Mic Drop

Go Beyond (ft. Colin O’Brady)

Episode Summary

In today's conversation with the inimitable Colin O’BRady, we talk about overcoming adversity, pushing yourself to new heights right after you reach a peak, and what to do when you're alone in a tent in Antarctica and there are five different voices in your head telling you to quit. Get ready for a conversation that explores it all with this world-class explorer, speaker, author, and leader.

Episode Notes

Go Beyond (ft. Colin O’Brady)

From never-walk-again to never-stop-climbing

OPENING QUOTE:

“Man, I'd do anything for an ejector seat button to get me the heck out of here, as fast as possible, that's for sure.”

-Colin O’Brady

GUEST BIO:

Colin O'Brady is a 10 time world record holding explorer, New York Times bestselling author, professional athlete, multi-time entrepreneur, and collegiate athlete. Back in the early 2000s, Colin experienced a tragic setback that meant he was unlikely to ever be able to walk normally again. Not only did he walk again, but 18 months later he placed first in the overall legendary Chicago triathlon. From that day forward, Colin was a professional triathlete, racing in 25 countries across six continents. He then went on to break not one, but two mountaineering world records, where he competed in a series of challenges known as the Explorer's Grand Slam in just 139 days, reaching the top of the tallest peaks on all seven continents along the way.

Today, Colin's impact goes beyond breaking records. He's the founder of a nonprofit, and has spoken to the likes of NBCUniversal, P&G, and the Aspen Institute, helping millions of people around the world transcend previous limits and go beyond.

Links:

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[8:19] - The Voices in the Tent

Overcoming self-doubt in the blizzard

Many people think that mega-achievers like Colin don’t experience doubt, and that’s what makes them strong. But in fact, it’s their ability to overcome their own self-doubt that makes high achievers who they are.

Colin recalls moments during his trek across Antarctica, when he was alone in his tent, when various different “voices” in his head were telling him to quit, give up, or move on. What allowed him to persevere wasn’t a lack of doubt — it was the ability and tenacity to move past it.

[13:23] - The Triathlon & the Chair

Overcoming adversity one three-hour step at a time

When Colin experienced the accident that left him wheelchair-bound, he set an audacious goal — completing a triathlon. But the goal felt so far off and insurmountable, it was easy to get discouraged.

Then his mother placed a chair down in front of him in the kitchen, and told him to focus on the small goals. She wanted him to cross the one-step distance to the chair from his wheelchair. It took three hours, and he did it.

Later, Colin submitted Everest — and took a tiny pebble as a souvenir. From the kitchen to the top of Everest, Colin has learned to value the way that small things add up to mountain-sized achievements.

[16:47] - The Peaks Beyond the Peak

Moving goalposts in a life of achievement

We all have our mountain peaks — the goals we think will mark our ultimate level of achievement and joy. But then we get there, and what happens? We feel letdown, and realize there’s a whole other peak even higher up.

For Colin, he likens it to “post-Olympic depression” — the letdown felt by elite athletes after the end of the event they’ve worked their entire lives toward. His advice? Move beyond the finish line by acknowledging there is no finish line. The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next. You have to be invested in the process of growth, because growth is the peak that’s always there.

[26:16] - When the Consequences Are Real

On risk and danger in live and business

Colin’s often seen as someone who takes lots of risks. In fact, he constantly assesses the risk associated with any undertaking and only takes them on if he feels the risks are manageable. But that doesn’t mean he’s always comfortable. On the edge of comfort and risk is the sweet spot: discomfort that leads to growth.

Where in your career are you calling it “risk” when it’s really “discomfort”? What uncomfortable things can you do while still managing risk?

That’s where growth is likely to come fastest and hardest.

RESOURCES:

[4:44] The 12 Hour Walk, by Colin O’Brady
[4:44] The Impossible First, by Colin O’Brady

Follow Colin O’Brady:

Follow Josh Linkner:

ABOUT MIC DROP:

Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter it’s starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Josh Linkner is a Creative Troublemaker. He believes passionately that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.

Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.

Today, Josh serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession with greasy pizza.

Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com

Episode Transcription

Colin O'Brady:

Man, I'd do anything for an ejector seat button to get me the heck out of here, as fast as possible, that's for sure.

Josh Linkner:

Hey, Mic Drop enthusiast, Josh Linkner here, delighted to be bringing you season two of Mic Drop. I love our conversations with speakers and industry leaders alike, so we can unpack the industry, and we can all perform better. Let's get after it, and get better together.

Maria Cairo:

Mic Drop is brought to you by ImpactEleven, the most diverse and inclusive community built for training and developing professional speakers to get on bigger stages, at higher fees, with greater impact, faster. They're not just elevating an industry that we all know and love. They work with thousands of speakers to launch and scale their speaking businesses, accelerating time, success, earning tens of millions in speaking fees, landing bureau representation, securing book deals, and rising to the top of the field. To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impact E-L-E-V-E-N.com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

Today's guest is Colin O'Brady, who is, simply put, a total badass. 10 time world record holding explorer, New York Times bestselling author, professional athlete, multi-time entrepreneur, a collegiate athlete. Back in the early 2000s, Colin experienced a tragic setback that meant he was unlikely to ever be able to walk normally again. Well, not only did he walk again, but 18 months later, he competed in a triathlon. And not only did he compete, but he plays first in the overall legendary Chicago triathlon. From that day forward, Colin was a professional triathlete racing in 25 countries across six continents. But he didn't stop there, because Colin never does. He went on to break not one, but two mountaineering world records, where he competed in a series of challenges known as the Explorer's Grand Slam, in just 139 days, reaching the top of the tallest peaks on all seven continents along the way.

