving. So I was pretty well trained at that moment. But, you know, I get out there. we've been playing this project for well over a year. It's a world first. No one's ever done it. There's so many doubters and naysayers. Someone actually died 100 miles from the finish line three years ago trying this project. Another one of the best explorers in the world went out there the following year and after 52 days ran out of food and had to be picked up and didn't make it.

24:11So there's a lot of people. There's a lot of print articles and big magazines saying it's physically impossible to do this thing. And so like I know that going in. And so we build this strategy and the unsupported nature means you can't take any extra supplies with you basically what you have in your sled to start no one can give you anything essentially and so that case like weight is of the the essence and so I pack my sled as much of food and as much fuel the fuel I melt the ice into water and I don't bring extra anything I literally don't even have an extra pair of underwear with me for 54 days because like I can't I'd rather have a hundred more calories in my sled of food same underwear same underwear 54 days that's straight oh my god fancy

24:48Lewis Howes:Yeah, that's not nice. Yeah, that's not nice. Oh man, you clean it at least? You try to? No, not much. You can't? Yeah, you just kind of like ride it out. Wow, man. So, not smelling good by the other day. One day a chafing and you're done too. So yeah, look after your body. But I get out there, I fly, this plane lands me on the edge of the Antarctic continent, takes off, I'm all alone out there, right? Like I'm dropped off alone. And well actually, you had mentioned before there was another guy out there, which is important to mention at this point because another British explorer, one of the actually the most experienced in the world in terms of the amount of miles traversed in Antarctica on various other projects, he also decides that he wants to try to be the first.

25:27So not only am I now racing history, but this guy's a British Navy SEAL equivalent, you know, special forces guy. His name's Lou Rudd, and he's like a badass, and he wants to do this as well. It was his friend who died three years ago. He's doing that to honor him, and I got a lot of respect for all. I mean, there's a camaraderie as well, of course. And we both know what we're going through, but we also both clearly want to be first. And he's looking at me like, who's this, you know, bit younger guy who doesn't have the real experience in Antarctica? Who does he think he is? And I'm kind of like trying to be like confident in my plan.

25:57And so plane drops us off. We're at a mile apart from each other, equidistant from the first waypoint, the first like GPS marker on the map. And I get out there and I've got this video of me being like, it's a blue sky day. It's great. After all year of planning, it's finally time for me to like try to cross a Nardukum, taking the first step and I bend down and to pull the strap on my sled to tighten it for the first time and ping the strap breaks. Literally the strap breaks like it's minus 25 and the plastic can't handle it. Break. So right out of the gate I'm like wow this is going to be a long journey.

26:26This is before the first step. So then I strap into my sled and the sled's the heaviest on the first day. 375 pounds to start was about the maximum I thought I could pull. So I put as much food as I could even though I knew I was going to burn 10 ,000 calories per day. And I factored I could carry about 7 ,000 calories. So I was going to lose weight every single day straight from the get go, even eating 7 ,000 calories. That's how intense and cold it is. And so I start pulling my sled and you asked me before about sweat, about one hour in I'm sweating and I'm like, wait, this sled's so heavy, but I can't not pull it without sweating.

26:59And so I start sweating. Then I realized I actually don't think I can pull the sled and I start crying. I literally start crying. But what happens when you cry when it's minus 25 degrees up, It freezes to your face. So I have frozen tears to my face, and I'm one hour, two hours into this journey. And so I do the only thing I can think of is I call home to Jenna. Wow. And so I pick up the phone and I go, hey, babe, yeah, we may have named our project the right thing. It appears to be impossible because we had called it the impossible first. Wow. And she's like, uh-oh. And so she tries to, you know, she's like, okay, well.

27:35And meanwhile, I'm seeing Lou, disappear on the horizon with this beautiful like ski stroke like totally knows what he's doing like strong and steady out there and like at this point I can't even think about the fact that there's a race in place I mean I'm just trying to like get through the first day and so she says to me Colin how far are you from the first waypoint like she knows the route we've studied it she knows everything the first waypoint's only a few miles from the drop-off point and I'm like I'm 0.63 miles from here it's as if I'm saying it's a million miles but she's like okay so you're half a mile from the first waypoint like this goes back to original question strategy right and she's like do me a favor like whatever you do i know it's heavy i know you're sweating i know you're exhausted and you're probably a little bit afraid understandably like get to the first waypoint get to that first waypoint and you'll have felt like you got somewhere on the first day so for the next hour i struggled and battled and get to that first waypoint set up my tent get inside my tent and i say to jenna like i call her again it's kind of our safety check at night off the sat phone she's like how are you doing I was like obviously I'm stressed just look I actually went out there intentionally with not a lot of music not a lot of podcasts because I wanted to explore the silence of these flow states that I hope to tap into in my mind something I'm very curious about the sort of mental side of this and she goes tomorrow do me a favor try to find the flow even if just for a minute or two minutes it's gonna be a hard day and so just those words I went to sleep and I was like okay I made it to the first way point I'll get up tomorrow and kind of regroup and then I woke up and I'm big on mantras but this mantra had never been with me before this and just came to me out loud as my alarm went off to wake me up on my first real full day out there.

29:08I said out loud to myself, I said, Colin, you are strong. You are capable. You are strong. You are capable. And that ended up being my mantra every single day, waking up for the rest of the entire 54 day journey. And sure enough, that next day, was it stupid challenging? Yes. But instead of two miles, I made it eight miles. And I found that flow state for a minute. The next day was nine miles and I found that flow for two or three minutes. And so we had a strategy. It went out the window on day one, had to refocus, refocus on the mind, adjust a few things with our strategy. Cause I was hoping to go further distances in that.

