YAPClassic: Colin O’Brady, Conquer Your Mind and Develop an Unstoppable Mindset

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0:01:44 What’s up?
0:01:45 Yeah, bam.
0:01:50 So many life coaches and self-help experts these days love to talk about the importance
0:01:51 of mindset.
0:01:55 And honestly, after a while, it can get a bit stale or repetitive.
0:01:58 That is such a buzzword in our space.
0:02:02 And I think that sometimes we just tune it out or we just nod and say, yeah, I know
0:02:06 it’s all about your mindset and we kind of just move on.
0:02:12 Well, my guest on this Yap Classic episode embodies a positive mindset like nobody else
0:02:14 I’ve ever had on the show.
0:02:18 And that’s because he’s walked the walk quite literally.
0:02:20 And you’ll want to hear him talk the talk, believe me.
0:02:25 Colin O’Brady was once so severely burned that his doctor said he would never walk
0:02:27 the same way again.
0:02:31 Now he’s a world record-breaking explorer and endurance athlete.
0:02:36 His feats include the world’s first solo unsupported and fully human-powered crossing
0:02:42 of Antarctica, and his efforts are a living testament to the power of mindset.
0:02:49 In this conversation from episode 184 recorded in 2022, Colin and I talk about how to cultivate
0:02:55 a possibility mindset and to avoid what he calls the zone of comfortable complacency.
0:03:01 He also shares how taking one day off to unplug, leave your house, and go for a 12-hour walk
0:03:03 can be truly life-transforming.
0:03:09 So put on your metaphorical hiking boots, grab a bottle of water, and get ready to conquer
0:03:12 your personal Everest with Colin O’Brady.
0:03:18 Hey, Colin, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
0:03:19 Thanks for having me here.
0:03:20 It’s great to be here with you.
0:03:23 I am very excited for this conversation.
0:03:27 For those of you who don’t know, Colin is one of the world’s best endurance athletes.
0:03:32 In fact, he is a 10-time world record-breaking explorer, and he became the first person in
0:03:38 history to cross Antarctica in 2018 solo unsupported and unassisted.
0:03:43 And in 2019, Colin, along with his team, successfully rode a boat across the infamous
0:03:46 Drake Passage, the most dangerous stretch of water.
0:03:52 This claimed the lives of 20,000 sailors and at least 800 shipwrecks.
0:03:54 And he’s a highly sought-after public speaker.
0:03:55 He’s a New York Times best-selling author.
0:04:00 He is about to release his new book at the time of this recording, The 12-Hour Walk,
0:04:04 Invest One Day and Unlock Your Best Life, which we’re going to get into pretty deeply
0:04:05 in this interview.
0:04:08 So, Colin, we always like to start from the beginning.
0:04:12 And before you became an entrepreneur, the mindset expert that you are and professional
0:04:17 athlete, you spent your childhood exploring the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and
0:04:20 cultivated a passion for adventure in the outdoors.
0:04:24 So, tell us about your upbringing and how your mother first instilled a growth mindset
0:04:25 in you.
0:04:26 Yeah.
0:04:29 I came into this world in a somewhat untraditional way.
0:04:33 My parents were young when they had me in the early 20s, but I was actually born at home
0:04:37 on a hippie commune in Olympia, Washington on a futon, and my mom invited like 30 of her
0:04:42 friends over to hang out and celebrate the birth, and there goes a bunch of hippies hanging
0:04:45 out on this organic farm, basically.
0:04:49 And my mom played Bob Marley Redemption Song for those familiar with that song on repeat
0:04:50 throughout my birth.
0:04:56 So, a very untraditional way to enter the world, but it was a great way to grow up.
0:05:01 We moved from Olympia, Washington when I was super young, so I grew up in Portland, Oregon,
0:05:05 still in the Pacific Northwest, and didn’t have a lot of money when I was a kid, but
0:05:06 big dreams.
0:05:10 And, you know, certainly with the things I’ve achieved in my life now, people ask my mom,
0:05:12 you know, like, “Don’t you get worried?”
0:05:14 He walks across an article by himself.
0:05:15 He’s climbed Everest twice.
0:05:19 He must be world-worried as a mother, and she kind of always smiles with this coy smile
0:05:24 saying like, “Well, careful what you wish for when you tell their kid from day one, you
0:05:26 know, they can achieve anything they set their mind to.”
0:05:32 And the context of entrepreneurship actually is interesting in my childhood is when I was
0:05:37 about 13 years old, my parents were involved in the health food, kind of natural foods
0:05:38 movement.
0:05:42 And this is like in the late ’80s, early ’90s, before the words like sustainable and organic
0:05:45 and things like that were commonplace, like they were like part of this kind of hippie
0:05:48 counterculture, bringing that into the more of the mainstream.
0:05:51 And they worked at grocery stores, you know, from store clerks, et cetera.
0:05:56 And then when I was a young teenager, they decided to open their own store, which ultimately,
0:06:00 you know, to this day was very successful chain of natural foods grocery stores in the
0:06:03 Pacific Northwest, called New Seasons Market.
0:06:06 They didn’t have any of that success when I was a kid, but what I did have when I was
0:06:10 a kid was a front door seat to like entrepreneurship 101.
0:06:15 Like my dinner table conversation, I was 13, 14, my parents like, “Looking at this sales
0:06:18 forecast, should we do this marketing plan, like a bootstrap business born out of our
0:06:20 kitchen table?”
0:06:24 And so that definitely throughout my life and the entrepreneurial success I’ve had over
0:06:28 time from being a founder to an exit founder, et cetera, is definitely a result of that
0:06:30 observation as a kid.
0:06:31 I love that.
0:06:35 What a wild and different and unique upbringing.
0:06:38 No wonder you’re so much different than most of us.
0:06:42 We were just talking offline and you’ve never really had a real job.
0:06:44 You had a real job for like six months.
0:06:48 We’ll get into that, but you’ve just led such a unique journey.
0:06:51 So let’s talk about something that you talk about in your first book.
0:06:53 You talk about impossible first.
0:06:58 We just kind of mentioned how you had this unique mindset.
0:07:03 And you actually completed the world’s first solo unsupported, completely human-powered
0:07:04 crossing of Antarctica.
0:07:08 It was pretty much what people thought was an impossible feat.
0:07:13 And you said you only achieved this impossible feat because you had a possible mindset.
0:07:16 So I think we’ve all heard of growth mindset before.
0:07:20 That’s something that’s common, but a possible mindset for my listeners, I think, is something
0:07:21 new.
0:07:24 And we’re going to go deeper on this later on in the interview.
0:07:26 But for now, what is a possible mindset?
0:07:28 I think you’ve coined that phrase.
0:07:29 What does that mean to you?
0:07:30 Yeah.
0:07:34 So it’s literally how I, like you said, in my book that came out a few years ago about
0:07:38 my solo and art across and called The Impossible First, and I’ll tell a little bit more about
0:07:39 that.
0:07:43 But this phrase, this phrase, a possible mindset, it’s actually the first page of my new book,
0:07:44 The 12-Hour Walk.
0:07:48 And it’s something that I have a prescription to basically in one day, I think you can shift
0:07:52 from a mindset of limiting beliefs to a mindset of a possible mindset.
0:07:56 The way I define that is a possible mindset is an empowered way of thinking that unlocks
0:07:58 a life of limitless possibilities.
0:08:02 And to be clear, I’m a big fan of Carol Dweck, I’m a big fan of growth mindset.
0:08:06 Growth mindset is a core component of possible mindset.
0:08:08 Possible mindset is just a little bit further encompassing.
0:08:12 It also encompasses intuition, it encompasses the way you nurture and cultivate community
0:08:14 around you, et cetera.
0:08:19 But the entire book, my new book, The 12-Hour Walk, is really how we all have this power
0:08:22 inside of us to unlock limitless possibilities.
0:08:26 The name of my other book, The Impossible First, as well as my actual project when I
0:08:28 was crossing Antarctica, I named it that.
0:08:30 I literally called my project The Impossible First.
0:08:35 I was attempting to do something that no one in history had ever done before.
0:08:40 People had tried it before me, very tragically, people had literally died trying this project.
0:08:43 And the project was to be the first person to cross Antarctica solo.
0:08:46 But as you mentioned, unsupported, that means no resupplies of food or fuel.
0:08:51 So I was dragging a 375-pound sled behind me the entire time with all the food and supplies
0:08:53 I would need because no resupplies.
0:08:57 Then unaided means no kites, no dogs, no nothing else propelling me.
0:09:01 It’s just me mono-ey-mono, 1,000 miles, ended up taking me 54 days.
0:09:03 I was on my last bite of food.
0:09:07 I didn’t have nearly enough supplies with me because I couldn’t carry it all, obviously,
0:09:09 to make that crossing.
0:09:13 And because of that, people said, “Hey, this project is impossible.
0:09:15 Some of the best people in the world have attempted this.
0:09:17 People have died trying this.
0:09:18 This is impossible.”
0:09:22 When I named my project The Impossible First, Nada is like a wink of, “Oh, I’m going to
0:09:26 call it The Impossible First to show everyone to prove this wrong,” to say, “This might
0:09:29 be impossible, but I’m willing to try.
0:09:33 I am willing to open up the possibilities of them being wrong or maybe you’re proving
0:09:34 them wrong.”
0:09:40 Because I believe when we dare to dream greatly, when we set massively audacious goals, we
0:09:47 either succeed an amazing, that’s wonderful, or maybe we fall a little bit short of that.
0:09:50 But in daring to dream greatly, we got 90% of the way there.
0:09:53 We succeeded immensely in doing so.
0:09:57 The actual, so I always say, I’m not the only one that ever said this, but you either win
0:09:58 or you learn.
0:09:59 There’s no failure.
0:10:00 You either win or you learn.
0:10:05 So it’s like, that’s the ethos that I’ve, and I sit here with 10 World Records.
0:10:09 I sit here having had successful business ventures and stuff like that.
0:10:14 But that’s been built on the backside of learnings over time, et cetera.
0:10:18 In my new book, “The 12-Hour Walk,” one of the core components of that is breaking down
0:10:20 that limiting belief, that fear of failure.
0:10:24 So many people don’t even start, “Hey, that goal’s impossible.
0:10:25 That summit’s too high.
0:10:27 Everest is too far.
0:10:28 What’s my Everest?
0:10:29 It’s too far.
0:10:30 I’m never going to get there.”
0:10:31 So they don’t even start the process.
0:10:33 To me, that is the ultimate failure.
0:10:37 Trying something, putting your heart and soul into it, starting that business, iterating,
0:10:42 pivoting, shifting, evolving, and then maybe not getting the exact end goal you want, amazing.