The guy even sent the first ever Snapchat from the summit of Mount Everest. First to row alone across the treacherous Drake Passage, from South America to Antarctica? Check. Summited Mount Everest twice? Check. First solo expedition across Antarctica? Check. I think you're getting the idea. Today, Colin's impact goes beyond breaking records. He's the founder of a nonprofit, and has spoken to the likes of NBCUniversal, P&G, and the Aspen Institute, helping millions of people around the world transcend previous limits and go beyond. In today's conversation with Colin, we talk about overcoming adversity, pushing yourself to new heights right after you reached a peak, and what to do when you're alone in a tent in Antarctica, and you're five different voices in your head telling you to quit. Get ready for a conversation that explores it all with this world-class explorer. Colin O'Brady, welcome to Mic Drop.

Colin O'Brady:

Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

Josh Linkner:

I'm so excited for our conversation, not only because I admire you so much, and a good friend, but I think you have so much to offer. You started doing, basically, crazy stuff, really intense challenges. These are hard. You don't do challenges like I would do, like I'm going to try to go for a two-mile run. You're like, "Yeah, I'm just going to go across Antarctica by myself with no help." My question to you is, why do you do these hard things? What is it that's calling you to take on such really difficult challenges?

Colin O'Brady:

I think it's a curiosity of the exploration of mind, body, and spirit. I'm a big believer that, all of us, that we're sitting on reservoirs of untapped potential to achieve extraordinary things. I get that not everyone wants to go freeze their butt off in the middle of Antarctica by themselves, but I do firmly believe that each and every person on this planet has a canvas that they want to paint on, and a masterpiece they can paint on that canvas. For me, I've just been drawn to these endurance challenges. It's been a way for me to go out there and push my body, but it's really ended up in the spiritual realm. Not in a religious context, but just connecting with my own soul, my own purpose. It sounds crazy, but when you're stripped away of everything, what is left? And it's been a beautiful journey for me, personally.

And then, also the element of that through storytelling. I love to be able to share these stories broadly. I asked myself would I do them if I couldn't share them with anyone? And the answer is yes, to know that I really want to do them. But an added benefit is to be able to share those stories with the world through speaking, of course, through social media, through books, et cetera. And at this point, millions and millions of people have come on along these journeys with me, and it's been amazing, over the years, to see the impact that that's had on others. People writing me, "Hey, I followed this journey, and it made a huge difference in my life," or "I changed this about that," or "I started this business," or "I really went after my goals." To me, that ripple effect of positivity, I think, is just a really fun byproduct of being able to do this.

Josh Linkner:

A hard thing to you might be a big physical challenge coming up. And I know you've got several still in the works. We'll talk about that in a minute. And that may be a hard thing for someone else. It might not be a physical thing. It might be something else altogether. For example, someone who says, they make a declaration, "I want to become a professional keynote speaker." Making a declaration that you want to do something, like I could say I want to run an Ironman, and then the third day of training, when it's freezing cold and pouring rain, and you'd rather be in your warm bed, saying it and doing it are two different things. My question to you is, as you've embarked on these challenges, one thing to say it at a cocktail party, it's another thing to get up and actually train, and then, ultimately, prevail, how do you fight through the resistance when you'd really rather not do the hard work? There's got to be moments... You're in the thick of it, saying, "Oh, I did this to myself again. I'm so tired. I just want to take a nap." How do you fight through that resistance?

Colin O'Brady:

Yeah. I love to say, a goal without a plan is just a wish, right? It's something you're just saying, "Oh, one day, I might do this thing." And I think we've all, perhaps, been there. As a joke, I made this. You're out with your buddy, having a cocktail on a Saturday night, and you're like, "Next year, we're going to train for the New York City Marathon. It's going to be great." And you wake up hung over on Sunday morning, you're like... Call your buddy again. You're like, "Yo, man, I had too many drinks last night. I'm not training for the marathon." And interestingly enough, I think our brains are patterned to have a dream small, to say, "Oh, that's too hard." And shut us down long before we've reached our potential. And I'm certainly not impervious to that. Yes, I've set 10 world records, and I've had my fair share of accomplishments, but I've also had my fair share of failures and things that didn't work out.

But regardless of the end result, success or failure, I'm battling myself the whole time, not that voice, "Colin, you're not strong enough. This isn't going to work out. Stop now. You're going to embarrass yourself." All of these doubts and fears go through our minds. But I am a big believer that we are the stories that we tell ourselves, right? And oftentimes, all of us, myself included, are guilty of telling ourselves this negative story, all the reasons why we can't or shouldn't do something, or we should give up when it gets too hard. But in those moments of difficulty, in those moments of challenge, where I'm struggling in my own mind, I love to remind myself of that. You're the story you tell yourself. Do you want to tell yourself, "You're not strong enough. You can't do this?"

Or do you want to tell yourself, "You know what? Yes. I'm going to achieve this. I can get through this. Keep putting one foot in front of the other." Or your example of keynote speaking, it's like, "I've been blessed to be able to do this for quite some time. And I love it. But there's ups and downs, and bumps along the way of this journey, of being able to have that impact from a stage." When it gets hard, you say, "Yeah. Okay. That's part of the challenge. What can I learn from this? What can I take away from this? What can I apply to the next meeting I get, the next conversation I have, the next speech that I'm giving?" I think it applies broadly, and it really is just this internal struggle that we have as humans, but it can also be our biggest gift. When we rewrite our mental dialogue, it can be so empowering.