29:46She's like, well, like maybe it's not shorter distances at this at first, but as it gets lighter, maybe it'll go longer and all this kind of stuff. And so, you know, how do you strategize and plan for something that's been told is impossible, you're stepping into the unknown, it's by being adaptable and ultimately realizing that these things are happening in our minds, these doubts, these fears. That's a human thing. I don't care who you are. I still have them. I have four world records and I had, you know, some a bit of success in my life through challenges. But like I wake up every day with doubts and fears and challenges, but it's being able to quiet that in my mind and continue to get to that first waypoint or get to that next step forward in whatever you're doing.

30:23Lewis Howes:man what um what did you do to get into flow every day then besides the mantra how did you get into flow and how'd you stay into it yeah so that's something that i've just been fascinated with so i grew up as a kid uh as a swimmer um and uh it's funny my um my my five older sisters actually um and i'm the baby boy yeah uh and uh an older brother as well but i mean i'm a little little boy of seven, blended family, but a big family, a loving, supportive environment. And my sisters and my parents would always be like, you're always talking all the time. You're always this. Like I was trying to hang out with them, follow my sisters into the room, like always like chatting and all this kind of stuff.

31:02But what I realized is I spent four hours a day as a kid swimming two hours before school, two hours after school, putting in those reps of quiet. Swimming is this weird sport where you're staring at a black line, like you can't talk. There's no eye contact. There's no, you know, really can't really chat to your teammates. Even you're kind of in this zone. And so before I knew the word flow state or high performance, this is me as a kid, I realized I was sort of tapping in and out of those states. And I became more conscious of that as I went through my life and became a professional triathlete after a whole other crazy tangent of my life, being severely burned in a fire in Thailand and being told I would never walk again.

31:37We can talk about that if you want. But more so what happened when I was racing triathlon is a friend of mine came to me and she said, I don't know much about sports. This is Turkish woman who's a wife of a good friend of mine named Ece and she says I don't know much about sports but just by observing this I see that like this is all in your guys's minds out here and I was like yeah absolutely like swimming or the uh this was triathlon so this is triathlon and she this one I was raising triathlon professionally and she said you know I'd recommend that you go to these meditation retreats and I was like cool I'm interested in meditation but I don't like know a lot about it I haven't done this is 2011 and she's like yeah if you've of a pasta meditation it's these 10 days silent meditation retreats 10 days no reading no right no eye contact deep meditation and she's like you should try it and i was like well don't i need like a little background and meditation before this or she's just like no like just just do it it's free there's centers around the world it's completely free to go like go and so me being the kind of like jump in head first type of person as you can probably tell here i was like great i'll go so my off season and triathlon that year i signed up for this meditation retreat my stepdad he drives me up through a treat and he goes, he goes, Hey Colin, like I've pretty much never heard you shut up for a minute in your life.

32:46And so, um, I'm going to wait here in the parking lot for an hour because once you realize this is a terrible idea, I'll be here waiting to drive you home. You know, joking. He's, he, I stepped as this amazing mentor and influence in my life, incredible man. Um, but he's literally going like, you're pretty extroverted and you're telling me you're going to sit in silence by yourself for 10 days. Sure enough, I stayed for those 10 days and it had just a profound impact on my life, of learning about that self-awareness in my mind, in my brain, etc. And so from that practice, which I've gone back to the 10-day retreat, I try to go every single year if I can, done several, as well as have a daily practice with it, I've kind of taken that into my canvas, into my artwork, into my sport, and this curiosity of the mind and where we can go in our mind and brain.

33:31And so one of my deep curiosity about Antarctica, honestly, was, yes, unlocking the physical potential inside of me, but as a gateway to do that, exploring the mind. And what better place to be alone in this endlessly white landscape. The sun never sets. There's no change of days. There's no dark. There's no dark. It's a blank white canvas. And like I said, I literally deleted almost all the media from my iPhone as to not, I actually had a couple of School of Greatness podcasts, a couple of ritual podcasts, a couple of few podcasts and a few albums out there. I listened to some Paul Simon Gray say and a couple others, but there was very few.

34:05I spent 80, 90 % of the time in complete silence. And it was a beautiful thing to explore that. So how did I tap into that flow? Like I said, some of the times it was 30 seconds. Some of the times it was a minute or two. But as I kept on these repetition of days exploring this place in my mind, sometimes it was days, two days, three days where the sequence of days would come through in high performance. And the stakes are high. It's 50, 60 mile per hour winds. If I let go of my tent, I have no shelter. It's gone. It's 80 degrees wind chill minus 80 degrees wind chill. But I'm finding the space in my mind that is locked in and calm.

34:40And the most kind of most profound experience of that was actually on my very last day. So it's worthy of mentioning after the sixth day, I did catch up to Mr. Captain Lou Rudd and surpassed him and ended up in front of him the rest of the time. And I on the 52nd day, I woke up and I'm 77 miles away from the finish. And I'm and it's about three days probably give or take that it's Christmas morning and I wake up and I get outside of my tent and the deepest flow state of my entire life just comes over me I just realize I recognize it I say my mantra I tap in and I start exploring when I'm in the deepest flow states I'm also hyper aware and so I start thinking like how many more miles do I have to go how much time would that take oh it's three days but what if I did it back to back what if I did it in one big final push.

