Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Colin O’Brady on How a 12-Hour Walk Can Transform Your Life EP 171

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up next on the Passion Struck Podcast. We are powerful beyond measure inside of ourselves, but that power can either be harnessed for good, for strength, for positivity, for impact, or we can be so powerful in a negative direction. We can bring ourselves down, we can weigh ourselves down, we can steal our own ability to accomplish our goals to some of our own efforts. The 12-hour walk allows us to assess both things, both the good and the bad,

Starting point is 00:00:26 and gives you a choice to choose that positivity, to choose that strength, conquer your mind, and unlock your best life. Welcome to PassionStruct. Hi, I'm your host, John Armiles. And on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those

Starting point is 00:00:45 around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guest-ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become PassionStruck. Hello everyone and welcome back to episode 171 of PassionStruck. Recently ranked by Apple is one of the top 15 health and fitness podcasts and

Starting point is 00:01:25 thank you to each and every one of you who comes back weekly to listen and learn, had a live better, be better, and impact the world. In case you missed my episode from earlier in the week, I interviewed DJ Eagle Bear Vanis, who is an internationally acclaimed speaker for Fortune 500 companies, hundreds of tribal nations, and over 7,000 audiences worldwide. And during our interview, we discussed his new book, which was just released the same day that Collins was on August 2nd, the Warrior Within. And in case you missed my episodes from last week, they included an interview with Kurt Wilken, who's an entrepreneur, CEO, and author of the new book, Hoosier Mike, which is a great guide to any entrepreneur on the different people that you will meet

Starting point is 00:02:06 on your entrepreneurial journey. And additionally, we had on award-winning author, playwright, screenwriter, and director, Abby Morgan, where we discuss her hit BBC show Split, as well as her movies, The Iron Lady, Suffragette, and we also go into her new book, This Is Not a Pity Memoir.

Starting point is 00:02:24 And in case you missed my episode from last week, it was on how do you take responsibility for your actions? Please check all those episodes out. I also wanted to say thank you for your ratings and reviews. If you love today's episode or any of the other ones I just mentioned, we would so appreciate your rating or review because it helps us grow the popularity of this show. And I know our guests also love to hear from you in those reviews.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Now let's talk about today's amazing guests. Colonial Brady is a 10-time world record-breaking explorer, speaker, entrepreneur, author, and expert on mindset. His feats include the world's first solo, unsupported, and fully human-powered crossing of Antarctica. Speed records for the Explorer's Brandslam and the Seven Summits, and the first human-powered ocean row across Drake Passage. Collins' highly-publicized expeditions have been followed by millions worldwide. He is the author of The New York Times' Vest Seller, The Impossible First, and on August 2nd,

Starting point is 00:03:25 he just released his new book, The 12-Hour Walk. Invest one day, conquer your mind, and unlock your best life. We discuss the moment in his life that determined who he is today, and his path to becoming a world record-breaking explorer. How he came up with the idea for The 12-Hour Walk and its core tenets. What is a possible mindset and the things that allow you to create it? Why your whole life is comprised of the will within you, how you develop the belief that anything is possible. The importance of the combination of grit and intentionality

Starting point is 00:03:56 and pursuing your Everest, how our lives are really made by strategy and design. The importance of keeping the right company to influence and support your dreams and so much more. Thank you for choosing PassionStruck and choosing me to be your hosting guide on your journey to creating an intentional life now. Let that journey begin. I am a static to welcome Colin O'Brady to the PassionStruck podcast.

Starting point is 00:04:24 Welcome, Colin. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Well, I thought I would open us up with a pretty big question. We all have moments that define us. Can you tell us about a moment that shaped your life and who you are today? Yeah, absolutely, gosh, that's a great question. Good opening. The first thing that popped into my head, believe it or not, is a story of somewhat tragedy and despair, but a moment that really shaped the trajectory of my life, ultimately, which is interesting to think about, because I think we think about our low moments as things to avoid, but I found so much that in these deep, dark,

Starting point is 00:04:59 despair moments, actually, you can learn so much. I just have to college and have a lot of money, I really wanted to travel the world, so I had saved up some money and from painting houses every summer, I said I'm going to travel around the world. Basically hitchhiking around, staying in youth hostels, surfboard in a backpack, I mean, bumming around, shoestring as you can get. But it was a great opportunity as a young person to see a little bit outside the world because I hadn't had that opportunity as a kid and my family didn't have those kind of resources when I was growing up. Amazing experience all until I found myself on a small beach in rural Thailand and a small island and my 22 year old self saw a flaming jump rope and thought, Hey, gee, that looks like a good idea. Let me go jump that jump rope. And unfortunately, it changed my entire life.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Instant my life changed. I rope wrapped around my legs and my body lit my body completely on fire to my neck. And I literally jump into the ocean to save my life putting up those flames. I won't go too long for them. There's so many details of this story, a long story short. I was in the middle of Thailand and I'm in the Gulf of Thailand, so not even just Thailand, but on a small rural island. So there's no hospital. There's a mope head ride down a dirt path. There was eight surgeries that I went through in a one-room nursing station and the doctors ultimately told me, hey, look, you will never walk again normally. My legs have been so badly burned. There's some pictures

Starting point is 00:06:10 and things you can find online. It's really bad. So it's interesting when I reflect back on this moment, the physical trauma was horrible. But about day four, day five, the emotional toll of, hey, you're never going to be the same as you were before. Just hit me like ton of bricks. I've never felt so depressed, so defeated, so traumatized in my entire life. But the resolution to this story and why I answered your question that way just start is my mother, my mother changed my life in this moment. She came to my hospital room and I know now she was afraid and crying with the doctors in the hallways, but she never showed me that fear.

Starting point is 00:06:44 She instead said, what do you want to do when you get out of here? Let's set a goal. Your life isn't over. You're 22 years old. What do you want to do on the other side of this? I mean, she was just basically incepting with this idea that my life wasn't over. And I now have come and I read about this in my newest book, The 12-Hour Walk, this concept that I now called the possible mindset, which I define as an empowered way of thinking that unlocks a life of limitless possibilities. And she's saying like, Hey, there are limitless possibilities on the other side of this trauma. Who do you want to be? What impact do you want to

Starting point is 00:07:14 create? What goals do you want to chase? And the goal that I want to chase in that hospital room, as I said, well, if I could do anything, if you're allowing me to dream without limits, I want to cross the finish line of a triathlon. And she looked down at my bandage legs, but the doctors tell me I'd never walk again. Normally, it'd be pretty reasonable for her to be like, well, I said set a goal, but let's ground this in reality. But instead, she grounded it in limitless possibilities. Again, she said, fine, you want to train for triathlon? Like, let's train for triathlon.

Starting point is 00:07:39 And literally, as I still can't walk, she has a tie doctor bringing in some weights, and I start lifting little weights. So it takes me a year and a half to learn how to walk again to recover. I'm in a wheelchair for a long time, et cetera. But I eventually towed the start line of the Chicago trough lawn where I got my first job in Chicago. And I raised the Chicago trough lawn. And I finished the race.