And those are the moments where I've had the most strength. I'm out in Antarctica, completely by myself, alone, having these negative self-doubts. I actually joke around. I woke up in my tent sometimes. Yes, I was alone crossing Antarctica, but sometimes, I feel like I woke up, and there's five different people in that tent with me, like five versions of myself looking back at me, being like, "You're stupid. Why are you out here? You're going to die. This is too cold." All the negativity. And I would, quite literally, stand outside of my tent, every single day in Antarctica, with my arms outstretch, and I'll yell this out loud to myself. No one's around, right? I'm yelling, "Colin, you are strong. You are capable. You are strong. You are capable." Quite literally, rewriting the words, rewriting the story in my own mind, to continue to push forward.

Josh Linkner:

You've done a lot of hard things. You've done, you mentioned, 10 world records, you've climbed all these mountains, taken on physical challenges that are inconceivable for most of us mere mortals. You've also been an entrepreneur, you've been New York Times' bestselling author, you have a wonderful family, and a deeply committed relationship, and a young kiddo to boot. You've done a lot of hard things. What is the hardest thing you've done? And what do you think you learn from it?

Colin O'Brady:

Gosh, that's a good question. It's easy to point back to these challenges, I guess, that are these headline-catching challenges. It's rocking cross Antarctica solo, or I rode a boat across Drake Passage, the most treacherous stretch of ocean in the world. And I will say, when 40 foot swells are smacking you in the face, you're in the middle of the rowboat, you think to yourself, "Man, I'd do anything for an ejector seat button to get me the heck out of here, as fast as possible." That's for sure. But what comes to mind for me, actually, is a moment that... I guess it was my own fault. But back in 2008, I was traveling around the world solo. And I foolishly decided to jump a flaming jump rope. And I ended up lighting my entire body on fire. Kerosene from the rope splashed my body and lit my body on fire completely, to my neck. And I jumped into the ocean that day, saved my life, which was amazing, fortunate.

But then, I looked down, and there was, basically, no skin on the lower half of my body. And I was in the middle of nowhere, in Thailand, in the Gulf of Thailand. It's like a moped ride down a dirt path, to a one-room nursing station. And the doctors in this makeshift hospital, where I underwent eight surgeries, said to me, "Hey, look, you'll probably never walk again, normally." And I'll never forget that moment, because the physical pain was so immense. I wasn't walking. I have no skin in lower half my body. But there was something about them saying, "Hey, young kid," I was 22 at the time when I did this, "You made a silly mistake. And in one second, your whole life is different." And I had been an athlete my whole life, able-bodied, strong. Really, that was a core part of my identity. And all of a sudden, boom, that's gone. That's gone. The doctor's telling you that.

And I definitely credit the recovery from that to not just my own mental ability. In fact, I think if I've left up to my own device in that moment, I wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation with you. But really, my mother came and mentored me through that process, again, rewriting that mindset, saying, "Hey, your life's not over, Colin. What do you want to do when you get up out of here? Let's set a goal." And I won't tell that whole story in this moment, but the long story short is, through goal setting, through the ability to focus on something in the future, I set my sights on racing a triathlon one day. And that gave me the courage to, literally, take my first steps, get out of a wheelchair, fly back to the United States, hobble around for the better part of a year, go to the gym, train, et cetera. But there was a lot of lessons in overcoming that. But the hardest thing was just being told, "Hey, look, your life's never going to be the same."

But what's interesting to me about that moment, and when I look back on it, and I've learned so much over these years, that was almost 15, 16 years ago, something like that, is I also learned some of life's greatest lessons through that adversity. People have asked me, your question was, "What's the hardest thing you've ever faced?" Another version of that question, or a sub-question is, looking back, if you had a time machine, would you whisper in the ear of your 22-year-old self, "Hey, don't jump that flaming jump rope?" And it's weird to say, the pain was so immense, both emotionally and physically, I wouldn't wish that pain on my worst enemy. But at the same time, I don't know that I'd go whisper in my 22-year-old's ear, "Hey, don't do that." Because there was so much rich lessons and growth from the challenge and the difficulty of that. That's an interesting, I guess, counterpoint, that sometimes, the most difficult things we go through, when we look back on them with hindsight, realize that there were huge opportunities for deep, deep growth and impact over time.

Josh Linkner:

Beautifully said. And building on that, many people who are listening are on their own keynote speaking journey. And in the same way that you said, metaphorically, in your case, physically, you had to take that first step, then you had to hobble around for a year. And then, eventually, you trained to become this world-class, world record setting athlete. What are the parallels to a professional speaking career? What advice might you give, from the experience that you've had as an explorer, taking on hard things, to those of us that are trying to do different type of hard things, which is launch and scale a speaking practice?

Colin O'Brady:

Yeah. I'll give two examples, I think, from the world of exhibitions. One's a dovetail from that previous story, which is... In that hospital room, my mom said, "You can do anything when you get out of here." And I said, "If I could do anything, I'd like to race a triathlon." Not something I've never done before, right? It's like the keynote speaker saying, "I see someone on stage doing this, delivering this amazing thing. I want to get up there on that stage one day." But that stage seems so far away. You might be sitting in an audience, at a conference, with 3,000 people. And there's one guy keynoting from the stage, "How do you get up there?" Same thing. I'm sitting in a hospital room by myself, saying, "I want to race a triathlon one day." It seems ridiculous, because it's such a big goal. It's so far in the distance. But then, the biggest lesson, all of that, and again, in this example, for me, fostered by my mother, is I got home, I'm in a wheelchair, I've been carried on and off this plane from Thailand. I haven't walked in three months.