35:31I'd never gone more than 33 miles in an individual day and I average about 15 to 17 miles a day. So I'm 77 miles away from the finish and I'm 53 days in this expedition. But I get into this place in my mind that's so deep where I feel this strength and this power and this flow that I start to say to myself, whoa, we have this capacity as humans, not me, not me, but as humans. And I'm tapped into the vibration of my family and friends and the school kids that are following along and just this radiant positivity that I'm shining out, but receiving back in such a significant way that I tap into this flow.

36:07And for the next 32 hours, I don't stop. Wow. I continue onwards. I have to stop at hour 18 to put up my tent to melt a little bit of snow to get some more water because I'd ran out of water. Call home to my family. It's Christmas night. It's 7 p.m. for them on Christmas night. They're all gathered together. They're like, you did your best day ever. 18 hours. I can't believe it. You're almost a day or two from the I'm not stopping, I'm still going. And my mother, who's been a huge influence in my life, and certainly Jenna, my sister, these strong women who have just been like these amazingly positive influences on my life, they hear it in my voice.

36:41And of course as a mother, or as a wife, or as a sister, you're a little bit worried, you know, your person is out there in this intense environment. But they just, they reflect now as they've told me the story from their point of view, and they have it recorded on Christmas day, you know, this conversation that we had, and they were like, we could hear it in your voice. You were more focused and more clear than you've ever been. And they just said, I can't wait to hear from you in 12 hours. You're going to cross this finish line and create history. Go live your destiny. And it was just this beautiful, beautiful moment of the mind.

37:12And I think, I mean, I'll say that coming back home and ask all these questions in the media and press were just super humbling and this question that kept coming up and it keeps coming up, which is, Colin, are you superhuman? and my question is simple it's like yeah i'm superhuman and so are you and so are you like what i'm tapping into in my mind is accessible to all of us and like yes you may not want to walk across an article by yourself in fact i don't blame you for not wanting to do that uh for seriously but like whatever it is you talk about business entrepreneurship innovation music art love creation positivity whatever that is like that is within us and that's what i tapped into out there which is the most special thing for me to come back and be able to share is is that resonant positivity and the power that we all have within us.

37:56It's crazy, man.

38:00Lewis Howes:This podcast is supported by Ring. With Ring, it's protected. You know those moments when you're expecting a package and you're not home and you're thinking about it all day, wondering if it's just sitting out there. That's something I think about, especially with how often we're ordering things for the house. And this is where Ring comes in. Keep track of packages and see more at the front door with battery doorbell. And honestly, Ring has been a game changer for me. I like being able to quickly check and see where my package shows up and just know it's there. And beyond that, I'm also keeping an eye out on the yard.

38:27Lewis Howes:With the Outdoor Cam Plus, you get a wide field of view and clear retinal 2K video, so you can see what's happening around your home, even at night. You can also upgrade to 4K cameras and doorbells with retinal vision, which gives you ultra clear footage and lets you zoom in without losing important details. And for me, it's that extra peace of mind. Whether it's making sure a delivery arrived or just checking in on things outside, it's simple and easy. Your door, your yard, your home. With Ring, it's protected. Shop cameras, doorbells, and more right now at ring.com. As a loyal listener of this show, you're always challenging yourself to grow, to be better, to keep learning, and Southern New Hampshire University can help.

39:06Lewis Howes:Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 career-focused degree programs online. Plus, Southern New Hampshire University has some of the lowest online tuition rates in the U.S., so balancing school, work, and life actually feels achievable and affordable, too. Find your degree at snhu.edu slash greatness. That's snhu.edu slash greatness. What was the things you were saying to yourself the final 12, 15, 20 hours? Like, are you saying the mantra over and over? Are you white space in your mind? Are you having a conversation with yourself? Is it kind of random? You know, what was cool about that really deeper flow was I said the clarity.

39:47And so it was actually two things happened one the passage of time started to feel different, you know 32 hours I mean if I told you to sit here at your desk for 30 hours you're like bro It's like come on like or we climb 29.029 for 35 hours I'm like it's a long time to do something like that and I'm just staring at this compass I mean it's literally staring at a compass in the endless white space

40:05Lewis Howes:So you're looking at a compass the whole time pretty much because like because it's very hard to you can't even really see the Distance in front of you especially when it's white out in these blizzard conditions. I'm just staring at something Wow So here's blank because blank can be in your mind. You're pulling it around your waist or your shoulders? Pulling it around your shoulders. I've got a compass strapped to my chest that I'm staring down at. And it's white on white. And sometimes, yeah, skiing, but like with skins on the bottom. So it's not like people think skiing is basically like glorified snowshoes.

40:30So it's got skins on the bottom just to give you a grip. So you're not digging into the deep snow. So anyways, pulling this sled. But yeah, in that flow state, I'm thinking about what actually happened in those last 15 or 20 hours. and this was really cool is that I realized that all the memories we have. So if I said, hey, Lewis, tell me about your high school graduation. You probably have a memory pops in your mind right now. Like you've got an image of that day, but then we're going to keep talking and we're going to talk about other things. You'll get distracted. But in that quiet space, in that flow state, the memories in my mind, even of the mundane became so rich.