Starting point is 00:08:00 And to come out and pleat and other surprise, I don't just finish the race, but I actually win the entire Chicago trough lawn placing first at about 5,000 other people. But again, in conclusion, sorry for the log answer, but it was a really important moment in my life, this burn accident, because I look at it as this sliding door moment. Had I leaned into that negativity, all the limiting beliefs I was placing on myself, all the depths of despair, which were totally reasonable, giving the circumstances, my life would be nothing like it is today. But instead, thank God for my mother saying, Hey, there are limitless possibilities. Let's look at this through the lens of a possible mindset and conjure strength and positivity and possibility.

Starting point is 00:08:40 And through that, through my darkest moment, I actually learned some of life's greatest lessons. And I now sit here on your podcast having set 10 world records with those same legs where I was told I would never walk again. But because of in my darkest moment, the ability to learn and evolve and believe in a brighter future certainly aided by my mom's love and support. Yeah, I think it's such an incredible story. And something in the book that you covered, which made me laugh, was showing up for your job interview.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And you have this nice, pair of dress slacks, fully pressed. You're looking great. You've got this tie on. And then you notice that you're wearing slippers. Yeah, exactly. I couldn't wear shoes for a really long time. My legs would badly burn. My feet were even worse. I still have some pretty bad scars on my feet from that. And so yeah, shoes are just out of the question. I'm trying to get out of my parents' basement. I got this economic experience.

Starting point is 00:09:34 They'll put it to use. And so I take this job interview, but I had no thing that I could do and then show up in slippers. And I just was mortified, but also tried to walk in there with the confidence, like, I'm still going to get this job. And unfortunately, I don't know if the boss just took pity on me or what he did give me that job. But it's one of those moments where again, this whole book,

Starting point is 00:09:51 the 12-hour walk is really about limiting beliefs we all face. We all face these doubts. I'm no different than any other person walking this planet. I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time. I'm not strong enough. What if I fail? What if I'm criticized? We've all been there when we constantly go back in these loops. It's human nature, right? But it'd be very easy to say, okay, I want to get out of my parents' basement. I want to move on with my life, but I have to wear slippers. Like, no one's going to take me serious in the way. You know what? I'm not going to take these interviews. And I'm not saying it was easy. Look, I read about in the book, I'm mortified. I will. This is the moment that I'm in right now. And so I still got to walk there and

Starting point is 00:10:24 look the guy in the eye and shake his hand and explain the situation. Hopefully, get this job. And so this book, and we'll get into it more of the 12-hour walk is ultimately a one-day prescription where we can shift our mindset from a place of limbing beliefs, of a place of doubt and a place of fear. And through one day investing one day in yourself, there's an ability to have that possible mindset, to conjure that ability, to shift those limiting beliefs towards possible mindset that I am strong enough. I'm okay. I'm safe outside of my comfort zone because that's where I grow. People might criticize me, but that's part of life and I'm stronger than that.

Starting point is 00:10:56 So we'll talk about that. But yeah, there was a funny moment to show up to the job interview, nonetheless, with the slippers on, explain myself. Yeah. Well, I found a quote from Shamanar that I thought was appropriate for this interview, and he writes, your whole life is composed of the will within you. And it made me think of this possible mindset that you write about, and I was hoping through that lens you can discuss, what are some of the things that a possible mindset allows

Starting point is 00:11:24 you to do with this will that's composed within side yourself? I love that quote. It's a great question. I want to start by saying, I fundamentally believe this. The most important muscle that any of us have is the six inches between our ears. Smilt our mind, our mindset. We can be physically strong, we can be physically weak, whatever, but that muscle is important

Starting point is 00:11:44 to strengthen and cultivate. And that's both a scary thought, but I think it's mostly a positive thought, which is we all have the ability to do this. We actually all have the ability to shift our mindsets to strengthen our mind. But sometimes we miss the most intuitive step, which is we think, oh, I want bigger biceps, I want to get stronger. Well, I got to go to the gym and lift weight. We know that, right? But we don't think of our mind that way. That's why I say the most important muscle we have.

Starting point is 00:12:10 I say that word very intentionally because you actually to conjure this mindset, it's not a, I was born with it or I wasn't born with it. I was born with grid. I wasn't born with resilience. I was born with passion. I wasn't but no, we are all born with the ability, like you said, to cultivate this will, this no, we are all born with the ability, like you said, to cultivate this will,

Starting point is 00:12:25 this resilience, this possible mindset, but you actually have to do something to cultivate it. And that's why I'm so passionate about this book and this concept, the 12 hour walk, because at its core, I am sharing it one day prescription. I'll get into what it is, but basically is I am saying, take one day, turn your phone on airplane mode, cost you nothing, walk out your front door, and take a 12 hour walk. Now you're probably thinking, oh my God,

Starting point is 00:12:49 that's crazy, that's ridiculous, say I have to train forever for that. It's not a physical challenge actually. I don't care if you walk for one mile, or you walk for 50 miles. I don't care how many breaks you take, but the exercise is in training your mind. It's actually saying, turn off your social media for a day,

Starting point is 00:13:04 put your phone on airplane mode, don't take podcasts or music or a friend or your dog, be alone with your thoughts for 12 hours, one single day. And the reason that's so powerful, the origin story goes back to my time in Antarctica, which we certainly can talk about walking across the continent alone. But what I realize is from anyone's front door, with no cost other than the time it takes you for 12 hours to commit to this, we go from just learning about, oh, there's this thing, I can shift my mindset, inspirational quotes in a book, good advice that someone gave me or not, to actually feeling these lessons, to actually cultivating and working on that muscle of your mind. You might

Starting point is 00:13:43 be hearing this for the first time of what the 12-hour walk is for me. It's more than a book, it's a global movement. I'm hoping to inspire 10 million people to take this 12-hour walk. It's a free thing. Anyone can do it anywhere in the world. But the reason I'm passionate about it is because it gives us this ability to actually make change

Starting point is 00:14:02 and make change quickly. I believe you can unlock your best life on the other side of it. Because all of the sudden right now I'm saying this to you, there might be limiting beliefs popping up in your head. I'm guessing on the other side of this podcast interview, you're saying, well, I'd love to do that, but I've got a busy job. When would I ever find 12 hours? I don't have the time for this. I've got kids. I've got responsibilities or I'm not in good physical shape enough for this or I don't like being uncomfortable. My feet might hurt at the end of this.

Starting point is 00:14:26 But if you realize the loop, your natural tendency to react to this, those limiting beliefs that you are assigning the 12 hour walk in this moment that you're first hearing this are most likely the same limiting beliefs that you're assigning to many other things in your life, the same limiting beliefs that are ultimately holding you back from unlocking your best life.