And then, she walks into our kitchen this morning, in my wheelchair. And she looks at me, and she goes, "Okay. Colin, I know you've got this big triathlon goal." It'd be like someone saying, "Hey, I know you've got this big keynote speaking goal, but what are you going to do today?" And then she grabs this wooden chair from our kitchen table, and placed it one step in front of my wheelchair. She goes, "I don't care about this... The triathlon's sure in the distance. Today, the only thing you need to do is get out of your wheelchair and take one step into that chair in front of you." And literally, that step took me three hours. I'm looking down at my legs, they're atrophied. They're the size of my wrists. But I finally worked up the courage and strength to take that first step. And the parallel, for sure, is I love having that big goal, that North star. A question I love to ask... I've summited Mount Everest twice, and it was a childhood dream of mine. I asked people, "What's your Everest?" In this example, that keynote speaking.

Great. Great to have the big goal, but getting to that big goal is, actually, what's the first step? What's the next step after that? I've developed this method called the Go Beyond method, that I share from the stage. And one of the main key components of it is small steps, big gains. Small steps, big gains. And another quick story is, I'm on the summit of Everest the very first time I summited in 2016. And it's a lifelong dream of mine, in my thirties at this point, and figuring out how to raise the money and train, and overcome this burn [inaudible 00:15:34], and all the things to get there. And I get to the summit of Everest, and I yell, I go, "I'm on the summit of Mount Everest, top of the world." I've got this video of me up there. It's minus 40 degrees. And I look down at the ground. And on the ground, of course, it's mostly ice, but there's some rocks up there. And I look down, and I see this tiny little rock, this little stone on the ground. And I picked it up.

And something's just instinctively in my mind, I put it in my pocket. And I've carried that rock with me for... In a better part of the last decade, since I summited it. And the reason I carry that rock around with me is, in that moment, on the summit of Everest, I realized that even Mount Everest, even the biggest mountain in the world, is just a bunch of small rocks stacked on top of each other, many steps leading to the summit. The advice of the keynote speaker is, it's great to have that summit goal. "I want to get on the top. I want to get on that stage. I want to share this impact. I want the standing ovation. I want to speak to the Fortune 100 companies." Whatever that goal is for yourself in the keynote space. But then, ask yourself, the question is, "What's one rock that I can stack today? What's one step closer to that wooden chair I can take today?" And when you get to that wooden chair, the next day, you push the chair a few steps further, a few steps further, a few steps further. And like I said, from the Go Beyond method, small steps lead to big gains.

Josh Linkner:

When you are as intense of a person as I know you to be, who is striving to get to that Everest, or the next Everest, or the next thing after that, these are such intense pursuits filled with sacrifice and hard work, is there ever a bit of a letdown? You get on top of Everest. You scream, "I'm on top of the world." You look down to pick up a rock. And then, the next day is probably less exciting. And now you've got to start training for the next thing. How do you manage the emotional ups and downs of achieving something so greatly? Which, again, is deep congratulations. But then, what could possibly live up to that?

And the reason I ask is because I know many keynote speakers who do just that. "Man, if I only spoke to 1,000 people, I'd be on top of the world." That was their Everest. And then they do, and they expect, when that happens, the heavens open, and their lives change. And then, they still got to look on themselves in the mirror. They still have the same relationships. Again, I'm not trying to diminish incredible outcomes and achievements, awesome, but how do you manage the emotional ups and downs when you've been working toward a goal, you achieve the goal? And then, is there ever a false letdown? And how do you get yourself energized to then take on the next Everest afterward?

Colin O'Brady:

No, it's such an important question. Thanks for asking it. In the world of Olympic sports, they call this post-Olympic depression. It's like a real semi-diagnosed thing, which is... We focus so much on something. And then, the thing page turns, and you're at the next phase of your life. And you're like, "Who am I? What do I do? What is this?" I love to say that the top of one mountain is, really, just the bottom of the next. And that's not to be forever chasing, as the cup can never be full up, to take a moment. You're like, "Hey, we got there." If you're running a small business, "Hey, we hit this sales goal." If you're running a Fortune 100 company, "Hey, we hit this $10 billion revenue target. Great. Can we get to 12 next year? Can we get to 15?" You can apply it in any, big or small, context. But really, it's a feeling of the difference in... I like to say, there is no "There." There is no finish line.

Like I said, the top of one mountain is just the bottom of the next. And I don't do that because it's a lack of fulfillment, but it really is about being invested in the process. And when I've looked back and said... If you're thinking about becoming a keynote speaker, or the beginning of your process, it's going to be an incredible moment to celebrate when you get on that first stage in front of 1,000 people. I remember that moment from myself. Just last week, I was in front of 5,000 people. I remember being in front of 10,000 people, these benchmarks that you hit, or some really exciting moment that you've gotten to share from the stage. And they're all great and worthy of celebration. But if you don't enjoy the process of getting there, it's not going to really mean a lot to you.