41:03And so I start thinking about all the points in my life, but I'm a five-year-old kid on a swimming pool deck with my mom encouraging me to dive in for my first swim race, but I'm not there for a flash instant in my mind. I'm there and I can feel the wind blowing and I can see my mom on the other side holding a red towel and I can see my sister who's gonna race in the race behind me and all this. Or I started going back to driving to school with my sister, Kate Owen actually, and we did that every single day to high school for years and years and years. You know, we're siblings, sometimes we would talk, sometimes we wouldn't talk, sometimes we listen to music, sometimes we wouldn't.

41:34I actually could start to remember full sequences of 10, 15 minute, these drives over and over and over again. So in this flow state, I was almost in this lucid dream state where I discovered that the memories, everything we've been through, even those memories you think like, that's not a part of me or I've let that go or that's not there. Like they are there and in rich detail. And so in this flow state, I'm actually remembering all of the things that happened to me through my life to lead up to this moment. The kid in a swimming pool, the 22 year old that got severely burned in a fire in Thailand was told I would never walk again, spent three months in the hospital, my mom's recovery, helping me recover through that and the positivity, triathlon, heartbreaking relationships, love, family, community, all of these things in this lucid detail in this dreamlike state walking across Antarctica for 32 hours at the finish line.

42:23It was an unbelievable experience. Crazy, man. Yeah.

42:26Lewis Howes:Tell me about this burn in Thailand. What happened? When was this? Yeah, definitely a pivotal moment in my life, to say the least. I just after graduating from college, I've been a swimmer in college and, you know, didn't grow up with a lot of money as a kid, but I'd always dream like, hey, like one day I want to like see the world. You know, I had this kind of wanderlust inside of me. I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and I'm glad that I grew up there because even though we couldn't travel far and wide, you know, my parents would take me hiking and biking and the outdoors and things like that, a place that really embraces that.

43:01But I never really been abroad, hadn't seen other countries much anything like that and so I'd been painting houses as a kid since I was 15 years old and every summer I would save up you know a thousand bucks in my like life savings account and so when I graduated from college I had ten thousand dollars I felt like I was like the richest man in the world you know like from eight it was eight summers painting houses and that was the money I also had to pay for like books and like you know day-to-day expenses so it's this this carving off this little amount um every single year but when I graduated I had ten thousand dollars and I was like, I'm gonna go travel around the whole world as long as I can.

43:33And so I bought a one-way plane ticket and the first plane ticket was from the West Coast to New Zealand. But this was back in the day. You remember a place called STA Travel? It was like this student travel agency. This dates the story. So I graduated college in 2006. I think we're similar ages. 2005. Actually, did I read your birthday's March 16th? Yeah. Me too. No way. What year? 85. 83. Wow. My sister Caitlin who I mentioned is March 15th 83 no way David literally literally actually Oh, man, so we've got some symmetry. We get some high-speed symmetry five people in March 16. Yeah, so we're both March 16 It's funny.

44:11I don't know that popped up in something I saw there. I was like, who is it on the same birthday? That's cool. Anyways So I set off from the world and the first stop in STA travel tells me oh you're buying a one-way ticket for student You can actually stop in Fiji for free and I'm like great for free like heck yeah sign me up I'm just I'm a 22 year old kid just trying to like you know see the world a little bit so I stop and sure enough on this tiny little beach in Fiji on this island that you could walk around the circumference and in five minutes I meet Jenna 2007 who's now my wife Fiji first stop on my trip I meet this 20 year old beautiful uh college girl who's on a study abroad in Australia she's American um but I meet I meet this girl and it's kind of a chance encounter for a day or two and then like I continue traveling and she moves back to Australia but our lives can intertwine and here we are married and she's the light of my life and the strongest anchor of everything that we've done and so I'd say this trip started off to a good start.

45:07Then I went and hitchhiked around New Zealand. I mean I basically have no money. I'm hitchhiking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oatmeal, youth hostels, sleeping on floors, like I mean whatever I can get you know but just to be out in the world it was amazing at the time and I find myself on this rural beach in Thailand island called Kotao and have you been over to Thailand before? I have. So you've probably seen there's fire dancing and poi balls and all this kind of stuff and at 22 years old when a bunch of people are jumping a flaming jump rope I thought to myself like sure why not that looks like fun and clearly hindsight is 20-20 because the rope the flaming rope wrapped around my legs lit me on my body sprayed kerosene the length of my body lit me on fire completely to my neck.

45:45I jumped into the ocean to extinguish the flames which ultimately saved my life, but not before 25 % of my body was severely burned, predominantly my legs and feet. And I'm here, I'm in Thailand. I'm in the middle of nowhere on a beach on an island. There's no hospital on the entire island, no ambulance. So I'm on a moped ride down a dirt path to a one-room nursing station, like the size of this room that we're sitting in right now, basically, with like one bed. And I have to go undergo eight surgeries there, where there's a cat running around my bed in this makeshift ICU. And the worst thing is the doctors are looking at me through this sort of broken translation of cultural and language bear and they're saying like you'll probably never walk again normally like the damage to your ligaments the knee joints the ankle joints that's the depth of the burn like it honestly you're probably not going to be like fully functional um you know full mobility back again and you know obviously super dark time in my life just this downward spiral physical trauma emotional trauma i thought i was this young person seeing in this world how could I be so stupid I'm down with myself all these things and the the the heroine of this story is my mother who's just this incredible woman and I don't have kids yet although that's something I would like that another adventure I'd like to go on pretty soon I think but the my mother comes in and I can only imagine what it's like to be a mother to see your kid on the other side of the world in this makeshift hospital bandaged to the waist up having doctors say this and I know now that she's afraid she's in the hallways crying and pleading with the doctors asking for good news, begging for anything.