Starting point is 00:14:47 So the 12-hour walk is an exercise. It is a challenge that takes one day, even a half a day, 12 hours. But it's also a mirror. I'm holding up a mirror to you to look into and go, oh, where is this negative limiting beliefs coming up over and over in other elements in my life? But when you commit to the walk by saying, I'm actually going to be doing this by

Starting point is 00:15:07 joining this global movement, 12-hourwalk.com, you can sign up, like I said, it's free. Anyone can do this. Anyone can participate from anywhere. You all the sudden take the momentum away from the limiting beliefs and go towards a possible mindset. On the other side of this 12-hour walk, you start to go, oh, I do have enough time. I just need to prioritize my time effectively. Oh, money is abundant and I can have it too. I can cultivate abundance in my life. There's a whole chapter on that in this book and how this walk can play a role in that. I can tap into my tuition. I am strong enough. You know what? I thought I might fail, but I completed this. I'm not afraid of failure anymore. I realize I might have setbacks along the way. Hopefully you don't get

Starting point is 00:15:48 burdened of fire. But from setbacks, just like I did, you can learn life's greatest lessons. So ultimately, on the other side of that, in just one day, you can not just read a book. I hope you read the book. I think there's a lot of great wisdom in there. But more importantly, what I care even more about is you having this experience, committing to it, putting that one day on the calendar. And I promised you, the person you are on the other side walking back in your front door will be one that is full of a possible mindset, rather than full of limiting beliefs. Well, you're stealing many of my questions, but I've got a ton for you. So I did want to put this up for the audience so they can see the book. I did want to ask, especially if someone is listening and

Starting point is 00:16:31 not watching this on YouTube, which you can on YouTube at John Armiles. But anyway, how did you come up with the amazing cover that's on the book? That's a very good question. My incredible wife and dear friend and colleague and collaborator Blake Brinker. So my wife, Jenna Beesaw and Blake came up with the cover idea. They're both just, they're my dearest friends, of course, my wife, but also business partners, colleagues. And we really wanted the cover to pop. We really wanted people to feel a part of this global movement. And really to feel like it could be anyone, I'm the silhouette in the loco. You know, there's a lot of personal development books. I'm not trying to throw shade on anyone.

Starting point is 00:17:05 I like to wear people with their face right up in center. And there's, I guess, I think there's even some research that says people are more responsive to a face on a cover or something like this. But although it's me silhouetted in the walk, to me, I put it there as a way to say like, this is for everyone. This is not a book about me. There's stories from my life that I'm sharing of you, but I'm not the hero of this story. You listening, you reading, you are the hero of this story. And so the 12-hour walk is something we all can have ownership of. It's an idea that I'm excited to share and proliferate, but I hope that it goes that you take the 12-hour walk and then you sit down at your dinner table and you share it with your mother, your father, or your best friend, or your spouse, or something like this. And it the color gradient is about the effect of a day, right? It starts at sunrise and then it fades into an evening night and kind of taking people through

Starting point is 00:18:10 the course of that day. And what I think is so interesting about time is a little bit away from the cover, but is in that color gradient, thinking about a day is we think about, wow, 12 hours. Like that's, first people usually think that's so long, right? That's so long. 12 hours so long. But then you start thinking like, that's so short. I'm like, you can have this massive transformation in just 12 hours in one day by investing one day. It's very powerful to look at it, look through that lens. And so I write, as you know, from reading the book, a whole chapter and time and time is an interesting thing. You start to look at how much time I'm guilty of this too. I've spent scrolling my social media feed or doing things that aren't super productive

Starting point is 00:18:50 or whatever. This is a very productive 12 hours that really leans beautiful results. And so the cover really leans to say, and like, hey, it's just one day. And in one day, from sun up to sundown, you can feel like a completely different person by taking on this challenge right out your front door.

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Starting point is 00:20:47 consider supporting those who support this podcast and make it free for you, our listeners. Now back to my interview with Colin O'Brady. Every year I try to do challenges myself. And earlier this year in March, I did David Goggins four by four by 48 challenge. And I remember when I was asked to do it, the parameters of it made sense. But then I did it with a bunch of veterans like myself and ended up camping out on my friend's branch. And we slept in TPs. And then he put an additional thing on it that the

Starting point is 00:21:20 only thing we would have to eat during our time there was bone broth. When you're thinking about something like that, you're like, boy, this is gonna be extremely uncomfortable. And you have all these impulses that go through your head. And it got me to thinking about was you were walking across Antarctica and you have just your thoughts in your mind. There are all these impulses that are going on. Probably you're wanting to quit.

Starting point is 00:21:49 It's cold out. It's all these things. But I wanted to ask, why should we not eradicate the impulses that make us human, but instead try to understand them and use them as a way to propel us? Yeah. So one question I get a lot, obviously, from the adventures that I've done, carry with them a lot of risk, right? So I've, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:12 submitted Mount Everest twice. I write in the book about a tragedy where I lost five friends in a really bad climbing accident on K2. The stakes are real. A few years before I completed my solo-crossing in Antarctica, becoming the first person to make that crossing, a guy who's very experienced, who I highly respect, spent 71 days attempting this crossing, and ultimately he fell ill and died. And so a question I get a lot is, do you have a death wish, Colin?

Starting point is 00:22:35 All right, do you have these crazy impulses towards just like, oh, this is a suicide mission? And I've been asked the question so many times that I've really had to think about and what's my answer to that question. And I've been asked the question so many times that I've really had to think about what's my answer to that question. And as I think about it, my answer is, the last thing I wanna do is die.

Starting point is 00:22:52 Over in this book, I'm so blessed to have this incredible wife and family and amazing people in my life. I love being alive. And I'm not, I definitely am not trying to die, but my biggest fear, my actual biggest fear, is not living, is not fully living. So I've come to think about life

Starting point is 00:23:10 on a scale of one to 10, one being your lowest low moments and 10 being your highest highs, right? As I reach the summit amount of research where I finish this Antarctica crossing or I fall in love with my wife or other mean these 10 moments. What I've come to realize is those 10s, I didn't get there in spite of the ones. I actually got there because of the ones.

Starting point is 00:23:33 I got to that elation on the other side of the frozen continent because I was willing to feel minus 70 degrees. I was willing to be alone for two months by myself without talking in when pulling a $375 pound. I had so many low moments, just like in the opening of this interview, I got to this moment of learning about myself through the lowest one ever, being burned with no skin on the lower half of my body being told I would never walk again normally, right? And so when I come to realize when I kind of had that realization, it said, wow, I can get to these tens, but by only being willing to experience the ones. Now, I think in our

Starting point is 00:24:09 modern society, we are too often, most people are caught between four and six, what I call the zone of comfortable complacency, where it's just kind of like, it's good. Like, I have a job, it pays the bills, but I'm not that passionate about. I'm not that excited to get out of bed. And every morning, something good happens, it's like fine, or something bad happens, it pays the bills, but I'm not that passionate about it. I'm not that excited to get out of bed in every morning. Something good happens. It's like fine. If something bad happens, it's like fine because I'm just not that engaged with life. Now, I've got my basic needs taking care of the roof over my head, et cetera, but I'm not feeling that like lit up by life.

Starting point is 00:24:36 And we settled there. We settled in this zone of comfortable complacency. It was harder to settle there in times hundreds of years ago where there's more flight or flight or you had to go hunt for your food or There's different things but in our modern society. It's pretty easy to just kind of sit in that comfort zone And what I realized is why I've asked myself a wire people in that in that zone And it's because I found and talking to and interviewing so many people my Instagram audience etc Is because they're hedging against the ones.