To your point, Josh, the heavens aren't just going to open up. And I know this is one of the things I admire about you, Josh. I think we share this similarly, which is, we're very goal-oriented. We're very driven people. But we also love the process. Like you and I, we're on phone calls with each other, and we're bantering around, like, "Can you get that one different hand gesture? That's an amazing story. That's 99 out of 100. But how do you get it to 100? How do you... That one pause, or one slight different, iterative piece of this story, or this element?" And that's because we love the process. It's fun to be on the stage and get into it, but if you don't love the process, just getting to the moment, just getting to the proverbial mountaintop, it's going to be a massive letdown.

But when you love the process, you get to that summit, you celebrate that moment, you're darn proud of yourself. And you go, like, "But I love the process of training for this mountain, about thinking about this mountain, about walking up this mountain, to get into camp one, camp two, camp three, camp four, the summit, dreaming about the next one." And I think that applies perfectly to business, to keynote speaking, et cetera, which is the best speakers that I know, and the people that I admire in this space the most, are the ones that just love the craft. Of course, this is a business. We're all trying to make money. We have our price, our fees, et cetera. But also going like, "You know what? I would get up on that stage for the love of the game, because I just freaking love being up there and sharing this message, inspiring people."

Maria Cairo:

Becoming a keynote speaker is an amazing profession. The top performers earn millions while driving massive impact for audiences around the world. But the quest to speaking glory can be a slow rot with many obstacles that can knock even the best speakers out of the game. If you're serious about growing your speaking business, the seasoned pros at ImpactEleven can help, from crafting your ideal positioning to optimizing your marketing effectiveness, to perfecting your expertise and stage skills. As the only speaker training and development community run by current high-level speakers at the top of the field, they'll boost your probability of success and help you get there faster. That's why nearly every major speaker bureau endorses and actively participates in ImpactEleven. The ImpactEleven community provides you unparalleled access to the people, relationships, coaching, and accountability that compresses your time to success. To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impact E-L-E-V-E-N.com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

Again, obviously, we share that, and I have so much admiration for the work that you do both on and off the stage, and I love the process too. At the same time, there are days that I love it less. We're human beings. Some days, I'm just fired up and can't get enough of it, and other days, it's work. My question to you is, many keynote speakers are very good at motivating other people, and maybe not as good at motivating themselves, are there any tactics or tricks that you do on those days where, even though you might love the process, it doesn't feel quite as fun?

Colin O'Brady:

Yeah, that's a great question. Having written a couple of books, both are inspirational, but one is really, pretty... It's a self-help oriented expository writing, The 12-Hour Walk. And there's 10 principles in that book. I won't go through all of them now, but it is a good reminder. It's like, "I wrote this down for other people. You better take your own advice here." But I love the question, is we're all human. We all have good days. We all have bad days. That really is a part of the process. For me, what I've come to realize, and one of the frameworks that I've built, again, it's actually one of the foundational pieces of my Go Beyond method that I share from the stage, which is, I think about life on this spectrum of one to tens, which is... One being our lowest low moments.

That's heartbreak, that's death of a loved one, that's getting burned in a fire in Thailand, and being told you'd never walk again. And then, tens. These are our high highs. That's the moment, as a keynote speaker, you get on that first stage in front of 1,000 people. That's summiting your Mount Everest. And what I realized is that, oftentimes, as humans, it's only natural, we crave tens. We want as many tens as we can possibly have. Who wouldn't want more tens, right? But every time I've experienced a 10, what I realize, whether that's the moment of getting to that level of my career, and speaking, where I'm in front of thousands of people, whether that's standing on the summit on Mount Everest, whether that's crossing Antarctica solo, and finally becoming the world's first person to ever do this thing that no one thought was possible, I didn't get there in spite of my ones.

I actually got there because of my ones, and the twos, and the threes, meaning the process to getting to that 10 actually requires having the freezing cold on your face, or to bring it back directly to your question, of having those down days, those moments where it sucks, where you're just slogging through it. It's work. It's hard. But what I tell myself in those moments, realizing that those ones and those tens are connected, or the twos and the nines are connected, is that when I start to feel that one, I actually, now, embrace it. And I tell people that in the Go Beyond method. I'm like, "You got to embrace the ones. It's a reframe. You don't want the one. It sucks in the moment." You're like, "Man, I really don't want this to be happening." But what I tell myself in those moments, I actually start to smile, and I embrace those ones.

I go, "Oh, if I'm feeling this one. I must have opened up the doorway to the 10." And people ask me my expeditions, "Colin, are you afraid of dying? Are you afraid of dying?" And of course, I'm afraid of dying. I'm not just like this restless risk-taker. But what I'm most afraid of is not fully living. And too often, people live in what I call the zone of comfortable complacency between four and six, afraid to take that risk, afraid to feel any of that discomfort, because they're hedging against the downside risk of a one or a two, or a three, just living in the zone of 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 over and over, and over, and over again. And when you look back on a year of fives, or five years of fives, or 10 years of fives, you can't even differentiate your days. Those ones, to your question, the difficulty, the challenge, that actually gives you the fabric, the juice of life that allows your pendulum to swing all the way back up to those sevens, eights, nines, and tens.

Josh Linkner:

Such good advice. And you used the word "Reframe," and it's a beautiful reframe. I'd love to get back to the courage element though, for a second. You mentioned, "Are you afraid of dying?" Yeah, I'm afraid of dying. That's a natural thing. Of course you are. It's one thing if you're doing something that's just hard work. I could train to run a marathon, and I'm sure that would be very painful and hard work, and I'd have good days and bad days, but I'm probably not going to, physically, die. I might get shin splints or something. But some of the things you've taken on are physically, objectively risky. Drake's passage when there's 40-foot waves crossing over your canoe, or your alone in Antarctica, you've taken on actual physical danger. Whether people's danger is physical or perceived, it could be you're risking your economics, or your family's wellbeing, or whatever, what advice and thoughts do you have on courage when it's not just, "Oh, I'm scared of working hard," but there actually is a real consequence to a misstep?