47:13But she comes into my hospital room every single day with this smile on her face, with just this air of positivity, where she's going like, Colin, what do you want to do when you get out of here? Like, let's set a goal. Let's look towards the future. I'm like, Mom, are you kidding me? My life is over as I know it. I'm never gonna be the same again. All I can see is the darkness. And she just fills me with this love and this positivity and leans in. And she finally says to me like, do me a favor, close your eyes. I sit there. I'm like, okay, I'll play along. I close my eyes. She goes, visualize yourself.

47:44Just picture yourself in a positive light doing something in the future. And in that moment, for whatever reason, probably because I was an athlete, I guess, I see myself crossing a triathlon finish line. And I open my eyes and I go, fine, you want me to set a goal? And I'm kind of saying it as a precocious kind of kid just trying to play along with my mom a little bit. I'm like, you know what? One day I'm going to race a triathlon. And I love my mother so much for this. instead of her going like, oh, I said set a goal, but maybe within the parameters of what the doctors are saying your diagnosis is or whatever.

48:15She's like, great. That's what you're going to do. Let's learn everything about travel. I've never raced a triathlon before. I swam in college, but I never bike competitively, run competitively. I don't even know how you change your shoes from a bike to a run. I don't know any of this stuff. But she's like, great. That's your goal. And so it was three months that I was in that Thai hospital, and I was finally flown back to the United States to Portland, Oregon, where I'm from. Haven't taken a single step. I was carried on and off the plane, placed in a wheelchair when I got home. And I'm in my mother's kitchen that first day.

48:40And my mom says to me, she goes, Colin, she goes, I know you've got this big triathlon goal, but you've got to figure out how to take your very first step. And she grabs this chair from our kitchen table that I grew up eating around. She puts it one step in front of my wheelchair. She goes, I'm going to leave the room, but your entire goal for the day is to get out of that wheelchair and take one step and show me that you can sit in that chair that's one step away from you. It was three hours staring at that chair like looking at it. I finally I get up three hours of courage and strength I haven't taken a single step in months and I take that one step and the next day She moves the chair five steps away and the next day ten steps away each day a few more steps And you went on like that for a year and a half You know the steps turned into moving from the couch in the living room to the dinner table at night And then one time I was like I said mom I'm jogging I'm literally like shuffling down the street probably like 30 minute mile pace I mean, it was like barely shuffling, but like that day jogging just felt like flying.

49:33Like I'm just like on top of the world because I'm imagining myself racing this triathlon. And so sure enough, 18 months later, a year and a half after my accident, I'm trying to like get my life together. Like I got to get a job. I got to get out of my parents' basement. I take a job in finance in Chicago, 23, maybe just turned 24. I take a job in finance in Chicago. I'd say economics in school and kind of trying to figure out my future, you know, like trying to do something, I guess. And I honor this goal. I said, I moved to Chicago and I was like, okay, they've got a big triathlon here. In fact, the Chicago triathlon at the time was the biggest race in the country.

50:06It was 5 ,000 or 4 ,000 participants or something like that. So I signed up for the race. I trained at this local gym, asking these random people like in spin class, like how do you, again, how do you change your shoes? Like, I mean, I know nothing. I know how to train because I'm an athlete, but I'm like covered with this injury. I don't really know. And I show up at the Chicago triathlon and I raced the race and I finished the race. My grandmother, who's since passed away, she's at the finish line to congratulate me. Like you did it. Oh my God, you finished a triathlon, you know a mile swim 25 miles bike 6.2 miles around it's an olympic distance triathlon and we go and we collect my bike and the way triathlons work is like people start in different staggered waves of a hundred or so people and we come back around after having lunch she goes don't you want to go check how you did in your age group or see like you know how'd you did in the event and i'm like sure why not let's wander past the scores table we wander past the scores table i'm like hi trying to figure out what placement what's your name calling a brady go we've been calling your name over the loudspeaker you won the entire race wow So I had placed first out of 4 ,000 some participants in my first race ever.

51:04And it was a complete and utter surprise. Even crossing the finish line because of the staggered start, I had no idea. I literally had no idea. People were finishing before you. People were finishing before I started because they started an hour before because they're in different waves and all this kind of stuff. Wow. And it was just this incredible moment when I really think about the entire sequence there. And I look for, you know, this was 11 years ago now when this happened, of what's happened since then, is it was in that moment that I didn't go like, Like, oh, wow, I'm the champion of Chicago triathlon.

51:29I'm so cool. I'm so amazing. What I thought about was, like, gratitude. Like, what would have happened had my mom not come into that hospital room with this positivity, daring me to dream about the future, forcing me to set this tangible goal for the future? Where would my life have ended up, right? And so it's this moment where I look back, and then I was like, wait, like, I was able to do this, but I don't think of myself as special. So I was like, as humans, I realized we all have these reservoirs of this untapped potential inside of us and can achieve these extraordinary things when we're focused, when we shine positivity and light, when we lean into those that we love and uplift and co-create together.

52:08And so really this journey that I've been on, these world record projects, ultimately I quit my day job as a finance trader and became a professional triathlete the next day, which is not like being an NBA player, MLB player, anything like that. It's like still sleeping on couches and floors, but I got to race my bike around the world for several years. And it was an incredible journey to be on, but it really started in that moment of turning this tragedy into a great lesson for unlocking potential inside of myself. And why I love and I'm humbled to be able to share the story and the formats that I get to is in the public speaking I do on podcasts like this or through my art creations and my projects out in the world.