Starting point is 00:25:05 They're saying, I am so afraid of having some sort of setback or taking on any kind of risk in my life that I'm unwilling to experience once. And the second you do that, you also close off your possibility to experience the tense, because you don't let the entire pendulum swing the full peak arc of life. And so again, your question about impulses is, I'm guessing by you brought up the four by four by 48 with your friends and colleagues with that, that it was hard, that your feet got tired, that you felt sleep deprived, that you wanted something to eat more than bone broth. But here we are six months later, and you're thinking, you know what, that was a great experience. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I suffered through some long nights and pushed it because you know what? I learned something about myself. I built, I grew and I'm also guessing I'm projecting now by love to hear your answer that on hour 48, when you got that finish line, you were more towards that 10, that higher end of the spectrum, proud of what you accomplished, proud of pushing through

Starting point is 00:26:02 camaraderie and brotherhood, what the guys you did it with, right? Oh, absolutely. But you're right. You get into segment four or segment five, and you start getting blisters on your feet. Your legs are starting to tire. At this point, I'm working off of two hours to sleep, because in addition to that, we had Native American elders who banged on drums all night long. So even when you could sleep, it was virtually impossible to sleep. Wow. Which made it another interesting but fun twist.

Starting point is 00:26:32 But you're right. You just keep looking towards the future. And I just took the next step. And then the next step. And I think from my time in the military, other people I've served with, people like you, it's taking that intentional next step and taking action, instead of thinking about the next 24 hours is what's going to get you to the end. I know talking to many of my friends who've gone to Buds, they tell me if you think about getting through all of Buds, you're never going to make it.

Starting point is 00:27:04 They said, we are just trying about getting through all of Buds, you're never gonna make it. They said, we are just trying to get through this next hour. Can we make it to the next meal? Can we make it to this point where we get out of these cold clothes and we can do something else? And I think so much about life is like that. It doesn't have to be that extreme,

Starting point is 00:27:20 but I think putting yourself through these challenges, whether it's a four by four by 48, or this 12 hour walk, is a great way for you to do something that we don't get to do very much today, which is be inside your own head and make sense of what's going on in your life, because I think that's where you start confronting these different fears that you lay out in the book.

Starting point is 00:27:41 No, absolutely, and I love what you said about what, call it, taking the next step or incremental goal setting. I have for many years carried this small little rock in my pocket with me for the past five years or so. When I summoned Everest for the first time in 2016, I took a small little pebble with me from the summit. It's the tiny, tiniest little rock. And I carried around with me as a reminder that Mount Everest, the largest mountain in the world, the highest mountain in the world, is actually comprised of a bunch of small tiny rocks stacked on top of each other. I'm fond of framing people's goals and asking I asked it in the first chapter of this book for people to

Starting point is 00:28:15 intentionally define, well, what's your ever? I dared to dream. And that was my childhood dream. If I one day wanted to climb Mount Everest, I always dreamed about it since I was a little kid, but I don't assume that everyone has the same dream. We all have different dreams, different passions, different goals, but that question, what is your Everest? And then realizing when you dare to dream this big goal,

Starting point is 00:28:33 when you have that possible mindset that says, hey, I want to get to the start line. I want to finish a triathlon, but I'm in a bed being burned. Just like you said with buds, the whole, the totality of that goal can feel overwhelming. Mount Everest, the summit, can feel too far. And so you give up on the first day or the second day, because you're like,

Starting point is 00:28:51 well, I'm never going to get there. But the same way I climb Mount Everest is I just stacked those tiny little rocks. I took one step, one day kept building towards the future. And eventually those tiny little steps, those tiny little rocks, they stack up and they reach the summit. But when I was burning that fire, I was into my mother's kitchen in a hospital and having just got left the Thai hospital.

Starting point is 00:29:10 I've got my legs burned, my legs are bandaged, and my mom looks at me, I'm sitting in a wheelchair, she goes, hey Colin, you wanna race a triathlon? Great, I believe in you. Today your goal, your only thing you have to do today is figure out how to get out of your wheelchair and sit in the chair in front of you. She took a wooden chair from our kitchen table and placed it one step in front of my wheelchair.

Starting point is 00:29:29 We're talking about racing a triathlon. We're talking about going miles and miles and miles on these legs. And she finally just says to me, today, you have no other thing that you need to do. And it took me three hours. I just stared at that wooden chair, looked down at my legs. They were atropy. They were the size of my wrists. Now they've been burnt and bandaged,

Starting point is 00:29:45 and I finally got up and took one step in that chair. But my mom, the next day she says, that was great. She moved the chair five steps away, that she moved the chair 10 steps away. And to your point, those five steps, those 10 steps, those 20 steps, those learning, the day by day, the stacking of those rocks ultimately led up to the final conclusion many months later.

Starting point is 00:30:02 So all of these large goals, they are built, buds is an extraordinary example of what the Navy seals they go through in the training. I mean, it's just absolutely incredible. And I've heard the same things, right, for people just breaking it down. So I love that and I couldn't agree more, my friend.

Starting point is 00:30:19 Yes, well, I think we all have choices, but oftentimes the most difficult choice to make is the choice to actually start or do something about overcoming your fear or about chasing that Everest. And I'm going to use that as a segue because in chapter four you bring up the mantra, I am versus I am not. And I wanted to ask, why do game-changing leaders, creators, and athletes not wait until they're at the top of their fields to own that identity and begin the process.

Starting point is 00:30:48 And what is your recommendation for listeners to put that into practice in their own lives? It's so important, right? It not given away too much of the book, but one of the other world records that I said is I was the first person history to row a boat across Drake Passage. That's the most dangerous ocean crossing in the world that had never been crossed in a

Starting point is 00:31:07 fully human powered vessel. So no sail, no motor, just me and a couple of buddies literally rowing a tiny little row boat across ocean with 40-foot swells and icebergs and killer whales and the whole deal. It was a crazy adventure, not get too far into that. But when I set my sights on that and I started telling people, I'm going to rob my boat across this thing. One question kept coming up over and over again. People were like, Oh, I didn't realize you were such an accomplished

Starting point is 00:31:31 rower. I didn't realize that you've been like rowing boats like your whole life. And I looked at them and I was like, no, I've actually never rode a boat anywhere. Like, they're what do they mean everywhere? Like, no, I've never been on a robot before. I never rode a boat in college. I've never been at summer camp wrong about. Never rode a boat. People are like, wait, so when are you doing this rowing project? I'm like, I'm doing it in three months. Now, the cynic says, well, that just sounds very reckless,

Starting point is 00:31:56 but that's not the way I look at it. The possible mindset says, I am not a rober, but it applies one important word, yet. I am not a rober, but applies one important word yet. I am not a rober yet. And that yet changes the entire sentence to say, I haven't learned this thing yet, but I am fully capable of learning this. Carol Dweck teaches us in the book mindset

Starting point is 00:32:18 one of my favorite books, right? About the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. The fixed mindset says, I am not a roer, period. I am not a runner, period. I am not a business person, period. I am not good at math. I am not this and that the period ends there. But the growth mindset says, I'm not a roer yet. I am not feeling the blank yet. I can grow, I can evolve, I can learn. So chapter four of this book that I tell a funny story about actually learning to row and falling off a robot in my very first stroke and falling on my face three months before I attempt to row across the most dangerous ocean crossing.