Colin O'Brady:

Yeah, absolutely. Look, I think it's important to evaluate risk. It's funny, sometimes. I touched on it just before. But sometimes, on the outside looking in, people look at me and say, "Oh God, that guy's just taken tons of risks." And I look at it the opposite. I actually think I'm just constantly assessing risks, and then feeling like... I feel comfortable to take the next step. I feel comfortable to take the next step. But of course, right on the edge of comfort, there's this really interesting interplay. And my risk tolerance might be higher than somebody else's, and that's not a values judgment, it is what it is, but I think we all are courageous in our own way. One thing that I think that people gets in their way is a little bit of this analysis paralysis. Let's just say, for example, you were offered a job on the other side of... You live in New York, and you're offered a job in California. And it's a great job. It's going to be a 50% higher salary. It's a great opportunity for you.

But you've got an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old kid. And they're happy where they are in school. They're in the sports teams, or they're really in their social network, and all this kind of stuff. This would be a sacrifice for them. You'd have to uproot their life. They'd be new kids on the other side of the country. And you don't know how it's going to play out. You start making these pros and cons lists. You start going, "Should I do this? Shouldn't I do this? This [inaudible 00:27:51] is a good side. This is a bad side. This is the thing." Whatever. And I've talked to so many people like this, and they start going, "I don't know the answer. I don't know what to do. I've weighed every pros and cons. I've asked every friend of mine. I've analyzed this from every single angle." And that courage... Your question is about courage, but I'll take that one step deeper, which, I would say, is intuition.

As I say to people, it's like, "You do know the answer. I don't know the answer for you. That might be the best career decision. It might be fine for your family, it might not." But usually, in these really, really big decisions, I find, if you can quiet your mind enough, and get away from that analysis paralysis, we do know the answer. We really do. And I've used that intuition, more often than not, but... One's really specific example, I won't tell the whole story, but... On K2, I was trying to climb K2 in winter, which is the second-tallest mountain in the world. And I'm known as the guy who pushes in his grit, and gets to the top, and all this kind of stuff. And I'm one day from the summit, be the first person ever to summit this mountain in winter. And I just get this intuitive pull, which says, "It's time to turn back." There's a few other people, not that I was directly climbing with, but are people I knew that were on the mountain, that were climbing.

And I said to them, "Hey, I'm not going to go for the summit. I'm turning around." "Why?" And I said, "There's just something in my intuition, telling me to turn around." And I turned around that day, and they didn't turn around. And unfortunately, several people lost their life on the mountain that day. Deep, deep tragedy, deep sadness, obviously, for me. Those are friends of mine. Again, I'm not saying I'm better or worse, or this or that, the other thing, just to say, there is that intuitive voice inside of us. And it's courageous to keep pushing forward, to your question about courage, but sometimes, it's courageous to turn back, to turn back, even when that's the hard choice. I really encourage folks... Because I think we all have this power, and some people are more tuned into it than others, but that internal compass really is a powerful voice, if we're able to listen to it.

Josh Linkner:

It's so powerful. How do you do that? Again, I feel like I do that sometimes too, but I don't know if there's anything, tactically, to quiet your mind, and turn on that compass, get that GPS really going, to the extent that we all have that compass inside of us, maybe some of us have a harder time activating it than others. Are there any things, Colin, that you've done to be able to plug in at the right moment when you're on K2, so that you make a decision that turns out to be a smart one?

Colin O'Brady:

I'm a very extroverted person. I come from a big family. I've got five older sisters. And I was born on a hippie commune. Communal living is very normalized for me. But I think, spending time alone, honestly. I really don't think, in our modern society, people spend enough time alone. And when I mean alone, I actually mean not on your computer, not scrolling your social media feed, not in front of Netflix. And I'm not saying be a monk and go live in a cave somewhere, for months at a time. I'm saying, take 30 minutes. Take an hour. My second book, which I mentioned briefly, is this book called The 12-Hour Walk. And really, at its core, is a call to action for people, to say, "Hey, take one day, turn off your phone, put it on airplane mode, walk out your front door, and go for a 12-hour walk. No podcast, no music." And then, people are like, "Oh, I haven't trained for that." I go, "I literally don't care how far you walk." My 77-year-old mother-in-Law has done the 12-hour walk.

And for her, it looked like at 12 hours in silence. She would walk one time around her block. And then, she'd sit on her front porch in North Carolina for an hour. And then, she'd walk another time around her block. She may be covered a mile. My ultra marathon friends have done 50 miles, or whatever that is, and that person's not doing the 12-hour walk better than the other person, because the exercise actually is, spend a day, outside if you can, alone, digging into your own thoughts. And I've created this whole app, and this whole global movement. It's fun. I do a bunch of B2B stuff, where businesses bring me in to talk about this. And then, collectively, they all go out. There's 1,000 people that just did it this weekend after a speech I gave in Phoenix two weeks ago. The whole company did it, which was amazing.