0:10:45 You learn a million things, and you’re going to apply that to the next thing that you
0:10:46 get after.
0:10:47 Oh my gosh.
0:10:48 I love this.
0:10:51 And I can hear the enthusiasm and passion from you.
0:10:54 And we had a guest that really reminds me of yourself.
0:10:55 Wim Hof was on recently.
0:10:57 He’s the Iceman.
0:11:00 And he also is just so enthusiastic.
0:11:04 He also does these crazy challenges that everybody thinks is impossible.
0:11:06 And he has a deeper purpose.
0:11:11 His purpose is he wants people to release their beliefs about what is possible with
0:11:16 the brain, and how we can control our bodies, and what’s possible for humans.
0:11:19 And I have to imagine that you have some deeper purpose.
0:11:23 It wasn’t just you trying to prove that you can do something.
0:11:27 What was the real drive behind all of your excursions so far?
0:11:29 Yeah, absolutely.
0:11:30 You have to have a why.
0:11:36 I don’t think there’s the external gratification of, “I’m the first,” or, “I did this,” is
0:11:37 really anything.
0:11:40 I mean, it’s enough to maybe get you out the door, but it’s not enough on day 35 when
0:11:44 you’re starving in Antarctica to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
0:11:47 For me, it’s been cultivating a passion in twofold.
0:11:49 One is to push my own body and mind.
0:11:51 But in a way, I love telling stories.
0:11:52 I love sharing stories.
0:11:58 That’s why I love writing books and other film and TV and media projects that I’ve done.
0:12:00 And I imagine it’s why you have this podcast.
0:12:05 Are other people’s stories have the ability to inspire, to ignite, to have this ripple
0:12:06 effect?
0:12:07 That’s why I love consuming podcasts.
0:12:09 That’s why I love reading books.
0:12:14 Other people’s stories, other people’s learnings, there’s so much to be gained from that.
0:12:18 For me, part of my mission is to do this for myself, but the bigger mission is to inspire
0:12:19 others.
0:12:23 I have a nonprofit that’s really focused on kids and kids’ health.
0:12:24 I ask them this question.
0:12:25 What’s your Everest?
0:12:30 I ask these eight, nine, 10-year-old kids to raise their hand and say, “Colin, my Mount
0:12:34 Everest is to make sure the snow leopards are off the endangered species list.”
0:12:37 Or, “Colin, my Mount Everest would be the first person in my family to graduate from
0:12:38 college.”
0:12:40 You’re sitting there in Jersey City, I’m guessing.
0:12:44 You don’t actually want to walk across Antarctica solo or actually climb Mount Everest, but
0:12:45 look at what you’re doing.
0:12:46 You’ve got this podcast.
0:12:47 You’re crushing it.
0:12:51 So many people are listening and inspired by your message because that’s your Everest
0:12:52 to do this.
0:12:55 And so, a big part of that is inspiring others.
0:12:59 And ultimately, my new book, The 12-Hour Walk, at its core, is just that.
0:13:03 My first book, and I’m proud of it, New York Times Best Seller of the Impossible First,
0:13:04 is my story.
0:13:06 It’s a memoir of my life and that expedition.
0:13:08 I’m incredibly proud of the story in there.
0:13:11 Well, in The 12-Hour Walk, I share these adventure stories.
0:13:15 I share them edge-of-your-seat, thrilling stories, but I also turn the narration back
0:13:16 on the reader.
0:13:19 I say, “I’m not the hero of this story.
0:13:20 You are the hero of this story.”
0:13:24 This book is written for you to unlock your best life.
0:13:28 I’m going to share some learnings, some failures, some ups and downs to my life in a way that’s
0:13:31 going to ignite your brain, excite you.
0:13:34 But it’s about you overcoming the limiting beliefs, you know, the limiting beliefs that
0:13:35 many of us have.
0:13:36 I don’t have enough money.
0:13:37 I don’t have enough time.
0:13:39 If I fail, what if people criticize me?
0:13:44 I break down all those limiting beliefs and show how you can actually shift to that possible
0:13:46 mindset and begin to unlock your best life.
0:13:50 And so that’s definitely one of my deepest purposes and something that brings me great
0:13:51 joy.
0:13:53 That is exceptional.
0:13:54 And your book is super actionable.
0:13:59 I can’t wait to get into the steps that we should take to take this 12-Hour Walk that’s
0:14:03 going to help us reduce and release our limiting beliefs.
0:14:06 But let’s talk about overcoming the impossible.
0:14:11 You’re on this topic, and from my understanding and from my research, I learned that you went
0:14:13 through a really big setback in your 20s.
0:14:16 You graduated from Yale, super impressive.
0:14:20 And before you went off on your career, you decided you take a backpack and your surf
0:14:22 board and explore the world.
0:14:27 And you ended up traveling to Thailand where you suffered a very severe injury that almost
0:14:28 left you unable to walk again.
0:14:31 In fact, the doctors put a limiting belief in your head.
0:14:35 They said, “You probably are never going to walk normal again,” and you were severely
0:14:36 burned.
0:14:37 And so I’d love to hear that story.
0:14:41 I’d love to understand what mentally you were going through at the time and how you
0:14:43 ended up moving forward.
0:14:47 Maybe learn more about your support system during that time and how you ended up competing
0:14:51 in your first ever triathlon just eight months later.
0:14:52 Yeah.
0:14:56 So, as you said, I just graduated from college, didn’t have a lot of money when I was a kid
0:14:57 growing up.
0:15:01 I actually painted houses every single summer to kind of pay for books and things like that.
0:15:04 But I said to myself, “I always wanted to have an adventure.
0:15:07 I always wanted to travel a little bit, see a bit of the world,” and I didn’t have the
0:15:10 opportunity when I was young as a kid growing up.
0:15:13 And so I said, “I had this economics degree from Yale.
0:15:14 I was a swimmer there.
0:15:19 Most of my friends, my graduate from college 2006, were headed off to Wall Street.
0:15:24 This is pre-2008 credit crisis and financial meltdown.”
0:15:29 And that seemed like the way to be, big salary, secure future, all this sort of stuff.
0:15:33 But there was something intuitively inside of me saying, “Nah, do something else first.”
0:15:36 You know, if you want to go back to that, you can, but do something else first.
0:15:41 And so I had, again, shoestring budget, backpack, surfboard, in-peter and butter and jelly sandwiches,
0:15:44 hitchhiking through countries, sleeping on couches, meet and random people.
0:15:46 But it was an incredible experience to be out in the world.
0:15:51 I actually ultimately met my now wife in Fiji on the beginning of that trip.
0:15:55 And the only reason I was in Fiji was because I bought the world’s cheapest student ticket
0:15:57 and then I was trying to get to New Zealand.
0:16:00 They were like, “Well, there’s a 10-day layover on your ticket in Fiji.”
0:16:03 It was just like, “You have to stop here for this period of time.”
0:16:04 I was like, “All right, cool.
0:16:05 I’ll check that out.”
0:16:08 So letting the fate kind of dictate a little bit.
0:16:13 But as you said, I found myself in Thailand many months into this adventure.
0:16:18 And maybe because I was 22 and didn’t have a fully four prefrontal cortex, I’m not sure.
0:16:22 But I saw some guys jumping a flaming jumper up, a literally a kerosene-soaked jumper up.
0:16:24 And I thought, “Gee, that looks like fun.”
0:16:28 So I jumped that rope and in an instant, my life changed.
0:16:31 It literally lit my body, they sprayed kerosene across my body, lit my body, I’m fired in
0:16:32 my neck.
0:16:34 Survival mode kicked in when I needed it most.
0:16:38 I jumped into the ocean to extinguish the flames, but not before.
0:16:41 About 25% of my body was severely burned.
0:16:43 And I was in remote and rural Thailand.
0:16:44 There was no ambulance ride.
0:16:48 I had a moped ride down a dirt path to a runroom nursing station.
0:16:52 And I was on an island, so I couldn’t get to a big city or anything like that.
0:16:55 I had eight surgeries over the next week.
0:16:58 There was a cat running around my bed in the ICU.
0:17:01 I mean, it was a bad place to be for this circumstance.
0:17:04 And the physical pain was immense.
0:17:08 For sure, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but I will never forget the emotional pain
0:17:12 of the moment the doctor walks in, he looks me in the eyes and he says, “Hey, I hate to
0:17:13 tell you this.”
0:17:17 But based on how badly your ligaments are burning, your ankles, your knees, et cetera,
0:17:19 I don’t think you’re ever going to walk again normally.
0:17:23 You’re never going to regain full mobility and range of motion.
0:17:24 And that was just devastating.
0:17:28 I think that would be devastating for any person at any age, but as a 22-year-old kid
0:17:33 who was very in his body as an athlete and whatever, it was just like my identity was
0:17:39 just like in an instant, I made one mistake and like, boom, who am I without this physical
0:17:42 capacity that I’ve kind of depended on throughout my life.
0:17:47 The heroine to this story, really the turning point of the story is my incredible mother.
0:17:51 She shows up in Thailand, kind of finds me, it takes her four or five days to kind of
0:17:52 track down.
0:17:55 It’s such a remote part of Thailand, it takes her a while to even find me, but she gets
0:17:59 there in the hospital and I can only imagine as a mother what it’s like.
0:18:03 She tells me now that she was crying in the hallways, pleading with the doctors for semblance
0:18:05 of good news, not getting it.
0:18:08 But she actually never showed me that fear at all.
0:18:11 And this is the crazy part of this story.
0:18:12 This is the turning point.
0:18:14 This is the thing that changed my entire life.
0:18:19 She instead came into my hospital room every single day with this huge smile on her face,
0:18:23 this huge air of positivity, daring me to dream about the future, saying, look, you
0:18:24 messed up.
0:18:25 We’re not going to sugarcoat this.
0:18:26 This is the bad situation.
0:18:29 I’m freaked out, but life isn’t over.
0:18:31 What do you want to do on the other side of this?
0:18:35 And she kind of pushed me on that and pushed me on that and pushed me on that and finally
0:18:40 I closed my eyes and I said, I just visualized myself crossing the finish line of a triathlon.
0:18:44 And again, turning point moment, she could have easily said, yeah, I said set a goal and
0:18:49 look towards the future, but like the legs and the bandages and the blood, like maybe
0:18:52 something more realistic triathlon, but probably not in your future.
0:18:54 But instead she didn’t do that.
0:18:56 She was like, actually, great.
0:18:57 You know what?
0:18:58 Let’s start training right now.
0:19:03 And she yells out to the doctor, she goes, hey doc, hey doc, can you bring in some weights
0:19:04 and the doctor’s looking.
0:19:05 What are you talking about?
0:19:06 Yeah.
0:19:07 Yeah.