Starting point is 00:32:51 But the difference in mentality and I have studied high performers just as you have is that every single person I write about this in the book that gets the top of their field filled weren't an expert when they started. There was a day when Kobe Bryant dribbled a basketball for the very first time. There was a day when Merrill Street tried out for her school play. There was a day when Stephen King, who was written 64 novels at this point, all best sellers literally sat down in front of his computer and penned his first essay. And in those moments, those high performance, what do they all have in common? They did not wait to be an expert to claim this as their identity. Merrill Streep says, I'm an actress. Kobe Bryant said, I'm a basketball player. Stephen King said, I'm an author. Before they were who we think of them are, is these prolific game-changing artists and folks in the world, right? But we all, every single person listening this has the

Starting point is 00:33:46 capacity to do this has the capacity to shift that mindset and either add that word yet to the end of a statement. If you still want to say, I'm not this, I am not a blank yet. Or even better, you can just shift that to say, go for a little jog. You never run. This is silly example. You never run before in your life. Okay. Right now, right now, glitz drop, put this for a little jog. You never run. This is silly example. You never run before in your life. Okay. Right now, right now, glit. Let's drop, put this podcast down and jog one block around your house. It'll take you at 30 seconds, probably a minute, maybe. Now you're a runner. You're a runner. You are a runner. Are you a world record breaking marathon runner? Sure. Not yet, but you're a runner. You can own that identity and the shift in our psyche,

Starting point is 00:34:25 the shift in our mindset, that possible mindset knows the difference between it because that subtle subconscious eating away of, I'm not this, I'm an imposter, I can't this, changes everything and the 12 hour walk. I think there's very few people on this planet and that's why I love this exercise for people. The 12 hour walk is accessible.

Starting point is 00:34:44 The 12 hour walk any person can do, because I said it's not a race, it's not about how far you go. But most likely 99.9% of the planet aren't 12 hour walkers yet. You are not a 12 hour walker yet. But the second you go like, but could I do that?

Starting point is 00:35:00 The curiosity is peaked. Is this gonna have an outsize impact in my life? You put it on your calendar for next Saturday. You sign up on the website, you do it, you complete it, you get an email from me that says, congratulations, you are a 12 hour walk finisher, you are that. No one can take that away from you. And the reason that's important is the 12 hour walk

Starting point is 00:35:20 is a fill in for all of the other things that you're telling yourself right now that you aren't and proves to yourself that you can do something different, that you can do something new, that you can step outside of your comfort zone and all of a sudden you are a 12-hour walk finisher. Well, if you're that, what other things are you not yet or what other things are you going to become in your future with this new mindset that you can learn, you can evolve, you can grow, and to me that is at its core of high performance growth, getting out of our own way,

Starting point is 00:35:49 petting aside those limiting beliefs is reframing our mindset into what we can become. I love that you brought up Carol Duex's book because I think it's great. And another one I think is great is Grit by Angela Duckworth. And you mentioned Grit a lot in the book. And as I was reading her book and being a Naval Academy grad, she starts out if you haven't read it about West Point.

Starting point is 00:36:11 And she uses that as this is the reason why people graduate from West Point is because of this passion and perseverance they have. And I started thinking about it about 18 months ago. And as I look back, you can have passion and perseverance, but I think there's one missing ingredient, and you've been alluding to it this whole entire conversation. And that is intention. If you are not intentional about where you are putting that passion and perseverance, you're not going to accomplish your goal. So if you have an Everest out there, or even a small goal, if you're not going to accomplish your goal. So if you have an Everest out there or even a small goal, if you're not being intentional about the choices that you're making,

Starting point is 00:36:51 that allow you to take that grit that you have and push it towards that intention, you're not going to achieve it in my mind. I'm not sure what your thoughts are about that. No, totally. I love Angela Duckworth's incredible book, it's huge influence on me. Angela was kind enough actually to blur my last book, The Impossible First, her name is on the cover, Polk quote, she asked me to lecture in her class last year at Penn. So I've gotten to know her a little bit.

Starting point is 00:37:15 And she's just her research and just her whole mindset and her book is just incredible. So if you haven't checked that book out, highly recommend it. It's had a big influence on me. And I agree exactly with her thesis, what she talks about, the less point, all the other case studies she brings in, which is so much of success is about this sort of intangible thing that she calls a we call grit, right? But I also like what you bring in around intention. Because I think there's two things. One, I love to frame this question. I'll bring it up again, I've already said it, which is what's your efforts? What's your big goal? What are your hopes? What are your dreams? Usually, people have an answer to that. Sometimes people don't want to share that because they think, oh,

Starting point is 00:37:51 my efforts is silly, or I don't want to share this with the world. But usually, you have an answer to that. And if you do, it doesn't, the first of all, it doesn't matter what it is. It's like you said, it's just about having that intention towards it. And saying, great, this is what I hope to dream start. This is why I want to accomplish it. And giving that air, giving that oxygen, speaking it out loud, writing it down your journal, my Everest is blank. The last page of the first chapter of this book, I invite people before taking a step further in this book to have that intention. So they can frame the rest of the lessons in the book around that. But I do want to

Starting point is 00:38:21 acknowledge, because I've gotten the feedback and I write about a little book and it's important, there are a lot of people or some amount of people that don't have a ready answer to that question who go, I don't know what my effort is. Is there something wrong with me? Is that a problem? If I don't have an effort, should I just set your book down? Can I not gain anything from this? And so what I've come to realize is that exploration, that curiosity is also a beautiful thing. So if you find yourself in that state, I know I want something more out of life, but I don't know exactly what it is.

Starting point is 00:38:51 I don't know what my Everest is. The 12 hour walk is a powerful lesson. So I say, great, here's your Everest. My Everest is to figure out what my Everest is. That's my Everest. That's the goal. 12 hours in silence with no podcast, no music, listening to your intuition, tapping into your inner voice,

Starting point is 00:39:11 I promise you, if you walk out the door with the sole exploration and curiosity in your mind is, I wanna make a change in my life, I wanna unlock my best life, I can do that on the other side as 12 hour walk, but I don't know what to put my intention or my grit or my resilience or my perseverance toward. Just ask yourself, that is a leading question.

Starting point is 00:39:29 My Everest is to figure out on this walk what my Everest is. And the reason I'm so, clearly I'm very passionate about this 12 hour walk idea is with those all sorts of just big goals and starting a business or for you, the stuff you've done, podcast, being in the military, these things take multiple steps, multiple years, multiple iterations. And I think some of the most rich experience in my life have been that way. Crossing in

Starting point is 00:39:52 Artica wasn't just the 54 days alone on the ice, but it was dreaming about it and planning about it and training for it and figuring it out, raising the money for all these different steps that go into this. The reason I'm passionate about the 12 hour walk is that I can encapsulate what it is in one sentence. You understand what it is. Put your phone in airplane mode, walk outside your door, be alone for 12 hours, period, right? And the intention there to your point about grit is it gives a single thing to focus on for that period of time. An idea and intention, a prescription, so to speak, that is very digestible. Because in our modern world, again, I'm guilty of all this, we get pulled in the

Starting point is 00:40:36 million directions. Our phone rings, our phone dings, this notification comes on, someone walks the room, says this to us, we in this modern society, our brains are going in a million different directions, which actually takes away from our inner strength and to your point about grit, our ability, like you can be gritty to get through your day. But if your day is answering 900 different emails and picking up your phone and texting back these five people and dropping the kids off and doing this, whatever, your energy gets sort of spent in these 1% increments of all these different places. Now, again, that's life.