52:42is that what I want to shine out in the world is this essence that we have this inside of us, that we really all have this ability inside of us to create and do incredible and extraordinary things with our life. And that doesn't mean like your name in a newspaper or having a tech exit or whatever. That's one type of high performance. But I mean like loving each other and leaning in and being happy and playful and enjoying life and co-creating, inspiring and lifting up all of the different ways that aren't necessarily the key metrics of success the way we think of them, but that's how I define it.

53:16Yeah.

53:20Lewis Howes:With the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, you earn an unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase. No quarterly activations, no categories to track, just unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase. Think about those bigger everyday purchases, travel, groceries, things for the house, where afterward you realize, I could have earned cash back on that. That's the kind of opportunity that adds up over time. Visit usbank.com slash smartlycard to learn more. The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa USA, Inc. Some restrictions may apply.

53:58Lewis Howes:Back to school starts now. Get long-lasting battery life on the Dell XPS laptop powered by Series 3 Intel Core so you can work from anywhere. Now starting at$699 with exclusive student pricing starting at$599. Complete your setup with savings on select monitors and must-have electronics and accessories. Limited-time deals and free shipping on PCs and more await you at dell.com slash deals. That's dell.com slash deals.

54:28Do you think it would be possible to achieve everything you have without Jenna in your life? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Like, that's the easiest answer. Thank you for asking me a lay of a softball of a question. How much could you create on your own without that support? You know, I think that, you know, there was 20 years of my life before I met Jenna, and it's not like I was doing nothing. You know, I was a talented athlete, swimmer, you know, collegiate athlete, this type of things. But ultimately, the next level came from this partnership, from this teamwork. And that before I even met Jenna, although I had just met Jenna previous to this, it's having this strong mother, this influence in my life, these five sisters who brought me under their wing and teased me and played with me, but ultimately loved me and uplifted me.

55:14You know, my mom, when she's interviewed about certain things, she says, careful what you wish for when you tell your kids they can do anything they set their minds to. And she says that because she still worries about me, of course, as a mother would when your kid's going to go walk across, you know, Antarctica by himself. But she's proud of me. She's never held me back. She's encouraged me. But Jenna, in that partnership of that coming together of love and romantic love as well as business savvy and strategy and support, I could never have done it without that. And I recognize in saying that we all don't in this moment in life, when you're listening to this podcast, you're in this moment, like maybe you're not in a romantic relationship, or maybe you are, or maybe you're in one that's not serving you, or maybe you're not.

55:53But whether that's your romantic partner, your best friend, your brother, someone you have yet to meet, I believe we are stronger together. And although it's an interesting thing to say because people have pointed out, if you just look at the top headline of the New York Times, man crosses Antarctica solo, it's like, oh, here's this guy completely by himself doing this bad ass thing that no one's ever done. That couldn't be further than the truth of the essence of this. This is a, I am a compilation of all of the people who have put love and energy into me throughout my entire life, as well as the people that have sat in the trenches with me when I've had a crazy idea on a whiteboard and didn't say that's not possible.

56:33They said, cool, let's figure it out. Let's create.

56:37Lewis Howes:Yeah. What's the mission moving forward? You're taking some time to recover. Yeah. To eat. Enjoy life. Yeah. Are you back at the whiteboard soon or are you just kind of taking it all in right now? You know, for me, I finished two months ago yesterday. So it's only been two months since I finished and actually after finishing I knew that Lou was just a few days behind me and so as badly as I wanted to change those underwear and get out of there with like more meal and get the heck out of Antarctica I was pretty done with it I wanted to honor him and I waited at the finish line until he crossed so I stayed there for a couple of extra days waited for him to cross he ultimately completed it becoming the second person the only other person on the planet that has done this crossing and it was so amazing to be there to be the first person to congratulate on him on what was an extraordinary achievement as well.

57:25So that was kind of the first order of business. I stayed in Antarctica a little bit longer. And then finally flew back to the United States. And I've been incredibly humbled by the press and the media and interviews and things like that. It's been amazing in that regard. And the reason that I am proud of that, again, is not just because I liked seeing my name in print, but more so it validates this art piece, So there's reverberation of positivity and giving me this platform to speak about the things that I care about. And so having the opportunities now to, you know, I already was doing a bunch of public speaking before, but, you know, speaking at businesses and corporations, all the stuff that I do in schools with the school curriculums I do with school kids and continue my nonprofit work with Jenna and the stuff that we do there.

58:06I'm writing a book now. You know, all of these types of things is an amazing way to share this story. Are there other adventures on the horizon? Yes, I'm already, of course, sewing the scenes of those next, you know, adventures and way that I can push my limits. But what I'm really passionate about in this moment is having this ability to kind of take a breath, take it all in and enjoy this moment and enjoy the ability to build off this platform that I've created to really share those human messages out in the world that I think are so important. One of the other things that came into my mind when I was out there, it wasn't so much as a mantra, but this idea that kind of kept hitting me was these two words, which was infinite love, infinite love, infinite love.

58:47It just kind of kept playing in my mind, not so much as a mantra, but this realization that love is not finite in this world. Positivity is not finite. It's not like a zero-sum game. If I'm happy one day, that means you have to be sad. Actually, and I think your podcast is an incredible example of this, in my opinion, of sharing and shining your light in the world and sharing that positivity. And so the more people doing that, and there's certainly people that have uplifted me to be able to have a moment in time right now where I have the ability to shine that back out in the world and have a multiplying effect on that.