And the impact is immense. People are like, "Wow." I ask people, "What's the longest you spend alone?" And people start going like, "15 minutes, 30 minutes, without music on, without TV on." Whatever. And what ends up happening, and your question about how do we tune into this, is we don't often, in this instant gratification world, give ourself time to think, give ourself time to ideate. We think, "I don't have enough time for that." But unequivocally, in the hundreds of thousands of people now that have done the 12-hour walk, and shared their stories with me, they come back, and they go, "The next week, the next month, the next year, I've never been so creative, so lit up. The momentum that I got from actually taking this "Timeout" was actually an accelerant to my own growth, an accelerant to intuition as well, that [inaudible 00:32:23] to go, 'Oh, I've been working on this big problem in my mind, at work, for weeks and weeks, and weeks, and weeks of time.

And then, I was on this stroll, seven hours into my 12-hour walk. And all of a sudden, boom, the answer just hit me. It was just there.'" You go deeper on that. I'm obviously very passionate about that. But that is a tactic that I think... 12 hours is a long time, I suppose, but it's a very small investment of time for what I think is the 100 [inaudible 00:32:50] return that you get on that investment. And if you can't take that, can you take 30 minutes a day to really quiet your mind, and really listen to yourself? There's so much to be gained from that stillness and silence. And take that from a guy... Yes, I've spent a lot of time alone, but I love to be around people. I love to be talking. I love to be speaking. I love to be social. But there is so much in my personal growth and creativity, business acumen, et cetera, that has come from being intentional about some stillness and silence in my life.

Josh Linkner:

You've taken on, as mentioned several times, really, really difficult challenges, and have come out on top on all of them. That's certainly true in adventures and athletic challenges, it's recovery from your burn, business challenges, et cetera. I want to switch gears a little bit. What's calling you to the world of professional speaking? How do you view that as a challenge? Why are you doing that? What do you hope to get? And probably more importantly, what do you hope to give? Maybe just give us a little bit of your view on why... Instead of the next physical challenge, although I know you're doing that too, why have you taken on the challenge of becoming, and accelerating your own world as a professional speaker?

Colin O'Brady:

I think I gave my first professional speech, I'm trying to think, somewhere around 2012, so 11 years ago, something like that. When I was as a professional athlete, someone invited me to give a speech to help raise money for this hospital, with a small stipend to give this speech. And it was an honor to be on that stage, and I loved it. And then, from there, it's been steadily growing. And of course, as all the different achievements and things have rolled in, that's really accelerated that, in a number of different ways in terms of demand for the speaking. But what I've really come to when I look at all the different... I've founded businesses that I've exited. I have an economics degree from Yale. I worked on Wall Street for a short period of time. I've dipped my toe in a lot of different professional veins. And there's many that I'm still really inspired and enjoy, the work that I do in Hollywood, et cetera. But there's really nothing like being on that stage.

And I think you said the right word, which is to give. To give. Yes. Am I personally gratified by it? Do I enjoy the craft? Do I enjoy storytelling and conveying a message from a stage? Yeah, I do really enjoy that process. But what I enjoy the most, and I said it briefly earlier, is that ripple effect of positivity, that ability to have that impact. I love nothing more than getting an email from a CEO, or an executive, who I spoke for, a year later, where they're still quoting something back, that I said from the stage, "Oh, Colin, you said these three sentences. And I've got them hung up in my office. And my team has talked about them every day as we've hit our quarterly and yearly goals. We've had the best year that we've ever had."

I give a million different anecdotes about that, but there's something immensely gratifying about that, because what I think about is not just, "Oh, great, this guy's paying me a compliment a year later." But he's saying, "I made this change in my life." Or she's saying, "I made this impact in my business." And I know that that ripple effect doesn't end there. I realize that those people, as a byproduct of that, had an impact on their families, impact on their communities, impact on their life, broadly. You go back to humans... In the ancient times, or the prehistoric times, we love stories. That's how we communicate.

And when we can communicate effectively, the whole world can turn on that access. To be a tiny little drop in the bucket of being out there, and being able to share stories in an impactful way, that stick with people, and make specific change in businesses and personal lives, et cetera, is a great honor. And it really continued to be so inspired to do it. I can't, honestly, think of a single speech where I've got off the stage, and been like, "Oh God, I just wish I wasn't doing that today." There's something about it. I just love the entire business ecosystem, the people I meet along the way, and the impact that we can all have on each other through doing it.

Josh Linkner:

You're also terrific at it. There's no question that you will continue to ascend that new mountain, because [inaudible 00:36:42] 11 years in, but you'll continue to find your new levels of Everest success in the world of speaking. I actually wanted to end, Colin, our conversation today, on a personal note. As mentioned, I admire you in a lot of ways, your incredible athleticism, your willingness to take on challenges and go beyond, your entrepreneurial prowess. But one of the things, if not, the thing I admire most is the relationship that you and Jenna have. I've gotten to know you, not only individually, but as a couple, and such deep respect and care for one another. Maybe you could unpack that a little bit for us, and help us understand how that's come to be, and how you view that partnership, as you used the word "Accelerant," as accelerant in all areas of your life.

Colin O'Brady:

Yeah, absolutely. Jenna and I met just before that Thailand burn accident, actually. We met in 2007. And we fell in love on a beach in Fiji, that we both happened to be on by a random circumstance, but the fate so have it, that our paths crossed then. And we've been together ever since. We've been together for 16 years. We just welcomed our first child to the world four months ago, so it's amazing to embark on that adventure as parents. And what's been really amazing is, we've both done a few things independently, but for the lion's share of our professional careers, we've really done them in sync together, Jenna, and building and creating, and dreaming up all these big expeditions together, to the other entrepreneurial ventures that you mentioned. And she's really just been a team in that.