Starting point is 00:41:09 So I'm not trying to say now be a monk and don't do those things. Of course, that is life. My life looks just like that. But taking a day to reset from that and to reevaluate that and to check in with yourself over the course of 12 hours will allow you when you enter that this is not about being a hermit. This is about thriving in the real world. This is about then turning your phone back on and being a productive member of society on the other side of this walk, but the walk will give you an opportunity to reset your priorities in and around that.

Starting point is 00:41:39 And to your point, and I know it's something you're passionate about in this podcast, set the intention about where you want to spend your energy because you have it. You have that interest strength, but it can get so diluted with all these various different halves, twos popping up in your day. And the 12-hour walk is a great reset towards that intentionality. And when you conjure that grit, that resilience, that perseverance in a singular direction towards passion, there is so much to be gained and so much that you can grow from.

Starting point is 00:42:07 I love that you say during this walk, take away all the distractions, because I think that is exactly what prevents so many people from discovering their Everest as you're talking about, because it didn't really sit with what's going on inside of them, because it's not comfortable. Let's face it.

Starting point is 00:42:25 All of us have fears and uncertainties and challenges and other things, and this feeling of comfort that we have in our lives. But until you get rid of that noise, you're not going to deal with any of it. So I love that you brought that up. And I'm going to use the fact that you know Angela to ask a follow-on question on this. Next week, I'm actually putting out a podcast with her co-founder of the Behavioral Change for Good Initiative, Dr. Katie Melkman, who's a professor at Wharton, and one of the leading

Starting point is 00:42:57 behavioral scientists in the world like Angela. I also interviewed former WNBA player, Anno Neal, and something that you mentioned in chapter 12 of the book around, I don't have what it takes, coincided with Katie's book, and something that Anne's Iowa State University coach, Bill Fenderdee taught her. And that is winning in basketball and in life, is strategy by design, which is matching your approach to your opponent, which oftentimes your biggest opponent is yourself. And have you found throughout your expeditions that this is true? My biggest opponent being myself 100%, I think.

Starting point is 00:43:39 It's definitely about having the right strategy. It's about having the right opponent. I'll tell you a story. So when I arrived in Antarctica and getting dropped off from the edge of the frozen continent, and I'm about to tempt this historic crossing that no one's ever done. I took a bunch of interviews before. I kind of told the world I was hoping to do this thing. And there was another guy actually attempt in this crossing at the very same time, this guy by name of Captain Lou Rudd. So it wasn't just racing history now.

Starting point is 00:44:05 Now I'm in a side-by-side shoulder to shoulder race with one of the most intimidating guys as a British Special Forces military guy, very prolific polar explorer, super strong, accomplished. And I'll be honest, I was pretty intimidated, but I still was like, okay, I'm fine, I'm confident, you know, I'm gonna be content with my strength. My sled's 375 pounds, and that's because

Starting point is 00:44:24 I was doing something called unsupported. So I needed enough food and fuel to sustain myself without anyone giving me resupplies while I'm out there. And so that ended up being 375 pounds. And that's not even enough to have enough calories. So I know I'm going to burn 10,000 calories per day. And I'm only going to be carrying about 7,000 calories per day, which means on day one, I'm already operating

Starting point is 00:44:44 on a 3,000 calorie deficit. And I know by the end, I'm going to be a bag of,000 calories per day, which means on day one, I'm already operating on a 3,000 calorie deficit. And I know by the end, I'm going to be a bag of bones, hip sticking out, ribs sticking out, and I'm going to be in pretty rough shape. I've planned for all of this. Now, I strategized. I literally said, okay, here's the plan. Here's the spreadsheet.

Starting point is 00:44:56 Here's how far I need to walk every day. I kind of worked through it. If I'm trying to stay positive, I get dropped off and I start pulling my sled. I should say, I start tripe to pulling my sled. This is day one, hour one. I I start pulling my sled. I should say I start tripe to pulling my sled. This is day one, hour one. I can't pull my sled. I literally can pull my sled like 10 feet and it stops.

Starting point is 00:45:12 And of course I knew 375 pounds was gonna be heavy and I figured I'd be able to move slowly. I literally can't pull it. And I start crying. I literally start crying. But what happens when you cry and it's minus 25 minus 30 degrees outside Antarctica? The tears they actually start freezing to your face. I have this sad video of myself where there's frozen tears attached to my face.

Starting point is 00:45:34 And in this moment, you start thinking, but I strategized against an article. I figured it out. I spreadsheet it. I made my sled this like I thought that was my opponent. Don't get me wrong over the next 54 days alone. And Artica certainly was a very, very worthy opponent. But what I quickly realized, I remember I went to bed that night and I woke up in my tent. I always joke. I say, well, who is in that tent with me? And some people were like, wait, did Captain Luke get in your tent with you? You know, no, no, no, no. He was kicking my ass. He went off. He wasn't having a trouble pulling his sled. And he pulled into the lead of this race early on. And for a long time, it looked like he was just going to kick my butt. But no, who isn't that tantrum with me that first morning? Me, all of the most negative versions of myself, every limiting belief I don't have what it takes.

Starting point is 00:46:19 I'm not strong enough. I'm not fit enough. You told the whole world this, like how embarrassing this people are going to criticize you. I thought maybe you're going to fail I'm not fit enough. You told the whole world this, look how embarrassing this people are gonna criticize you. I thought maybe you're gonna fail on the 40th day. You failed on the first day, right? And all of a sudden I quickly realized to your point that my biggest opponent was myself, my own psyche, my own inner demons, my own inner thoughts. And that's true so much for almost every single person

Starting point is 00:46:43 walking this planet, even people that you might look on the outside of Oh, that guy's wealthy or she's super successful in this or that the other thing. I'll tell you what us humans We are walking around generally with a high level of self-doubt But you can either look at that and go there's something wrong with me. I'm having these doubts You can say that's part of the human experience, but I get to control that. I get to be aware of that and control that. I believe fundamentally that we are the stories that we tell ourselves.

Starting point is 00:47:12 I'll say that again, we are the stories that we tell ourselves. And so in that moment, in that tent, fighting my own self, I had to fight back. I had to have an offensive against my own inner demons. And so I actually stood up and yelled out to the anardic warning. I yelled at the top of my lungs out loud. Colin, you are strong. You are capable.