0:19:08 Yeah.
0:19:09 Yeah.
0:19:10 Yeah.
0:19:11 My son’s training for a triathlon now.
0:19:12 So I have this picture of me.
0:19:13 I’m lifting 10 pound dumbbells.
0:19:16 I’m like, I never had a walk nor I tell me he’s training for a triathlon.
0:19:17 This is ridiculous.
0:19:21 But it was fixed in my mind and definitely no way I would have had that without my mother’s
0:19:23 daily support, not just in that moment.
0:19:27 It was several months I was in the Thai hospital, flew back to Oregon where I was from, was
0:19:28 in a wheelchair.
0:19:30 I hadn’t taken a single step when I got home.
0:19:35 She taught me how to walk again and one step at a time, but still competing, thinking about
0:19:36 this triathlon.
0:19:40 And then fast forward, I did want to get out of my parents’ basement and get on with
0:19:43 my life and start my career.
0:19:47 So as you mentioned, that the one time I had a quote unquote real job, I took a commodities
0:19:51 trading job in Chicago, thought I would work in the finance industry.
0:19:56 And yeah, I was still banged up and banded shut when I took that job, but I started
0:19:57 my career.
0:19:59 But I signed up for the Chicago triathlon to honor this goal.
0:20:04 And just 18 months after being burned in this fire, I started this triathlon, started the
0:20:05 race.
0:20:09 Completed the race, miles swimming, 25 miles of biking, 6.2 miles running.
0:20:10 I get to the finish line.
0:20:11 I cross this finish line.
0:20:15 I can’t believe that I’ve overcome this big setback and kind of proven to myself that
0:20:18 I can be able, body, and whole again.
0:20:21 But to combine complete and utter surprise, I didn’t actually just finish the race.
0:20:28 I actually won the entire Chicago Draft Law, placing first out of nearly 5,000 other participants
0:20:29 on the day.
0:20:32 I don’t share that story as saying like, “Oh, I guess that just means I’m a superhuman
0:20:35 athlete and I can do whatever the hell I want,” like whatever.
0:20:36 That’s not the point at all.
0:20:38 And that’s not the way I feel about it.
0:20:43 The way I feel about it is exactly what we were talking about before, is that I was living
0:20:48 in a moment of fear, a moment of doubt, a moment of understandable limiting beliefs.
0:20:51 And as you said, the doctor put that limiting belief on me.
0:20:52 You are never going to walk again normally.
0:20:53 Doctor says a diagnosis.
0:20:57 It’s very easy to just be like, “Yep, okay,” like that’s the deal.
0:20:58 He’s the expert.
0:20:59 Right.
0:21:00 He’s the expert.
0:21:06 But in the end, my mother opened the door to what I now call very fondly a possible mindset.
0:21:10 She says, “Look, this is bad, but there’s limitless possibilities on the other side
0:21:11 of this.”
0:21:15 And so what I realize is all of us as humans, this is not just a story about me.
0:21:19 This is a story about all 7 billion of us on this planet, is that we have reservoirs
0:21:24 of untapped potential to achieve extraordinary things in our lives, but it all starts with
0:21:25 our mindset.
0:21:29 And then we can cultivate and flex and develop that muscle.
0:21:32 I love to say the most important muscle any of us have is the six inches between our
0:21:33 ears.
0:21:34 We can flex and develop that.
0:21:37 The possibilities are limitless.
0:21:42 And so it’s weird to say, but sometimes our biggest setbacks and our biggest hardships
0:21:47 buried underneath of the stress and the anxiety and the fear and the pain of those moments
0:21:49 are gold, are lessons.
0:21:51 And I wouldn’t be sitting here with 10 world records.
0:21:56 It’s crazy to say, but like all of my world records, I use those legs, but the legs after
0:22:00 they have been burned, not before they have been burned, after they have been burned because
0:22:03 my mind was so much stronger on the other side.
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0:26:24 Oh my gosh, everything that you’re saying is pure gold.
0:26:27 So there’s a couple lessons that I see in this.
0:26:30 First of all, I feel like a lot of people think that when they’re going through a tough time,
0:26:32 they need this huge support system.
0:26:35 They want like 10 people around them supporting them.
0:26:40 Really, if you have one person in your corner when the time is getting tough, then you are
0:26:41 like really blessed.
0:26:44 Like you just need one person to help you if you’re in a bad situation.
0:26:48 And there’s some people, unfortunately, who don’t have one person.
0:26:52 What advice would you give to somebody if they didn’t have somebody in their corner
0:26:54 the way that you had your mom?
0:26:58 Because I was thinking about this and I was going to say, you know, if you have one person,
0:27:01 but there’s some people who don’t have anyone to help them when the time gets tough.
0:27:03 So what would you say to that?
0:27:04 It’s definitely, I’m blessed.
0:27:05 My mother’s amazing.
0:27:10 I have an incredible wife as well who has been so supportive and has gotten me out of
0:27:11 some tough spots.
0:27:15 I’ve called her from the summit of Everest at the core of my tent and Antarctica crying
0:27:18 and sobbing and she’s talked me off a cliff quite literally.
0:27:21 But it is a good question if you didn’t have that person.
0:27:26 What I would say is this is that I think cultivating community is hugely important.
0:27:30 I think the people, you’ve probably heard it said before, you know, the net product,
0:27:33 the five people you spend the most time with.
0:27:35 And the question is about not having anyone around you.
0:27:39 What most people, I would say, very, very most people in this day and age of connectivity,
0:27:41 they have connection to the internet.
0:27:45 They have connection to people that maybe they’re not, they’re sharing physical space
0:27:49 with, but maybe they’re famous or they’re not actually talking to or having a dialogue
0:27:50 with.
0:27:52 You know, I imagine most of your listeners have never sat down and actually talked to
0:27:53 you.
0:27:54 Exactly.
0:27:55 But here’s the thing.
0:27:59 The internet, social media, all this stuff can be extremely toxic.
0:28:00 We all know this.
0:28:04 We all know the person on your Instagram feed that triggers you, that makes you feel bad
0:28:05 or whatever.
0:28:07 But the opposite is also true.
0:28:12 Podcasts, the internet, media, et cetera, can be the other thing, which is, so if you
0:28:15 are actually in a place where you are so alone right now that you don’t have a single person
0:28:20 to support you, first of all, get rid of all those people in your social media feed that
0:28:21 are continuing to make you feel bad.
0:28:23 Right now, pull out your phone, unfollow.
0:28:25 That will feel amazing.
0:28:29 But then all of a sudden fill up your brain with the access to this podcast, Young and
0:28:31 Profiting, you’re listening to right now.
0:28:35 There are people that are sharing wisdom, advice, et cetera.
0:28:39 And so that one person in your corner can be somebody that maybe you haven’t even met.
0:28:44 I have mentors in my life who have been dead 100 years, but I’ve read their books that
0:28:49 they have profoundly impacted my life because their words are written down and I’ve lasted
0:28:51 the centuries or the decades.
0:28:54 So that’s what I would say to that person.
0:28:55 I love that answer.
0:28:56 Good answer, Colin.
0:29:02 So the other big takeaway from this is that you used a big goal to get out of a rut and
0:29:03 I always do this.
0:29:07 Every time I’ve ever failed in life, the way that I get out of being depressed, I’ve never
0:29:10 had a bad health issue like that.
0:29:14 But if I ever got fired from a job or something really devastating happened, the first thing
0:29:20 I do is think of a new challenging project to basically distract myself with something
0:29:24 positive, learning something positive and just taking some positive action towards some
0:29:26 new challenge.
0:29:31 In my opinion, that is the best and fastest way to get out of a rut is to focus on something
0:29:34 new, which you did with the triathlon, right?
0:29:39 And so I feel like those are all such great takeaways to your story and you’re just such
0:29:40 an inspiring person.
0:29:45 So let’s get back into how you actually started making money doing this because like we just
0:29:51 talked about, you only had a job for like a handful of months, a real corporate job.
0:29:53 And then you started taking on these challenges.
0:29:55 You did one after the other.
0:30:02 You started climbing mountains and Mount Everest and going through Drake’s passage and sailing.
0:30:04 And how did you actually make money?
0:30:06 Like, what’s the business model behind that?
0:30:07 It’s a great question.
0:30:12 So with the 12-hour walk and again, I’m chomping at the bit to share the fuller message with
0:30:13 you.
0:30:14 I know we’ll get to that.
0:30:15 But I promise.
0:30:19 No, it’s good context here, which is before writing this book and we’ll get to what it’s
0:30:20 all about.
0:30:24 Like I said, I want to help people unlock their best life and people define that differently.
0:30:26 Like people define what that looks like.
0:30:27 That can be making a million dollars.
0:30:29 That can be saving a million lives.
0:30:31 That can be spending more quality time with my family.
0:30:33 That can be traveling the world, right?
0:30:34 There’s no right answer to that question.
0:30:35 Again, it gets back to that.
0:30:36 What’s your efforts?
0:30:37 It’s your efforts.
0:30:38 It’s not my efforts.
0:30:39 It’s your efforts.
0:30:43 But the number one question when I pulled my audience, when I talked to people, what
0:30:45 is standing in the way of you living your best life?
0:30:51 The number one response was, “I don’t have enough money.”
0:30:55 If you reverse-engineer that, it’s basically people saying, “If I had more money, I would
0:30:56 be living my best life.”
0:31:02 Now, I could probably poke holes in that as well, but I have gone from a life of being
0:31:06 a kid who didn’t have very much money to now at this space in my life to having cultivated
0:31:08 quite a bit of abundance, financial success.
0:31:12 I had an eight-figure exit with a business that I started a couple years ago.
0:31:15 I’ve had that success in my life now, and I’ve worked hard for it.
0:31:16 A couple of things.
0:31:18 One is how did it actually start?
0:31:22 In that moment, I actually, from my corporate job, went in the Chicago Triathlon and ended
0:31:24 up at a barbecue at this guy’s house.
0:31:25 There’s a other commodities trader.
0:31:29 He hears the story, “Wait, you weren’t walking a year ago, and now you won this trial.
0:31:30 This is crazy.
0:31:31 Do you want to continue to focus on this?”
0:31:36 He said, “I would be your first sponsor if you wanted to pursue this.”
0:31:41 Now, what was clear, and he even said this to me, he goes, “But you’re on a bright path.
0:31:44 You have this financial career, you have this education, et cetera, if you keep doing this
0:31:47 for the next 30 years, you’re going to make money, you’re going to do quote-unquote well
0:31:49 for yourself, et cetera.”
0:31:53 What I’m offering you is basically a few plane tickets.
0:31:56 You can sleep on your friend’s couches around the world and eat some peanut butter and jelly
0:32:00 sandwiches back to basically what I was traveling around, bumming around the world.