59:17I love it when people reach out to me. You know, I was sharing this story every night on Instagram. I carried this satellite modem. It took an hour to load one image every single night. So I'm exhausted the night writing this thing. And this thing is like, it's like, it's worse than like a 1995 AOL dial-up modem. Like it's like, like it's super slow. one picture and it takes an hour, but I want to share it out. And it's amazing to have that come back and people having, Hey, I followed you along and now I have started that business, or I'm leaning into the love in my life, or I'm, you know, I'm going to the gym for the first time in this, just having that, that sort of, it's like, Oh, I sent out this energy to the world and that's coming back.

59:51Not to pat me on the back, but it's like, not, Hey Colin, I watched you do this. You're really cool. It's like, Hey Colin, I watched you do this. And now I am taking that energy you sent out and creating in my life. And when that person does that in their life, I can only imagine the five other people that's going to touch or the hundred of the people that's going to touch and the multiplying effect of that positivity. And so that's what I'm excited about doing. And I think you know that better than anyone, the power of that.

1:00:12Lewis Howes:Dang, that's cool. Who is the athlete you admire the most in the world or respect? Who do you follow and admire? God, that's an interesting question. I really love that question. Could be an adventurer or athlete or any type of athlete. I'm going to say two. This is like just off the cuff, the first thing that popped into my mind. This is truthful. When I passed Lou on the sixth day out there, I said I've spent most of the time in silence. This is a true story. It's not like a candid, I'm on the Lewis House podcast. I'm going to tell a Lewis House story. This is this true story. I happened to pop on your podcast.

1:00:50And I downloaded like maybe 10 episodes randomly, the top 10, the most recent 10 right before I left. But again, I limited the content I have with me. Sure. And the first one I play is your Kobe Bryant interview. And when I met you, it said, hey, I just did this Kobe interview. It's exciting. You got to check it out. And so I had it up there. And, you know, I've admired Kobe from afar, although I'm a Portland Trailblazers fan through and through. So, you know, we have a little problem with the Lakers. But, you know, they will beat us a couple times, you know, down the stretch in the early 2000s when I was a kid.

1:01:19But there was something about that interview and his ethic that was so pertinent to where I was in that day. It was perfect for you. When he literally says, he goes, I'm trying to stay ahead of Lou. This guy's more experienced than me. He's like more kind of more badass adventure outdoorsman than me, you know, with all the miles he's done in Antarctica. And Kobe says in that interview, he goes, talks about being at the gym and being like, I'm just going to stay here longer than any other guy. I'm going to outwork him longer than any other guy. And so right in that moment when I'm in front of Lou, I actually clicked in and I go, okay, Lou and I are tied now.

1:01:53I was supposed to be out here for 10 hours. How long am I going to stay out here today? One hour longer than Lou. He goes 10, I go 11. He goes 11, I go 12. So I would never have said before that Kobe Bryant was one of my favorite, but I'd say influentially in this moment, Kobe Bryant, that in his message of working and beating on the craft and him talking about studying the game film and the tape and all these things is a reflection of me as I work on my craft of public speaking or writing or creating these other projects. is not only to look forward to the future, but to look back and learn these lessons from that.

1:02:27But that work ethic of working hard or harder than somebody else was really valuable in that moment. And when do you feel the most loved? That's a good question. I like where we're going with this. I like where we're going with this. This is great.

1:02:42Lewis Howes:When do I feel most loved? Is it when you accomplish something big? Is it when you're in strategy sessions? Is it when you're in the flow state? Is it when your mom says something to you? moving one there is um i was just having a conversation about this yesterday um jenna of course is the nucleus of this but a dear friend of mine a guy named blake brinker has been a huge influence in my life over the past couple of years um and particularly with helping me with with some of my my public speaking and things like that and we're talking about one of the times that i felt the most loved actually was um a couple years ago i had the opportunity to give a tedx talk.

1:03:18And as you know, if you've given one or not, but you seem like the type of guy that would have TEDx. Yeah, I've been asked to do.

1:03:23Lewis Howes:I was gonna say many people would want you to do that. But waiting for the right one, of course, sure, of course. I was honored by the invitation to do that. And it's that's not something you get paid to do or whatever. But again, it's just that it's a it's a format that I love. And I've always found inspiration. And so I wanted to take it very seriously. And we ended up having, you know, he was a tech founder working on something else or whatever and he kind of stopped what he was doing for a couple of months and really dove into the ability to help me craft this story and this is a story of the seven summons and the explorer's grand slam and sort of talking through my journey one of the first from a bigger public this is a couple years ago we ultimately called the speech change your mindset and achieve anything and it's something I'm really proud of but it's not the the essence of that the fact that it's you know million and a half views I mean that doesn't matter the part that I felt loved in was that in a moment of creativity where I like had something I wanted to say but didn't know exactly how I wanted to say it and express it in the world and Jenna was right there with me supporting me, a friend who has no stake in this, who has nothing to gain from this, just loved me and said, let's create together.