Starting point is 00:47:32 You are strong. You are capable. Out, out loud. I was verbalizing this because I was fighting against my own self and using those worlds to conjure that. So a little bit of a tangent, But again, the 12 hour walk allows us to do this part of the discomfort of the 12 hour walk. Part of me saying, yes, no, no podcasts, no music. Silence, don't assure us. If you live in a city, I'm not saying don't let a car drive

Starting point is 00:47:57 past you or someone walks past you on the street and says, hello, that's fine. But you're not engaging with the world. You're letting the own solitude of your own inner thoughts go. And what will happen through parts of this is you might get into some dark paces. You might get into some deeper corners of your mind. I've tested this with lots of friends and family members. And I'm launching this, like I said, hopefully 10 million people do this. And what I found is people say there is a point hour one, hour two, hour three, because our minds aren't used to this. It's start to wait 12 hours is too long, or my feet already hurt, or I had

Starting point is 00:48:29 that argument with my boss yesterday, and you start, you know, you start arguing with your boss in your own head. We know that feeling, right? You're having an argument with somebody else who's not even there. And you're like, well, I should have said this. And I did, right? That's normal. We start to see what's in there and that's uncomfortable. But more often than not, our

Starting point is 00:48:46 nine, our 10, our 11, even as the discomfort, physical, this comfort is coming high. This happened to me at the end of my article crossing. All of a sudden, peace and calm and stillness and your ability to be aware and rewrite those stories. Letting go of some silly argument that you're having with your boss, because it's just not serving you or him or her. Letting go of this negativity in your mind, because that limiting belief, that place of fear, that operation of living belief and fear starts to dissipate. And at the end of this walk, that possible mindset starts to build and starts to build and starts to give you power. And on the other side of that, the ability to unlock your own best self, your own best life. So yes, long answer, I apologize,

Starting point is 00:49:31 but we are battling ourselves. That is our biggest enemy, but also our biggest strength. We are powerful beyond measure inside of ourselves, but that power can either be harness for good, for strength, for positivity, for impact, or we can be so powerful in a negative direction. We can bring ourselves down, we can weigh ourselves down, we can steal our own ability to accomplish our goals to some of our own efforts. And so the 12-hour walk allows us to assess both things, both the good and the bad, and gives you a choice to choose that positivity, to choose both things, both the good and the bad, and gives you a choice to choose that positivity, to choose that strength, conquer your mind, and unlock your best life. I'm glad you brought chapter seven to the audience because it was one of my favorites

Starting point is 00:50:16 from the book. And I was going to ask you a question about how do you overcome uncertainty and failure, which you just answered. So I thought that was great. I did want to ask a follow-on question. You brought up Captain Lewis Rudd, who seems to be a bad ass if you look at his resume and some of the things that he has accomplished. How did him being out there at the same time you were there? And I will mention, he did finish it as well two days behind you.

Starting point is 00:50:41 But how did that impact your psyche? Did knowing he was there help push you along? A hundred percent, Captain Lew and I have had this interesting history, are literally in the annals of polar history we're now forever connected to having this race across Antarctica, this thing that no one had ever accomplished in human history. And as you said, I did pass him and I'm proud of being

Starting point is 00:51:02 first, but he finished a couple days later. And I actually elected to wait for him at the finish line before having the plane come pick us up in this remote edge of Antarctica, because although the intensity and the tenacity and both of our will to win this race was very high for both of us. In the end, what I was mostly left with was there's seven billion, eight billion people on this planet. And there's one other human who knows what we went through out there. And it's him. And yeah, he finished two days behind me. But it's an incredible accomplishment for both of us to have survived and made it across this. And what I was left with it when we still

Starting point is 00:51:41 stay in touch to this day, there's a genuine love camaraderie compassion for one another and it's fun when we get a meet up and have a cup of tea or catch up with one another because we have this common ground. And what we've both been able to say to each other in our more vulnerable moments, both of us all aside, we've both acknowledged myself for sure that we both agree and he said this publicly as well that we don't think either one of us would have made it to the other side had the other person not been there. Which is interesting because when I found out he was making this crossing at the same time as me, I've been planning to race history to race myself but also I'm racing a human being and he kicks my ass out the first day. I'm pretty quickly like, man, like so negative in my own mind.

Starting point is 00:52:32 But what's interesting is again, and that could have crushed me, that could have been it. I mean, I was very close to giving up in those first few days, literally just calling it, and being like, well, he's gonna kick my butt and I have no chance and I can't pull my sled and that's it. But what I found is in the end, he gave me strength. What I mean by that is the competition,

Starting point is 00:52:50 the fierceness and the respect that I have for him actually gave me the ability to say, if I don't get out of bed today and pull my sled for 12 hours, but he does, he's gonna gain further. It's storming, I don't wanna go out there. It's minus 70 win show with the blazing headwind of 50 mile per hour and this white out. I couldn't, no human could possibly go out in this condition. And I think I imagine Captain Lew out there, grit and his teeth and going for it.

Starting point is 00:53:15 And all of these really tough moments when it would have been so easy to say, oh, let me lie in my tent for one hour longer. Let me take a half day off. Let me take a day off. But I would have been eating food. And because I couldn't take enough food with me to make it across the crossing, I was on my last bite of food when I completed the crossing. And I didn't take a single day off. I pulled my sled 12 hours per day every single day

Starting point is 00:53:37 for 54 days straight, which means that if I had made some decisions on day five or day 10 or day 20 to kind of pull back the gas a little bit, I wouldn't have made it. And so to me, it's a heartfelt acknowledgement to say, I made it across this because of Captain Luke, because of that competition. And I think it's a beautiful thing. I mean, we see this in business too. You don't want your competition, but there's a reason that in our country, we try to not have monopolies, which is a monopoly just takes advantage of people and it's too easy and they mail it in, but when you have a fierce competitor in a marketplace or in a sporting competition or in life and any capacity, the positive byproduct of that is it brings

Starting point is 00:54:15 out the absolute best in you and it makes you enough headspace of innovation and creativity and grit and resilience and perseverance that gets you out of bed when it's hard and keeps pushing you forward. And certainly was the case for me with Captain Loob. Yeah, I think you break up a great point. What would Delby, if there wasn't IBM or HP or what would Coke be without Pepsi? Sometimes those competitions bring out the best in you. And I also think this alludes to something you bring up in chapter nine, and I'm not going to dive into it. So we give a listener something to read, but it's all about the need to pick and surround yourself with the right people. And obviously, when it came to Antarctica,

Starting point is 00:54:56 having Captain Luther was one of those people that helped inspire you. And I have to tell you, I would love to see a keynote sometime that you two could do together, because hearing both of your perspectives, I think, would be something I would pay money to here. I'm sure others would too. Another person, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, that I think would be a great combo keynote would be Jen Bricker Bauer. I had Jen on the podcast earlier this year, if you're not familiar with her, Colin, she was born without legs, was told,

Starting point is 00:55:29 she should never be able to sit up, she should never be able to do anything in life, but her parents taught her from a very young age that anything is possible. She ends up going on to win against able body competitors, the state championship and Illinois and tumbling, and now she's performing all around the world as an airlist and wrote a New York Times best selling book similar to you called Anything as Possible. And I think before we get to this

Starting point is 00:55:56 interview, you two are both incredible examples of how anything is possible. But how if you're sitting here listening to this, do you develop that mindset? Yeah, I've never met her. I've heard bits and pieces of her story. I'd love to hear her speak and read her book, what an incredible inspiration. And you mentioned there briefly, her parents kind of accepting her with his beliefs of anything as possible. Certainly, my mother is huge or responsible as well as the other kind of tribe of family and influences I had in my young life, definitely had a big impact. But that doesn't mean, oh, you're blessed with good parents or bad