0:32:01 But here’s the difference.
0:32:03 If you want to follow your heart, do it.
0:32:04 I wouldn’t quit my job on Monday.
0:32:10 I literally walked into my office and quit my job that day, not exactly knowing how the
0:32:13 business plan would work in the long run.
0:32:17 But trusting that instinct, trusting that God, and I do get deeper into that in the
0:32:18 book.
0:32:23 Now, what that has turned into is I have figured out a way, and to me, this is what my best
0:32:24 life looked like.
0:32:26 This is not for everyone, right?
0:32:32 Is how can I do the things that I love with a full heart, full of passion, and still create
0:32:34 monetary success around that?
0:32:37 Because I’m a big believer in economic solutions and things.
0:32:42 I think I can have the most impact, and my nonprofit is thriving at its highest level
0:32:46 when I am also taking care of myself financially.
0:32:49 Because then I have more energy, more freedom, more flexibility, et cetera.
0:32:54 When I’m stuck in this mindset of scarcity, I can’t have that impact on the world.
0:32:57 So look, it’s been iterative.
0:33:01 I’ll tell you one story from the beginning, and I think this sums it up in the mindset
0:33:04 essence of this, which I think people can apply.
0:33:09 Which is, 2014, so I raised triathlon for about five or six years professionally.
0:33:10 25 countries, six continents.
0:33:15 I don’t save any money, but it’s just enough to get by, but I cultivate this passion for
0:33:17 pushing my body, this curiosity, whatever.
0:33:21 Then the fall of 2014, I’m on a mountain top, and I’ve got a diamond ring in my pocket,
0:33:25 and I asked my longtime girlfriend, now wife, to marry me.
0:33:31 And 2014, we’re in our mid to late 20s at this point, and again, I love this idea of
0:33:32 a possible mindset.
0:33:33 I love the idea to dream big.
0:33:37 And so in this moment of this turning point moment in our life, we kind of have this brainstorm
0:33:40 on this mountain top that says, what do you want to do?
0:33:41 What do you want to do next?
0:33:43 We’re going to be together forever.
0:33:46 What do you want our life to be like, family, what?
0:33:47 Let’s just talk about it.
0:33:50 So we have this super amazing brainstorm pull of all these high vibes.
0:33:54 And I say, look, one of my childhood dreams has always been to climb Mount Everest.
0:33:56 So I want to do that somehow.
0:34:00 And in triathlon, I feel like I still want to push my body as an athlete, but maybe in
0:34:02 a way that has larger impact on ourselves.
0:34:06 And we get on this idea of there’s this thing called the Explorers Grand Slam.
0:34:09 So that’s to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, go to the north
0:34:10 and south pole.
0:34:11 And that includes Mount Everest.
0:34:14 And I say, what if I do that, but I set the world record for that.
0:34:18 So instead, people usually do that over 10 years, but I was like, what if I do it nonstop
0:34:21 over four months, one mountain, next mountain, et cetera.
0:34:26 And with the media exposure of that, it’ll allow us to have a platform around goals, around
0:34:27 health and wellness.
0:34:31 And we can start this nonprofit, totally inspire tons of kids and have all this impact.
0:34:33 This amazing conversation.
0:34:37 Then we get back, we come literally down from that mountain and go back to our one bedroom
0:34:41 apartment in Portland, Oregon at a time in our life where we have a lot of very no abundance
0:34:44 and mostly scarcity in this moment in our life.
0:34:47 And this is the moment where most good ideas die.
0:34:51 I know there’s a lot of entrepreneurs listening to this, like this is the moment.
0:34:54 This is the moment when you’re like having some beers with your buddy and you have come
0:34:58 up with this like amazing business idea and you hash it out in the back of a napkin and
0:34:59 all this sort of stuff.
0:35:03 But you wake up a little hungover on Sunday morning, you’re like, yeah, man, like that
0:35:07 business only works if we can raise $5 million and have like funding from like this massive
0:35:09 like PE firm or whatever that is, right?
0:35:13 Or in less of a business context, you’re like, you know, out with your buddy, like, oh, we’re
0:35:16 going to run that marathon, we’re going to train all year for it.
0:35:17 We’re going to do this, whatever.
0:35:20 And you wake up and you’re like, yeah, man, like I don’t even want to go on a run today,
0:35:22 let alone like for the next like six months, right?
0:35:27 Jenna and I wake up in that moment quite literally in like this project, it turns out we map it
0:35:28 out on a little spreadsheet.
0:35:30 Like it costs a half a million dollars straight up.
0:35:33 If that’s not like making anything, that’s to go to Everest.
0:35:37 That’s to like the North Pole, the South Pole, the logistics, the just kind of infrastructure
0:35:40 around this product says it’s going to cost about a half million dollars.
0:35:44 We’ve got 10 grand to our name between the two of us at this point in our life.
0:35:46 And like that’s it.
0:35:48 So here is the lesson in this.
0:35:50 There are two mindsets.
0:35:53 One is a mindset of scarcity and one is a mindset of abundance.
0:35:59 The scarcity mindset, similar to a fixed mindset in a different context, says, well, I have
0:36:01 10 grand and the thing I want to do costs 500 grand.
0:36:03 I’m never going to be able to do this thing.
0:36:05 And so therefore I’m just not going to do it.
0:36:06 We could have easily gone that way.
0:36:10 But again, that possible mindset, which for me is a catchall for all these different mindsets,
0:36:15 but that says that mindset of abundance starts to go, wait a second, okay, I’ve got 10 grand
0:36:16 right now.
0:36:17 But what else do I have?
0:36:19 What else do I have in my favor?
0:36:20 Okay, I’ve got the internet.
0:36:22 I’ve got Google.
0:36:25 I’ve got like a handful of friends that I can ask a few questions to.
0:36:26 And it’s a long story.
0:36:33 Like for the next 18 months, Jenna and I knocked on every single door, told people, I’m climbing
0:36:34 these mountains.
0:36:35 Like you haven’t even climbed these mountains.
0:36:36 I don’t, it doesn’t matter.
0:36:40 I need a half million dollars trying to find sponsor, trying to find funding, trying to
0:36:41 find this.
0:36:42 And here’s what happened.
0:36:46 A thousand people said no to us, a thousand people quite literally.
0:36:49 Now it’s getting to be two months before we’re leaving for this thing.
0:36:52 And we are still head up being like, we’re doing this.
0:36:54 We’ve raised like 30, 40 grand.
0:36:57 We still got like several hundred thousand ago dollars to go.
0:36:58 I’m getting nervous.
0:36:59 I’ll be honest.
0:37:00 We’ve been working this for a year and a half.
0:37:01 We finally picked a date.
0:37:03 Well, you got to leave on this departure date, whatever.
0:37:07 I get invited, a friend of mine says, Hey man, I know you’re still trying to raise all that
0:37:09 money and you’re like, well short.
0:37:12 Just as a piece of inspiration, there’s this woman that I want you to meet.
0:37:13 And I said, great.
0:37:15 At this point, I was willing to talk to any literally talk to him.
0:37:18 I tried my pitch on a thousand people and it kept failing.
0:37:20 I was like, maybe I’m doing it wrong.
0:37:22 So he invites me to the spin class.
0:37:26 But he’s like, I’m like a spin class at an LA fitness, like I’m a professional athlete.
0:37:29 I’m not going to go to like a group, I’m like, my ego’s getting better.
0:37:32 I’m not going to group fitness class at like a LA fitness.
0:37:33 What are you talking about?
0:37:34 He’s like, no, no, just comment.
0:37:35 And I’m like, fine, whatever.
0:37:37 So I come to the spin class.
0:37:38 I walk in.
0:37:40 There’s this woman, she’s probably in her mid fifties.
0:37:41 She’s already hitting the spin by car.
0:37:44 She’s sweating like the class hasn’t even started, but like she’s hitting it hard.
0:37:48 And he goes, oh, my friend, Angelo, he goes, hey, meet my friend, Kathy, Kathy Collin.
0:37:51 And he goes, she was a world record holder.
0:37:52 And she just laughed.
0:37:54 She goes, oh my God, bringing that up like a million years ago.
0:37:58 And she’s like, when I was 19, I set the world record in the 5k.
0:38:00 This is literally 34, 30 plus years ago for her in her life.
0:38:02 And I was like, oh, that’s cool.
0:38:05 And she goes, Collin’s trying to break a world record himself.
0:38:06 Tell her about it.
0:38:07 So it comes out of me.
0:38:08 I said, look, try to explore this grand slam.
0:38:09 I got this nonprofit.
0:38:10 I want to inspire kids.
0:38:11 Da, da, da, da.
0:38:12 And she’s like, oh, cool, cool.
0:38:13 That’s awesome.
0:38:14 I love that.
0:38:15 Spin class starts.
0:38:16 I’m sitting there on the spin bike.
0:38:18 I’m like, what the hell am I doing here, man?
0:38:20 Like this is like, what the heck am I doing?
0:38:22 And I get done with the spin class.
0:38:27 I’m about to leave, wiping myself down with a towel, whatever, wiping the bike down.
0:38:29 And she goes, hey, Collin, I’ve been thinking about you thing.
0:38:30 Come back over here.
0:38:31 My husband loves this kind of stuff.
0:38:33 You know, you should tell him about it.
0:38:36 And she waves over to this guy across the room, guy’s salt and pepper hair, walks over.
0:38:37 Hi, how are you?
0:38:38 Shake his hand.
0:38:39 She goes, tell him.
0:38:40 And again, I’m not pitching this guy nothing.
0:38:44 I’m just like giving like the 30 seconds before I walk out of spin class, give him the story.
0:38:48 And he goes, wow, are you happen to be looking for sponsors for this?
0:38:49 And I’m obviously my ears perk up.
0:38:51 I’m like, well, indeed I am.
0:38:56 What, uh, he goes, yeah, I think the company that I work for might actually be interested
0:38:57 in something like this.
0:38:59 And so I go, what company do you work for?
0:39:02 And he goes, I work for Nike.
0:39:03 And I’m in Portland, Oregon.
0:39:05 Like, I mean, that’s like the dream of all dreams.
0:39:08 I think it’s for most people, but I’m like, in Portland, that’s where the Nike roadhead
0:39:09 quarters are.
0:39:12 That’s like the dream of all dreams sponsorship, I think for any like athlete or whatever.
0:39:13 Right.
0:39:17 And I’m like, oh my God, uh, great, eight months before this, Jen and I had actually
0:39:20 spent the $10,000 all the money we had to build a website.
0:39:21 That was our plan.
0:39:23 We said, we at least have to have a good enough website.