And it's been amazing, not only because we've been able to actually have some incredible adventures and life experiences together. We actually summited Mount Everest together my second time, her first, in 2021, which will, probably, forever go down as one of the most incredible experience I've ever had, to be on the summit of that mountain with my wife. But also, it's just been really special, whether that's with speaking, whether that's in any other element of our life, to really have that kind of ride-or-die partner. And not everyone has that, or wants that from their romantic partner, or marriage. And candidly, of course, it has its challenges at times, just like any long-term relationship has. But mostly, it's been just an absolute blessing to be able to do that together. But I think, like I said, whether that's a romantic partner, whether that's a business partnership, whether that's a colleague at work, or whether that's a best friend, it's so clear to me, that we are so impacted by the people that we choose to spend our time with.

It's been said by many people, we're the net product of the five people we spend the most time with. I'll take that a step further. I always joke around and say, "You hang out with four criminals, you'll probably be the fifth. You hang out with four millionaires, you'll probably be the fifth." We are really impacted by our environment and our family, the people that we're born into. I guess we might not choose that. And you hope you win the lottery, and you come into a family that loves you. And not everyone comes from that environment. And there's nothing, really, one can do about that. But as adults, as autonomous adults, we do get to choose who we spend our time with, who our colleagues are, who our business associates are, who our family are, who our friends are, et cetera, in the chosen sense. And Jenna is, of course, a bedrock of that for me, but I looked at even more broadly, which is, I'm very thoughtful and cautious about who I want to spend my time with, because I... Just like you.

You've said some very nice things to me, Josh, I mean it, right back at you, which is I've... Our friendship over the years we've known each other. At this point, it's been amazing, because I'm inspired by you. I'm lit up by you. And I also can count on you. And I can call you up and ask you a question. And I just love that. I love to be around other people that are pushing the envelope forward, interesting, intriguing. And honestly, one of the coolest things about keynote speaking, not just ImpactEleven as a community itself, but actually being on those stages. You get invited to the Salina... Last month, I was keynoting, or a couple of months ago, at the Salina, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, this big event for the Chamber of Commerce in Salina, Kansas. I've never been there before. I ended up being on the stage with the US Senator, meet him, but then also meeting all these different folks in that room. That's one tiny example.

I know you and I both have thousands of these examples, but you get to meet interesting people all around the world, who have their own dreams, their own hopes, their own aspirations. I'm diverging from the question about Jenna, but more broadly, yes, being in this relationship with Jenna has been a massive accelerant to my career. But also, just espousing... Unsolicited advice to this audience is, think about who you're surrounding yourself with. And if that's not a romantic partner, that's fine, but really think about that. If you're saying, "Hey, my Mount Everest is to be the best keynote speaker in the world. Are you surrounding yourself by other people who believe in that goal for you, who believe in that vision for you, who want to help support that?" And then conversely, one of the things is that you're not just taking that energy, right?

Yes, Jenna's been a great support for me, but that cuts both ways. What are her hopes? What are her dreams? What are her aspirations? And that goes through all the people in your network, that might be supporting you, which is... And you do this beautifully, Josh, which is, you give so much. I think of Josh Linkner, the first word I might think of is, "Give, give, give, give, give." You're out there supporting and helping so many other people with their dreams. And you're playing the long game, which is, you realize the energy... That reverberates back to you, in the long run. And that's a beautiful thing. And I think, too often, people have a scarcity mindset about "Take, take, take, take, take," rather than "Give, give, give, give, give." And I think that makes all the difference.

Josh Linkner:

Colin, thank you so much for giving us so much wisdom today. I think the notion of better together, it's certainly been a theme of mine, and I know it is yours too. And this point you made around surrounding yourself with people that will lift you up, and you become the byproduct of, I think you've made us all better together, today, with your insights and perspective. I think you've helped us go beyond and continue to take on our next Everest, whatever that might be for each of us. My friend, thank you for sharing with us today, wishing you continued success up your next Everest and beyond.

Colin O'Brady:

Thank you.

Josh Linkner:

What an exhilarating expedition we've taken today with Colin. Talk about someone that just cannot, and will not be stopped. Raw, unfiltered, passion meets determination and grit. You don't often see that combo. I think the most powerful image that I'll take away from today's episode is Colin, alone in a tent somewhere in the middle of Antarctica, the wind whipping all around, as he faces down his own doubts and demons to find the will to keep going. Sure, I'll probably never be in a tent at the South Pole, but we've all got our moments of being in the tent. And we can learn so much from his example of perseverance.

I was also struck by Colin's insight, that it's not just about the physical endurance, it's a mental game that truly defines how high and how far we can go. His stories from overcoming a terrible injury to scaling the world's highest peaks remind us that the only boundaries that exist are the ones that we put upon ourselves. Thanks, Colin, for sharing your tenacity and humanity, and generosity. Thanks for giving us a framework to shatter perceived limits and reach new heights. There's no question in my mind, that we'll be seeing a lot more of you as you reach the summit of the speaking world, and anything else that you pursue. Here's to your success, and your continued drive to go beyond.

Thanks so much for joining me on another episode of Mic Drop. Don't forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. If you love the show, please share it with your friends. And don't forget to give us a five-star review. For show transcripts and show notes, visit micdroppodcast.com. I'm your host, Josh Linkner. Thanks so much for listening, and here's to your next Mic Drop moment.