1:04:28Let's play. Let's laugh. And we ended up speaking, you know, it started out as being like, I'll help you out for a couple of hours and review a couple of drafts and like like, let's hear you say your talk once. And it ended up me, Jenna, and him for two months, probably spending 100 or 200 hours. And yes, we created a TED Talk in the world that I'm proud of, but the love was this playful space of creation behind the scenes of us laughing. And we cried and we got into real stuff, not just about me and my story, but about him and his story and his life and Jenna's life and all this. And so I love these shared experiences, whether that's climbing a mountain with a friend, whether that's having the tangible goal of creating a speech or art or whatever that is.

1:05:10Those are the moments where I feel, I think I'm also intertwining joy, but joy and love, um, in these moments of, of work and play and creation innovation together.

1:05:21Lewis Howes:Yeah. That's cool, man. Yeah. Um, what are we missing? Anything else you want to share? Where can people support you right now? What can they, yeah. I'm going to jump on the next journey with you. You know, just base level, follow along on Instagram. That's a platform I'm most active on. It's just my name, Matt Colin O 'Brady. You know, love sharing my insights and visuals and images and my journey and path there. And certainly my next expedition or creation will be told through that lens as well as any other. So, and come say hi. I love it. I mean, I read my DMs. I love people, you know, saying hi to me, telling me what your plans are, your Everest, your canvases, whatever that is.

1:05:58I love hearing that. That's amazing. and I get so much inspiration from that. So come say hi on Instagram. Then at Colin O 'Brady is just my website. It's got all my speaking stuff and everything up there. So, you know, you can find me there. And as I'm working on writing this book, it's not out yet, but it will be out next year. So I would love the support and love as I go through that journey. And, you know, people hopefully like what I have to say in that medium as well. Yeah.

1:06:24Lewis Howes:Well, your Instagram just blew up over, I think you had like 10 ,000 followers before you started. Yeah, I think it was like 30 ,000. that's like small and then it just yeah every day i just kept seeing it grow 200 and something now and it's going up so yeah it's been fun to to kind of dive into that platform it's just it's it's a fun way to reach people and talk to folks if you guys want to go follow them right now you can see the whole journey like day by day because you posted a photo i think almost every day every day yeah every day and it was cool to just hear like to read the captions and learn what you were thinking and what you were going through so if you guys want to really kind of follow along you can go follow you and watch that a couple months back.

1:07:01Lewis Howes:This is called The Three Truths, this question. I think you might have heard it from the Kobe interview. So imagine it's your last day. You've accomplished every dream that you've written up on a whiteboard. You've 100 world records or whatever you want to do. All the world records. Every world record. You own them. You're the first to do every crazy thing. You're still alive and happy and healthy, but you've got to pick the day you've got to go. It could be 100-something years from now, but it's the last day. And every book you've written and thing you've done, you've got to take that information with you.

1:07:31Lewis Howes:So no one has access to the content anymore. But you get to write down three things you know to be true about all your experiences. The three lessons that you would share with the world. What would be your three truths? Hmm. The other one. I think the first one I would say is achievement is not for the select few. you it's for the person who can overcome what i think is the greatest obstacle of all but our own minds and the second you can tap into that mindset there is that reservoir of untapped potential waiting to be released by you by you you are the creator of that so that was a lesson that i would definitely share um with the world so that's number one um second of all i said this before but infinite love, infinite love, infinite love, this reverberation of the abundance of love that we have the capacity to both love ourselves, share out in the world, and the importance of that and how we can all uplift and create in that way.

1:08:39And third, I'm going to go with this mantra that certainly just changed my life. I would just write it down on this paper that you just said, this paper that I could leave behind for someone else to read. You are strong. You are capable. I love that, man.

1:08:53Lewis Howes:Well, I got to acknowledge you, Colin, for your infinite love. When I first met you in the tent, you just exuded this joyfulness. Even when we were climbing up and just dying, you were just like smiling and just talking along, pushing us forward with your energy. So I appreciate your inspiration. I acknowledge you for completing this. It's unbelievable you completed this thing when no one's ever done it and the push you give people you know you striving to be your best and be superhuman allows other people to do the same so I acknowledge you for all the gifts you bring in the world and I also acknowledge you for you're not like this specimen of a freak athlete yeah you know what I mean you're not like this prototypical looking shredded like super speedy fast guy yeah you look like an average looking dude yeah I know you mean I look like an average looking athlete yeah but you're able to push your mind past boundaries that most fit athletes can't and that's what I acknowledge you for showing us what's possible thank you even when it doesn't seem that way so I acknowledge you for that my man we can follow you on Instagram at Colin O 'Brady websites get your book when it comes out and what's your definition of greatness?

1:10:05Lewis Howes:Final question. Definition of greatness. I think too often greatness is thought to be the amount of dollars in your bank account or the amount of Instagram likes or whatever external metrics are in there. But I'll choose something that I've sort of tapped into, which is impact. And so, you know, the amount of millions or billions or trillions, whatever you have a reverberation of your impact on others and that infinite love that you shine out there. That's greatness to me. Thanks, brother. Thanks. I appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness.

1:10:49Lewis Howes:Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

1:11:28Lewis Howes:And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

1:11:41Lewis Howes:Introducing Toyota's family full of all-electric rides as cool as you are, The adventurous BZ Woodland, the trend-setting CHR, and the versatile BZ. Zip around town in the BZ with a smooth and sporty driving dynamic. Explore the outdoors in the BZ Woodland with dual motors and available all-terrain tires. Be bold on the road with the CHR's sharp handling. Imagine what you can do with an all-electric vehicle that gets you. Learn more about the new all-electric family at Toyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home.

1:12:29Lewis Howes:Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.