0:39:26 Let’s spend all of our money on it because if we’re gonna try to raise this money, someone
0:39:29 at some point is going to ask to see our website and it’s going to have to look good.
0:39:31 He literally says word for word to me.
0:39:33 He goes, do you have a website or something?
0:39:35 You should email it to me on Monday.
0:39:37 And I’m like, yes, I do have a website.
0:39:40 And I get your contact information goes, yeah, no problem.
0:39:41 He grabs Russell to his Jamaica.
0:39:42 Let me get a card for you.
0:39:43 Pulls out a business card.
0:39:44 Hands it to me.
0:39:45 A look down.
0:39:48 Mark Parker, CEO, Nike.
0:39:51 Oh my God.
0:39:52 I have chills.
0:39:54 I was just like, oh my God.
0:39:57 Now, again, what is the moral of the story?
0:39:58 Is the moral of the story?
0:39:59 Yeah.
0:40:00 You just got super lucky.
0:40:01 Like, good job.
0:40:03 You met the freaking CEO of Nike in a spin class.
0:40:06 I would argue that that is not the truth.
0:40:08 My mom said to me and I love this line.
0:40:11 She goes, luck comes to those who are prepared.
0:40:17 The scarcity mindset 18 months earlier said, don’t even try this for a day.
0:40:23 The abundance mindset says, keep pushing, keep finding a way, keep knocking on the door.
0:40:26 And we talked before, you either succeed or you learn.
0:40:30 Well, you could have said the thousand people that said no to me before that I failed.
0:40:31 I failed a thousand times.
0:40:33 But guess what?
0:40:36 Every single one of those times, maybe my pitch got a little bit better, maybe my confidence
0:40:38 got a little bit more sharp.
0:40:42 Maybe the way I articulated my idea was just a little more polished so that when the person
0:40:47 who could quite literally change the fortune of my life was standing in front of me, it
0:40:53 came out with authenticity and passion and right place, right time.
0:40:57 But the essence of that is that abundance mindset in the book actually breaks down even more
0:41:01 specific steps is, to your point, you set that big goal to get out of the rut.
0:41:07 But then to actually get out of the rut, you have to keep chipping away at that goal every
0:41:08 single day.
0:41:13 The scarcity mindset says, yo, you’ve got 10 grand, you’re never gonna make 500 grand
0:41:14 to do this thing.
0:41:17 The abundance mindset says, build a website with your 10 grand and then go knocking a
0:41:20 bunch of people’s doors quite literally and figuratively.
0:41:21 And you know what?
0:41:24 The universe might just conspire to make your dreams come true.
0:41:28 So it’s a much longer answer to you probably expected and there’s even longer answer to
0:41:32 how I’ve built all the pieces of business over time, but it’s from that mindset.
0:41:35 And that’s what any single person walking this planet can apply.
0:41:36 That’s for sure.
0:41:37 Oh my gosh.
0:41:39 I’m so thankful that you shared that story.
0:41:42 I feel like that’s a story that everybody needed to hear.
0:41:44 And I love that you showed up.
0:41:46 That’s also part of the battle when you’re trying to accomplish a goal.
0:41:47 You need to show up.
0:41:49 You can’t expect things to fall in your lap.
0:41:53 You went to that spin class even though, you know, it wasn’t the most exciting thing to
0:41:56 you, but your friend said, hey, there might be a little opportunity for you here.
0:42:01 And you went out and you took it and you did your best and it led you on to this extraordinary
0:42:02 life that you guys have.
0:42:04 So what a great story.
0:42:07 Let’s move on fast forward to 2019.
0:42:10 In between all that, you’ve had lots of crazy excursions.
0:42:13 You’ve written all about it fast forward to 2019.
0:42:19 At that point, you attempted the world’s first completely human powered ocean row across
0:42:25 of Drake’s passage and a year later, COVID hit and that really made all of your adventures
0:42:26 come to a halt.
0:42:28 And during the pandemic, you decided that you were going to do something.
0:42:31 You were going to take a 12 hour walk.
0:42:32 So let’s talk about that.
0:42:35 Why did you think about taking a 12 hour walk?
0:42:37 What inspired you to write your new book?
0:42:40 And why did you take such a long, long ass walk there, Colin?
0:42:41 Why did you take a long walk?
0:42:45 Why am I inviting every person listening to this to take their own 12 hour walk?
0:42:46 Well, look, we’ll get into it.
0:42:51 So I got to go back in time a tiny bit, which is just a set of context, which is when I
0:42:58 was walking across Antarctica for 54 days, 12 hours was my daily cadence and there’s
0:43:03 a reason to that mostly because if I walked any less, I was quite literally going to run
0:43:04 out of food.
0:43:08 So I was burning 10,000 calories a day and I was eating anywhere between five to 7,000
0:43:12 a day, which means I was on a three plus thousand calorie deficit from day one.
0:43:17 By the end, I was a bag of bones, ribs sticking out, hips protruding, frostbite on my face.
0:43:20 You look at my Instagram, you see pictures, there’s like black tape on my face.
0:43:25 It was so brutal, minus 40 degrees, minus 80 wind chill regularly.
0:43:30 But if I took even one day off, I had no hope of making it to the other side.
0:43:35 So no matter how bad the weather, no how bad, rough the condition, I walked for 12 hours.
0:43:38 In that time, this was this at some points, this felt like a terrible idea.
0:43:43 But I also, before I left, I decided to delete all my music, all my podcasts, all my content,
0:43:48 whatever, to actually spend the time alone in Antarctica in deep silence because I thought
0:43:52 if I try to distract my brain, it might work for a while, but the ultimate depth of this
0:43:57 experience was going to come from tapping into basically a flow state, this walking meditation
0:43:58 of sorts.
0:44:01 Now, there was many times when I thought, “Now, that was the worst idea ever.
0:44:04 I would love a podcast right now with somebody to talk to me because being alone for 54 days
0:44:08 in Antarctica, this place that’s trying to kill you every minute is a deep place to go
0:44:09 in your mind.”
0:44:15 But ultimately, my thesis proved to be true, which was on the second half of that journey.
0:44:20 As my body declined, as my physical ability started to decline, my mental acuity actually
0:44:22 started to strengthen.
0:44:26 I felt so tapped in, not just to the competitive nature of becoming the first.
0:44:30 I was actually racing another guy out there, which is a whole other different story.
0:44:36 That was a crazy battle tapping out there, but I was pulling this sled and I tapped into
0:44:38 day after day of flow.
0:44:44 What that actually led me to was way more than not, “Oh, hey, Colin, you’re talking
0:44:45 about purpose.”
0:44:46 I did it.
0:44:47 I did it.
0:44:48 I’m amazing.
0:44:49 Put my name on the front page of The New York Times.
0:44:53 I’m humbled by that exposure and all that sort of stuff, but that’s not what it’s about.
0:44:59 What I got tapped into was fulfillment, purpose, gratitude, love, love a family, love a career,
0:45:02 love a passion, love a building things, love of impact.
0:45:07 I felt just squarely in my body, mind, fulfilled.
0:45:13 I think most people, unfortunately, are walking through life pretty unfulfilled, pretty unhappy,
0:45:18 wishing they had more, wishing they had something different stuck in a rut, so to speak, in
0:45:19 life sometimes.
0:45:23 I thought, “Wow, I got the other side of an article and I figured it out.
0:45:24 I’ve hacked it.
0:45:25 I’ve got this.
0:45:28 I can carry this with me, this inner strength now forever.”
0:45:30 That was true for a few years.
0:45:31 I’ll be honest.
0:45:36 I had some big wins and some successes and really generally woke up feeling pretty great.
0:45:41 Because I think we all remember the spring of 2020, the world just comes to a crashing
0:45:42 halt.
0:45:49 Fortunately, I wasn’t sick with COVID, but reading the news every day, the fear, the
0:45:52 uncertainty, the borders are closing, “Stay in your house.
0:45:53 This person might get sick.
0:45:54 Worrying about my grandparents.
0:45:55 Worrying about my parents.”
0:45:58 It’s all the different factors in that moment.
0:46:01 It just really disrupted my mental health in a really significant way.
0:46:05 I found myself, my wife and I went and basically locked ourselves for the lockdown.
0:46:10 In a small house on the Oregon coast that my family has, just me and my dog and my wife
0:46:12 in this little cabin, this tiny little town.
0:46:16 My wife looks over me one day and she’s like, “Hey, you don’t seem like you’re doing it.”
0:46:17 I’m like, “I’m not.”
0:46:21 She goes, “I mean, just throwing it out there, you haven’t changed out your pajamas in three
0:46:22 or four days.
0:46:25 You’ve just been sitting on the couch, doom-scrolling the news on your phone and reading these intense
0:46:26 headlines.”
0:46:29 I was just like, “Hey, just check it in.”
0:46:31 I was like, “No, you’re right.”
0:46:32 That’s what I thought back.
0:46:36 That’s the last time that I felt somehow a little bit more connected in my mind, body
0:46:37 and spirit.
0:46:38 I said, “It’s weird.”
0:46:41 It was when I was walking across Antarctica alone.
0:46:44 Even though it was so hard, even though my body was so beat up, even though it was the
0:46:49 depth of challenge and despair sometimes, I actually felt really lit up in that moment.
0:46:51 I said, “I’m grasping at stress here.”
0:46:54 I said to my wife, “Jenna,” I said, “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to wake up.
0:46:58 I’m going to go for a walk, 12 hours all day, just like I used to do in Antarctica.”
0:46:59 She just kind of laughed.
0:47:00 She’s like, “Sure.”
0:47:01 I’m like, “Whatever.”
0:47:02 You do during a lockdown.
0:47:06 Just walk around by yourself.
0:47:10 I walk outside, 20 minutes into this walk, my phone buzzes in my pocket, and I instinctively
0:47:12 reached down for it.
0:47:13 My buddy’s text messaging me.
0:47:14 I’m going to text him back.
0:47:15 Whatever.
0:47:18 I’m like, “Man, I just been like doom-scrolling the news, staring at social media.
0:47:20 Maybe I don’t need my phone for this.”
0:47:21 What?
0:47:24 I just instinctively put my phone in airplane mode and keep walking.
0:47:25 I walk.
0:47:26 I walk down the Oregon coast.
0:47:27 I take breaks.
0:47:29 I’m out there all day long, 12 hours alone.
0:47:31 No music, no podcast, nothing alone in my head.
0:47:34 I walk back in the front door of our house.
0:47:38 My dog jumps up on me and my wife says to me, she goes, “You’re back.”
0:47:39 I’m like, “Yeah.
0:47:40 I told you.
0:47:41 I come back after 12 hours.”
0:47:44 She’s like, “No, you’re back.”
0:47:45 She knows me so well.
0:47:52 She could just see in my eyes that the reset in my body, mind, spirit was instantaneously
0:47:53 profound.
0:47:54 I didn’t even have to say anything.
0:47:55 She’s like, “You’re back.
0:48:00 Oh, it’s so good to see you in that way in a more greater context than actually just
0:48:02 being physically there.”
0:48:03 I was like, “Yeah.
0:48:05 I feel better than I felt in so long.
0:48:07 So stronger in my mind, reset, et cetera.
0:48:08 I’m so glad I did that.”
0:48:12 Now, I thought, “Look, I’m the guy who walked across an Oregon solo.
0:48:16 I’m the guy who’ve done all these ridiculous things physically, tapped deep into my mind,
0:48:17 all this kind of stuff.
0:48:21 This is just me hacking back into my own ability to do this.
0:48:22 But it’s COVID.”
0:48:25 All my friends and family members are calling me.
0:48:26 They’re having tough times.
0:48:27 We’re Zoom calling.
0:48:28 We’re FaceTime.
0:48:29 Everyone’s not doing well.
0:48:31 I started telling people from different backgrounds, and I started telling people about this.
0:48:32 I said, “Hey, look.
0:48:33 I just did this thing.”
0:48:38 A lot of people took me up on it, young, old, fit, not so fit.
0:48:39 Doesn’t matter.
0:48:42 I said, “Look, it doesn’t matter if you go one mile or 50 miles, take as many breaks
0:48:46 as you want, but take the day, the 12 hours in silence to be outside.”
0:48:51 Before I knew it, dozens and dozens of people were trying this, and every single person that
0:48:56 I knew to come back from that walk came back with that same, “You’re back.
0:48:57 Get up way.”
0:49:01 Again, it looked different for different people, but I was stuck in this job that I was frustrated
0:49:04 with, and now I have a way out of that, or I’ve been thinking about this goal.
0:49:06 I’m actually going to apply myself towards it.
0:49:10 “Oh, wow, this business idea that I’ve had in the back of my mind, had 12 hours to think
0:49:15 about it, and now I’m jamming on my computer or my partner, and we’re going for it.”
0:49:18 Every single person I knew to take that walk had this shift.
0:49:22 I take this as far as my 77-year-old mother-in-law.
0:49:23 She did the 12-hour walk.
0:49:27 For her, that looked like walking one time around the block of her neighborhood and sitting
0:49:34 on her foot for an hour, there’s no right way to do it other than to take the day.
0:49:38 What I have become extremely passionate about, why I wrote the book, the 12-hour walk, in
0:49:40 the book, there’s rich storytelling.
0:49:46 In the book, you will be lit up with advice, adventure, how to overcome all of those commenting,
0:49:47 limiting beliefs.
0:49:48 I don’t have enough money.
0:49:49 I don’t have enough time.
0:49:50 What if I fail?
0:49:51 What if people criticize me?
0:49:53 What if they comment things that are holding us back that we’ve all dealt with in our
0:49:55 own minds, myself included?
0:50:01 The stories that I share in there are me showing you how I have been in all of those moments
0:50:04 myself, but I figured out how to overcome them.
0:50:07 At its core is this call to action of the book.
0:50:10 The book is an essential companion to the call to action.
0:50:12 I encourage everyone to pick up a copy.
0:50:13 I’m very proud of it.
0:50:14 I think you’re going to love it.
0:50:15 It’s going to change your life.
0:50:18 At its core is this simple call to action.
0:50:22 The book is called the 12-hour walk, invest one day, one day, conquer your mind, and unlock
0:50:28 your best life because I have found by literally putting a date on your calendar, stepping
0:50:32 out front of your door, taking this 12-hour walk, again, as many breaks as you want.
0:50:36 If you’re in a big city that doesn’t matter, ambient city noise doesn’t negate your silence.
0:50:37 This is your silence.
0:50:40 This is your commitment to not listen to music and podcasts and listen to your own thoughts
0:50:41 during this time.
0:50:46 I have seen people shift radically from a mindset of limiting beliefs, a mindset of
0:50:49 things that are holding back on the other side of this walk by taking this moment to
0:50:52 check in with yourself in this deep way.
0:50:56 It is incredibly profound, and I’m just passionate about sharing it.
0:50:57 I say my next Everest.
0:51:01 My next Everest has inspired 10 million people to take this walk, and it’s not because I
0:51:03 don’t get a dollar for every person that takes the walk.
0:51:09 This is free out your front door wherever you live, but this is a powerful prescription,
0:51:12 and I’m so excited to share it with the world.
0:51:15 We’ll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors.
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0:54:36 I love this advice because I feel like it’s sort of the same outcome of meditation, but
0:54:38 meditation is really scary for people.
0:54:41 And to me, meditation is boring, right?
0:54:43 I’m an active entrepreneur.
0:54:46 I have ADHD probably.
0:54:48 Taking a 12-hour walk seems doable.
0:54:49 You know what I mean?
0:54:52 It seems like it’s a little scary.
0:54:54 I know you have to be completely alone.
0:54:58 You got to really unplug, but like you said, you could take as many breaks as you want.
0:55:03 You don’t have to necessarily go that far and you just have to set a day and you can
0:55:09 potentially like really think through some limiting beliefs and overcome your Everest
0:55:14 and figure out how you can accomplish your biggest goals and having that alone time is
0:55:15 so key.
0:55:18 And I feel like giving people that roadmap is so helpful.
0:55:21 So I’d love to go over the six steps with you.
0:55:25 You talk about six steps to take a 12-hour walk and you need to prepare.
0:55:27 The first three steps is all about preparing.
0:55:32 The first step is to commit, the second is to record, and the third is to unplug.
0:55:35 So I’d love for you to kind of just walk us through the first three steps.
0:55:40 And then I want to take a moment to talk about some common limiting beliefs and then we can
0:55:41 get to the next three steps.
0:55:42 Yeah, for sure.
0:55:45 So the first three steps is commit.
0:55:49 That’s the big one, which is you’re listening to this podcast right now and you’re thinking
0:55:54 to yourself, “I always say the 12-hour walk journey actually starts right in this moment.”
0:55:58 The 12 hours of the walk is obviously very the profound element of it.
0:56:00 But this is actually the moment, the decision moment.
0:56:06 You’re being suggested this for the first idea and your mind might be going, “Well, maybe,
0:56:07 maybe not.
0:56:08 I have these limiting beliefs.”
0:56:13 What I’ve found is actually this moment is actually where it starts because I am holding
0:56:16 up a mirror to you just by suggesting this to you.
0:56:17 People’s brains do different things.
0:56:19 They go, “Oh my God, amazing.
0:56:20 I’m going to do it.
0:56:21 I’m signing up now.”
0:56:22 Or, “Oh my God, this is terrible to you.”
0:56:23 Most people are in between.
0:56:26 “Well, I would do that if I didn’t have such a busy life and the kids and the this.
0:56:28 Oh, I don’t have enough time.”
0:56:31 Turns out that the limiting beliefs that people apply to the 12-hour walk when they’re considering
0:56:35 it are more often than not the same limiting beliefs that they’re applying to on loop to
0:56:39 many, many, many, many, many, many different things that are holding them back in their
0:56:40 own life.
0:56:44 But by taking step one, by committing, you rewrite that.
0:56:47 I call them limiting beliefs on purpose because they’re not their beliefs.
0:56:48 They’re not limiting truths.
0:56:49 They’re not limiting facts.
0:56:50 They’re beliefs.
0:56:52 Beliefs can be rewritten.
0:56:56 By committing and taking step one, you’re proving to yourself, “Yep, I had that limiting
0:56:57 belief.
0:56:58 I didn’t have enough time.
0:56:59 But you know what?
0:57:01 Three Saturdays from now, I’m making the time.”
0:57:04 And so when that limiting belief comes up on the other side of your walk, after the fulfillment
0:57:07 of the walk, you start to go, “Oh, I recognize these limiting beliefs.”
0:57:10 And sometimes when I push back against them, the outcome is positive.
0:57:13 I can make that limiting belief voice quieter and quieter.
0:57:15 So step one is huge, commit.
0:57:20 You can pick a day on my website, 12-hour walk, come, sign up, that commitment, even
0:57:24 just writing that down and you’re committing to it and I’m holding you accountable to it,
0:57:25 that makes a difference.
0:57:30 If you’re looking for actually more participation, September 10th, I’m inviting mass participation
0:57:31 to walk.
0:57:32 I’m walking that day.
0:57:33 You’re still walking from your front door.
0:57:36 You’re still walking by yourself, but there is a knowledge that there are lots of other
0:57:40 people out there doing that in the same moment as you are.
0:57:42 Step two, record.
0:57:49 So this is meant for us to be able to have a little bit of something to look back on.
0:57:50 And so I want you to set intentions.
0:57:52 The book walks you through limiting belief.
0:57:56 The book is essential companion because it opens up some ideas and some thoughts around
0:57:57 what you’re working towards.
0:58:01 But when you sit to your front door, we all have these phones in our pocket, myself included.
0:58:02 It’s like, “Fine.
0:58:03 Let’s use that for a second.”
0:58:06 Put your video camera on and this is a video for yourself.
0:58:07 “Hey, I’m doing this 12-hour walk.
0:58:08 I’m a little bit nervous.
0:58:09 I’ve never done this before.
0:58:12 God, I can’t remember the time I was alone this long.”
0:58:17 But on the other side of this, I want to X, similar to meet my mother in that hospital
0:58:20 room saying, “Hey, what do you want to do when you get out of there?”
0:58:21 Set that intention.
0:58:26 Set that goal because more than anything, that ripple effect of your subconscious is
0:58:27 extremely powerful.
0:58:30 So you record that for yourself to look back on later.
0:58:33 And then number three, very important, unplug.
0:58:35 You put your phone on airplane mode.
0:58:39 Now, I have actually, funny enough, created an app for the 12-hour walk.
0:58:41 So you think that’s hilarious.
0:58:43 This whole thing is about unplugging and not having your phone.
0:58:45 Why would somebody create an app for this?
0:58:46 Well, here’s why.
0:58:49 Because most people are thinking in itself, “But I need Google Maps because I don’t want
0:58:50 to get lost.
0:58:54 I need a timer of some kind that counts down the 12 hours so I can check.”
0:58:55 And I’m like, “Great.
0:58:56 I’ve created an app for that.”
0:59:00 The app tracks you on your walk in airplane mode.
0:59:01 The GPS works in airplane mode.
0:59:02 You can see a line of where you walk.
0:59:05 You can zoom in and out on Google Maps inside of the app.
0:59:06 Great.
0:59:07 So you no longer have that excuse.
0:59:09 And it also has a clock.
0:59:10 So I have created an app.
0:59:11 You download.
0:59:12 You unplug.
0:59:13 You put it in airplane mode.
0:59:14 You hit start.
0:59:15 It starts tracking you.
0:59:16 So you don’t have to look at anything else.
0:59:18 You don’t have to check it on your social media that day.
0:59:21 You don’t need to take your phone out of airplane mode.
0:59:24 But the unplugging nature is really phone in airplane mode.
0:59:26 Put this tracking on just so you know where you’re walking.
0:59:28 And then you begin.
0:59:34 So part of this whole 12-hour walk is to think of your Everest first, right?
0:59:36 So I’d love to take a moment.
0:59:38 We’ve mentioned it a few times.
0:59:39 What is an Everest exactly?
0:59:41 Like, how do you define that?
0:59:44 To me, I define that as a big goal.
0:59:48 And again, I use that terminology when I’m an adventure explorer and I’ve climbed Everest
0:59:49 twice.
0:59:52 But it’s because my childhood dream was literally to climb on Everest.
0:59:54 And so I’m like, that was mine.
0:59:56 But I don’t expect that to be most other people’s.
0:59:59 I expect you to want to go freeze your butt off in the middle of an article by yourself.
1:00:02 That’s probably not your hope, dream, or goal of any kind.
1:00:03 But what is your Everest?
1:00:04 What is that goal?
1:00:10 And I think, as you said, to have that goal is a hugely important sort of determining factor.
1:00:13 You know, I’ve come, there’s a little bit of departure from the question, but I think
1:00:19 it’s important here because I’ve come to think about life a little bit on this of a scale
1:00:20 of one to 10.
1:00:23 Now, 10 being our summit moments, 10, you summit your out of it.
1:00:24 You make that achievement.
1:00:28 It’s the high, high, or maybe it’s, you know, not an achievement externally, but you have
1:00:30 your first child or you fall in love.
1:00:33 These are the peak moments of life, 10s.
1:00:35 And ones are a lowest moment, a lowest moment.
1:00:39 I mean, just me being burned in that fire, being told I would never walk again normally,
1:00:43 a massive setback, your company starts, goes bankrupt, whatever that is.
1:00:44 Those are low moments.
1:00:45 Like those are terrible.
1:00:47 No one really wants to experience those.
1:00:52 When I think back to all the 10s that I’ve experienced in my life, I have realized that
1:00:57 they’re connected to the ones in that I didn’t experience my 10s in spite of my ones.
1:01:01 I actually experienced my 10s because of my ones.
1:01:07 Now most people in modern society, unfortunately get caught in what I call the zone of comfortable
1:01:11 complacency, the zone between four and six.
1:01:13 Like you have a job, it’s fine.
1:01:14 You don’t love it.
1:01:15 You don’t hate it.
1:01:18 You go every day, but it’s like five, five, five.
1:01:19 This is genius.
1:01:22 Or you’ve been dating somebody for a while, right?
1:01:24 And like you’ve been dating for a few years, you live together.
1:01:25 It’s not toxic.
1:01:26 It’s not abusive.
1:01:30 It’s not like a bad situation, like, you know, horrible thing, but you’re just kind of coexisting.
1:01:31 You’re cohabitating.
1:01:35 It’s like five, five, five, five.
1:01:40 I have found that people live in this zone of comfortable complacency from four to six
1:01:44 because they are so worried about experiencing a one.
1:01:49 They’re hedging so hard against not experiencing any of the low moments of life that they actually
1:01:53 will end up happening is you take off the table, the 10s.
1:01:55 You take off the table, the 10s.
1:02:00 You have to be willing to experience some of the ones to actually experience the 10s.
1:02:03 People ask me all the time, “Colony, don’t know this dangerous high-risk stuff.
1:02:05 Aren’t you afraid of dying?”
1:02:08 I’m like, “Look, the last thing I want to do in the world is die.
1:02:13 I visualize myself as an old man with my wife with grandkids surrounding that.
1:02:16 I know that that’s going to be the end of my life, but I’ll tell you what I’m more afraid
1:02:17 of than dying.
1:02:24 I’m afraid of not fully living, and a life lived only in that zone of comfortable complacency.
1:02:26 That is the biggest fear of all.”
1:02:30 So when people think about, again, to your initial question about what’s your Everest,
1:02:32 it’s what’s your Everest?
1:02:33 What scares you a little bit?
1:02:36 What like might be hard some of the time?
1:02:38 You have to be willing to embrace that.
1:02:42 This 12-hour walk, even for people, is a step outside of the comfort zone.
1:02:45 Will your feet get tired at some point if you’re on your feet for a better part of 12
1:02:46 hours?
1:02:47 Absolutely.
1:02:49 Are you going to get stuck in some loop in your brain because you’re not used to be
1:02:51 able to distract yourself by your social media?
1:02:52 Yep, you are.
1:02:56 Meaning you’re going to experience maybe not a one, but maybe a two or a three or some
1:02:58 almost a discomfort.
1:03:02 But I have never known anybody to get back to their front door, not experiencing an eight,
1:03:04 a nine, a 10, this peak moment.
1:03:07 How many days in our life do we not even remember?
1:03:08 What did you do last Tuesday?
1:03:09 What did you do a month ago?
1:03:10 What did you do this?
1:03:15 This 12-hour walk imprints on you, but in a way that allows you to go, “Oh, if I just
1:03:20 for one day can prove to myself that actually a little bit of discomfort, a little bit of
1:03:27 a shake up outside the norm, not another five day can exist for me, how can I go chase other
1:03:28 things in my life?”
1:03:34 And that Everest allows you to anchor that and go, “Oh, now I see the journey is not
1:03:39 necessary linear, but the quote unquote negative or the harsher emotions of that are actually
1:03:40 a pathway.
1:03:43 The ones are opening up the door to the 10s.”
1:03:49 I have to say that was like maybe one of my favorite five minutes of this podcast ever.
1:03:53 Like that was so good, Colin, that was so freaking good.
1:03:59 So Colin, I want to go through a couple of these limiting beliefs in sort of a quick fireway.
1:04:03 You went through the first one that I wanted to go through, which is being uncomfortable,
1:04:05 and you said that beautifully.
1:04:09 So another common limiting belief that people have is that they don’t know what to do.
1:04:11 They don’t know where to go next.
1:04:13 They don’t know what actions to take.
1:04:17 What is your guidance for people who don’t know what to do next?
1:04:22 So one of the things, and again, I said before, I’m a passionate Carol direct devotee, the
1:04:26 woman who originated the concept of growth mindset, but where the possible mindset to
1:04:30 me encompasses both growth mindset and some other elements and something that she doesn’t
1:04:34 talk about is intuition, is intuition, this inner voice, this inner knowing.
1:04:39 Now I’ll leave it to you because I know we’re of limited time here to actually buy the book,
1:04:43 read the book, this entire chapter, but it’s a chapter about me being on a mountain in
1:04:49 K2 and experiencing some significant tragedy where intuition actually quite literally in
1:04:52 this instance saved my life.
1:04:55 And I know this is rapid fire, so I’ll be concise here.
1:05:00 The fact of the matter is what I’ve realized in many, many big decisions in life is you
1:05:02 actually do know.
1:05:03 You do know.
1:05:04 You do know the answer.
1:05:07 And look, I’m a very analytical guy myself.
1:05:12 I’ve found myself making the pros and cons list a million miles longer, that will logicking
1:05:13 through something or whatever.
1:05:15 It can be useful at times.
1:05:16 But here’s the thing.
1:05:18 I give a couple of examples.
1:05:23 Say you just got offered a job on the other side of the country, big job, more pay, all
1:05:24 this kind of stuff.
1:05:25 You got kids.
1:05:26 You got a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old.
1:05:29 And they’re ingrained in sports and community and whatever.
1:05:33 And moving across country at this phase of their life is going to be disruptive.
1:05:36 I do not have the answer for you, what that is, and you could make a million pros and
1:05:37 cons.
1:05:42 But I bet if you actually listen to your intuition, you know the answer to that question.
1:05:43 Or not.
1:05:44 Here’s another one.
1:05:45 You’re lying in bed late at night.
1:05:46 You’ve been dating the same person for however many years.
1:05:51 Do you think, well, I’m 30 years old, we’ve been together for four years, should I go buy
1:05:56 a diamond ring and make this official, put a ring on it, whatever?
1:06:00 The answer might be a resounding, yes, this is my person, whatever.
1:06:02 Or it might not be that.
1:06:03 But here’s the thing.
1:06:05 You actually know the answer.
1:06:07 You literally already know the answer.
1:06:10 You don’t have to make the pros and cons list.
1:06:14 So the 12-hour walk, one of the beauties of the 12-hour walk, and specifically around
1:06:17 this limiting belief, is you can distract yourself.
1:06:22 You can make a million to-dos lists and pros and cons and kick a decision down the curb.
1:06:26 Go spend 12 hours by yourself when you have a big decision that you think you’re going
1:06:27 to weigh.
1:06:31 I’ll tell you the voice that gets loud, your intuitive voice, your gut.
1:06:36 And when you can in tune into that, what I say, when you know, you know, you already
1:06:37 know.
1:06:43 And that, the stillness that we don’t allow ourselves too often in this modern society,
1:06:48 that stillness allows that intuitive voice, a voice that quite literally saved my life
1:06:52 in the mountains and has guided me in all sorts of other decisions I made.
1:06:53 When you know, you know.
1:06:54 And that’s it.
1:06:55 You know.
1:06:56 Act on it.
1:06:57 So true.
1:06:58 Okay.
1:07:01 One more last limiting belief, and this one is my favorite excuse.
1:07:06 I hear this excuse all the time, and that’s, I don’t have the time.
1:07:10 This is one that I feel like people really just limit everything because they just act
1:07:12 like they have no time.
1:07:13 Talk to us about that.
1:07:14 It’s the most common one.
1:07:17 It’s definitely the most common one that applies to the 12 hour walk.
1:07:20 And my publisher hates it when I say this, because it’s like bad grammar or whatever.
1:07:22 And I’m like, you don’t have the time.
1:07:29 You don’t not have the time, meaning like, like for the important things in your life,
1:07:30 you make the time.
1:07:31 And here’s the thing.
1:07:33 I’d tell people to be like, I don’t have enough time for the 12 hour walk.
1:07:34 And I’m like, okay, cool.
1:07:35 Cool.
1:07:36 Cool.
1:07:37 Yeah, I got it.
1:07:38 Got it.
1:07:39 So like just random other question.
1:07:40 We’re not talking about 12 hour walk anymore.
1:07:41 Have you seen Game of Thrones?
1:07:42 Game of Thrones.
1:07:43 So good.
1:07:44 Like, oh, I’m that last episode though.
1:07:51 I was like, okay, so you have watched 71 hours of Game of Thrones and you’re telling me you
1:07:54 don’t have the time or like, you know, our phones do this now, right?
1:07:57 They track our, you know, you can see how long I’ve been on social media.
1:07:58 Look, I’m not like, I’m on social media.
1:07:59 I love social media.
1:08:00 It’s a great tool.
1:08:04 Like I waste my time sometimes, whatever, but I never find myself the excuse that I
1:08:08 don’t have the time that what it is, is I’m not prioritizing my time.
1:08:10 I’m not prioritizing my time effectively.
1:08:13 And I’ll go one step further when it comes to self care.
1:08:15 Ultimately, the 12 hour walk is an investment in yourself.
1:08:19 One of the most common ones, particularly with people with kids or kids and a busy job,
1:08:20 etc.
1:08:24 I don’t have enough time because I’ve got this busy job that’s important for me to
1:08:25 support my family.
1:08:28 And then on the weekends, I got to be at my kids soccer games, the ballet recital, the
1:08:29 this, the that, whatever.
1:08:33 And what they’re saying is they’re actually saying something with high integrity.
1:08:39 I don’t have this time for myself because my priority is showing up for my family,
1:08:43 my community, being there for others, which is highly admirable.
1:08:49 But here’s the catch 22 in that is that you get tired, you get worn down, you snap on
1:08:53 your kid, you show up tired of the office, you’re not as creative with, with whatever
1:08:58 project you’re working on because you didn’t take any time for yourself.
1:09:02 We have this myth in our culture that self care is somehow selfish.
1:09:07 But I rewrite that in the book and I say self care is selfless, meaning the 12 hour walk
1:09:08 is one day.
1:09:09 It is one day.
1:09:14 If that makes you a better parent and a more present parent for the next 10 years, that
1:09:15 was a worthwhile investment.
1:09:19 The one soccer game you missed this weekend, kind of a bummer in the short run, but the
1:09:24 fact that you show up for your kids even more connected, present way for the next decade
1:09:29 because of taking that time, because of taking that self care, that is 100% worth it.
1:09:32 So look, time is finite.
1:09:36 We get to choose how to use it, do a time audit, look at what you are wasting your time
1:09:38 on, what’s not in priority.
1:09:44 You do have the time and investing that time, some of that time in yourself to better yourself
1:09:49 has a ripple and exponentially positive effect on all of the other things that you’re doing.
1:09:53 I am like going to echo your sentiments there.
1:09:54 I totally agree.
1:09:56 We all have the same 168 hours a week.
1:10:02 I always say this and I honestly built a million dollar business, built this podcast because
1:10:06 I stopped watching TV for like four or five years.
1:10:07 That’s it.
1:10:08 It’s like that unlocked all the time I needed, right?
1:10:10 And so you can do it too.
1:10:11 All right.
1:10:13 So let’s get to the last three steps.
1:10:15 This is where we actually take action.
1:10:18 It’s the walk and rest and reflect.
1:10:21 You hit on these a little bit, but let’s get a little bit more detail and then we’re going
1:10:23 to close out the interview.
1:10:27 And for the walk part, Colin, I want to understand what do we actually need to think about during
1:10:28 this walk?
1:10:30 Yeah, totally.
1:10:34 So again, probably not in the time we have, that’s why there is a book.
1:10:35 That’s why it’s not a tweet.
1:10:36 That’s why it’s not blog posts.
1:10:38 I will say this, the book reads quick.
1:10:41 It’s meant to be exciting and page turning.
1:10:44 A lot of people have read it in a day or two, so it’s not like some insane, you know, it’s
1:10:48 not a thousand page Atlas shrugged or something like this that you slog through.
1:10:51 But it does lay out that it gives you a framework to be thinking about these things.
1:10:54 So part of that answer is in read the book.
1:10:59 But also during that walk, we’re all dealing with different limiting beliefs.
1:11:02 I write about the 10 most common ones, three of them might be like, oh my God, I’m dealing
1:11:05 with the other five or something like, oh, that’s not me.
1:11:07 But those other three might be something for a different person.
1:11:10 So I can’t tell anyone specifically what it is.
1:11:14 Again, the book really lays out a framework for what to think about and how to engage
1:11:16 your mind, that intention of that.
1:11:20 A couple of things about the walk and just in practical matters, the website, 12hourwalk.com,
1:11:21 you sign up there.
1:11:25 There’s lots of FAQs, all email you more inspirational content along the way to keep you accountable
1:11:26 to your commitment.
1:11:30 But more than anything, it’s wherever you want it.
1:11:33 I actually encourage people to do it out the front door and I say that for a reason, which
1:11:36 is it’s so easy to go, oh, one day I’m going to do this.
1:11:39 I’m going to wait until I’m on that vacation a year from now in Hawaii on the beautiful
1:11:42 trail of the da-da-da-da, like the whatever.
1:11:43 Well, two does two things.
1:11:47 One that just kicks the kicks down the curb and you might never get to it.
1:11:52 But more than anything, what it does is it puts the walk this moment as other, as a separate
1:11:53 from the rest of your life.
1:11:58 When you walk out your front door, this experience imprints on your day to day life, meaning when
1:12:02 you’re driving to work the following day or the following week, you get to an intersection,
1:12:06 you go, oh, I was here on hour three and I was thinking about this and it brings you
1:12:11 right back into that headspace, into that possible mindset and so it imprints on your
1:12:12 day to day life.
1:12:14 So, I encourage people to do it from the front door.
1:12:19 A common question is, and I answered it before, city noise, street noise, people walking past
1:12:23 you, totally fine, can you stop off and go pee at a gas station or a deli or something
1:12:24 like that?
1:12:25 Yes, use common sense.
1:12:29 Don’t talk to people for 20 minutes inside the store, you can go in and out without really
1:12:32 having deep interaction and that’s the 12 hour walk.
1:12:37 The rest, also important, the rest is, look, this is meant to meet you where you’re at.
1:12:40 You’re not hearing this from an out, you’re like, well, great, Collins, a 10-time world
1:12:45 record-holding explorer, walked across an article, pointed three and 75-pound sled, must be nice.
1:12:46 This isn’t for me.
1:12:47 No, that is not the point.
1:12:48 This is not a race.
1:12:51 This is for you to meet you where you’re at today.
1:12:52 You don’t need to train for this.
1:12:54 You take as many breaks as you want.
1:12:57 The rest is fine because the rest, you are still out there.
1:12:59 You are ultimately out there training your mind.
1:13:04 You are training your mind, that stillness, that quiet, that solitude, still is maintained
1:13:05 during those rest.
1:13:06 The clock is still ticking.
1:13:09 It’s the 12 hours spent alone.
1:13:12 Walk when you can, move your body when you can, be outside the whole time.
1:13:14 That is the exercise.
1:13:17 And then the reflect, the app prompts you to do this.
1:13:20 I say this in the book, I prompt you to do this, but it’s the same thing as the front
1:13:25 end, that video on the front end, take that video on the back end.
1:13:27 The next day you want to share it on social media or whatever, that’s your own prerogative,
1:13:29 but that’s not why I’m asking you to record the video.
1:13:34 I’m asking you to record the video because I want you in your purest, most vulnerable,
1:13:39 a little bit tired, sweaty, maybe a little dehydrated from the long day moment to reflect
1:13:40 on how you’re feeling.
1:13:44 So, a day from now, a week from now, a month from now, you can go back to that and remind
1:13:47 yourself, “Right, I had this breakthrough.
1:13:48 This happened for me.
1:13:49 This, I actually did this.
1:13:50 I accomplished this.
1:13:53 It’s a touchstone for you to mark that in time.”
1:13:57 And again, if people want to journal or write or any of that stuff, that’s great as well,
1:14:00 but I find, you know, we’re just like, just talk and I, you know, some people shared their
1:14:03 videos with me, which I love seeing and it’s just amazing.
1:14:06 I mean, people are emotionally cracked open.
1:14:10 People are, that presence, that flow state that I described in Antarctica, people are
1:14:15 there on the frontstrips of their porch and their family witnesses and it’s a beautiful
1:14:16 thing.
1:14:20 And I’m able to have that moment to reflect on as maybe as life catches up with you and
1:14:23 you want to go back and go, “Oh, right, there I am.
1:14:26 That’s me at my truest, purest version of myself.
1:14:30 I want to remember what that feels like and so that I can continue to apply that moving
1:14:31 forward.”
1:14:32 Yeah.
1:14:35 I personally think the concept of the 12-hour walk is brilliant.
1:14:37 I feel like it’s actionable.
1:14:40 It’s something that almost anybody can do, right?
1:14:44 And we’re going to stick all the links in the show notes for your app, for your book.
1:14:46 And I can highly recommend the book.
1:14:49 It was a great read, super fast read, like you said, and very entertaining.
1:14:52 So I hope everybody goes and gets the book.
1:14:54 And Colin, we’re going to close out the interview.
1:14:57 I ask a couple of questions at the end of the show and we do something fun at the end
1:14:58 of the year.
1:15:02 So the first question is, “What is one actionable thing that our young and profiteers can do
1:15:05 today to be more profiting tomorrow?”
1:15:08 I mean, is this shameful to say, “Do the 12-hour walk?
1:15:09 Do the 12-hour walk.”
1:15:10 No.
1:15:11 “Do the 12-hour walk.”
1:15:13 That is actionable and that will make you more profiting.
1:15:14 I love that.
1:15:17 And what is your secret to profiting in life?
1:15:19 Staying connected to purpose.
1:15:24 And for me, that has been remembering the most important thing, which is the love of my life,
1:15:27 my wife, my community, it all starts there.
1:15:32 And I’ve been able to build abundance and profit financially in other ways because of
1:15:33 that.
1:15:35 But every time I forget that, all the rest of it doesn’t matter.
1:15:39 And where can our listeners learn more about you and everything that you do?
1:15:45 Hang out with me on Instagram @colonelbrady, follow me there, 12hourwalk.com’s got everything
1:15:46 about the walk.
1:15:47 Sign up for the walk.
1:15:51 We’ll stay in touch with you that way, download the 12-hour walk app, and then my website
1:15:52 @colonelbrady.
1:15:55 It’s got all the things about my speaking and other things about my career.
1:15:56 So come hang out.
1:15:57 Come say hi.
1:15:58 Awesome.
1:15:59 Well, Colin, thank you so much.
1:16:01 I’ve been smiling ear to ear in this interview.
1:16:03 It’s been so inspiring and motivational.
1:16:16 And I think my listeners are gonna love it.
1:16:19 (upbeat music)
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