Starting point is 00:56:31 parents, whatever. So if you either got lucky or you didn't, like, doesn't matter where you're sitting at in your life right now, right? We are where we are. We can't change the past, but we definitely can change and forge forward. I don't say this as a shameless continual plug for this book or this global movement, but that question, and it's such a good question you ask, I've spent a lot of time, I'm proud of my last book that was a New York Times bestseller recounting the full and art of conjourney, et cetera,

Starting point is 00:56:55 spent lots of times on stages, sharing these stories with people about things I've accomplished in my life. And the one thing that I felt was missing was this answer to this question. I have all sorts of advice and wisdom and things I can share with people of how they can do this in their own life. So I feel deeply passionate about, but the 12 hour walk, the idea of the 12 hour walk, an actual

Starting point is 00:57:17 tangible take home was my answer. And again, it was self-prescribed just trying to get myself out of a rut during COVID, but there was this aha moment of like, this is the thing. This is the thing that I can't say to everyone, you can cultivate grit and resilience, fly down to Antarctica and pull a 375 pound sled by yourself across the continent. You'll be a different person on the other side. I mean, that's just unrealistic and to be honest, not most people would ever want to do that. Not blame them for not wanting to do that. And to be honest, most people would ever want to do that. Not blame them for not wanting to do that.

Starting point is 00:57:45 So the 12 hour walk is this tool that is built to be as accessible as absolutely possible for any person, any place in the world. You don't have to wait to be on vacation in some beautiful place. I highly recommend you doing this from the front door of your house. Why?

Starting point is 00:58:02 Because the next day you wake up and you're in your normal routine and normal life, all the things around your neighborhood and your block and your city and your town where you live are going to imprint. You're going to cross an intersection five miles away from your house. You remember, oh, I walked past here on hour four, that resilience, that grit, that possible mindset is going to be conjured up inside of you again because it's imprinted in this area that you are. And so the answer to that question, I mean, there's so many different answers, but the 12-hour walk is designed as an answer to that question of to say, but what can I do? How can I start training this muscle? How can I actually unlock my best life? Me, I'm not you, Colin. I don't have 10 world

Starting point is 00:58:39 records. I don't, you haven't done all these things or whatever. I am sitting my life. We're all sitting in our own lives in any given day. You're self included at different points in time of our own journey. But this is something that you can put on your calendar right now. And you will have an outsized impact. The ripple effect from this one day will be tremendously positive. I'd be remiss not to ask, but my friend, are you going to do the 12-hour walk? Are you going to join me on this? I've already been kind of mapping out the course in my head because I've been

Starting point is 00:59:10 backing into, I walk five or six miles a day and I've been backing into what my pace is and how far I could go. So I'm already imagining I could go all the way to the beach, walk down the beach for a while and come on back. I think I'll wait till this 98 degree weather is behind me, but you never know. The book comes out on August 2nd, but on September 10th, on September 10th. Of course, the 12-hour walk is meant to be done any day. So, whatever day, anyone listening, like I said, come to the 12-hour walk.com, just register so that I can send you some inspirational emails, but it's completely free to join. And you can do it any day. But on September 10th, so about five weeks

Starting point is 00:59:48 after the book comes out, we are catalyzing a worldwide walk day. So a day that we're inviting everyone to say, put, if you're having a hard time picking what day, what day should I do, or that's a limiting belief for you, and just hard to decide, September 10th. That's the day that we're inviting mass participation. Again, you can do this any day, but there's gonna be a mass participation day on September 10th, where's the day that we're inviting mass participation. Again, you can do this any day, but there's going to be a mass participation day on September 10th,

Starting point is 01:00:08 where it's, look, you're still walking alone in the sense. You're still walking at your front door with no podcast, no music, no nothing to distract you, but you have the energetic power and the accountability to know that there are thousands of other people around the world on that exact same day taking on that same walk. We might do some some fun virtual meetups and things like that before and effort to really cultivate community around that. So if September 10th without the 98 degree, whether we're living works better for you, I would love very much for you to join us on September 10th.

Starting point is 01:00:38 But regardless, I love that you're already thinking about it and thinking about how you can take this walk because I look forward to hearing from you on the flip side of your experience with this and sharing it with your listeners. Yeah, I think now I gotta commit to it. Yeah, commit. You gotta commit, right? I was just doing what, what do you wait for? Commit. You're doing this, right? I'm doing it. So I didn't want to end this interview without giving you an opportunity to talk about how you and your wife are helping children throughout the world through your nonprofit beyond seven two. Yeah, thank you for asking that question.

Starting point is 01:01:11 It's an important one. After my professional travel and career and really streaming about my Everest, which happened to be Everest, I said, so what other personal goals do I have? Well, my wife and I, Jen is not just my wife, but she didn't just design the cover of this book. She has been in the weeds and built everything that we've built our entire dreams. All of our everists have been built together in the shared dreaming and the shared planning and the shared sweat that we've put into all our different ventures over the years. But in the moment in 2014, when we got engaged and we dreamed up that first world record project, the Explorer's Grand Slam, what we said is, this is only important to us if we can have impact beyond ourselves.

Starting point is 01:01:47 Meaning, yes, I want to cultivate my own personal curiosity to climb these mountains, but wouldn't it be much more meaningful if by doing that, we also could have sweeping impact at scale. Kids around health, as you all know, childhood obesity has been skyrocketing over the decades in our culture. Kids aren't getting outside. COVID has obviously dampered that from a mental health perspective.

Starting point is 01:02:06 And so we have a deep passion of inspiring young people to get outside, move their bodies, live active and healthy wives, equipping them with tools to answer that question, what's their efforts, but actually be able to chase that over their lives. And so again, we didn't know how we were going to do it. To go back to what you said about chapter four, we were not people who ran nonprofits yet, yet. That's the important distinction yet.

Starting point is 01:02:27 But we learned and we launched our nonprofit in 2016 called Beyond 7-2 and we started by speaking to school kids in classroom something I'm still passionate about. Of course, COVID's put a little bit of a damper on that in person over the last couple of years. But ultimately, we've had over a million students enrolled in our programs all throughout the world and various capacities.

Starting point is 01:02:45 Lighting up their minds through the imagination of adventure, sharing stories in real time, then being able to follow expeditions where I'm sending videos to classrooms and doing zooms and live things from the Drake Passage Robo, from the summit of Everest. But not just as a way for them to voyeur or watch me do this, but to actually say, Hey, I want to just lighting up these kids imagination with what I'm doing. And then very quickly being like, but let's talk about STEM. Let's talk about these crick-lums.

Starting point is 01:03:11 Let's talk about your goals, your aspirations, etc. So anyways, I could go on and on about this, but I appreciate you asking beyond 7, 2 is the name of our nonprofit organization and having that impact is really the driving force behind that. It's a driving force behind the 12 hour walk to extending beyond this. So this is a set at 10 times as podcast. I'll say it again, the 12 hour walk is free.

Starting point is 01:03:30 It's for anyone and it's because I am passionate about taking what I've learned about adventure, resilience, grit, et cetera, and giving that as a gift to the world of saying, Hey, I want to live in a world where more people have a possible mindset. That's the world that I want to live in. And so my everest is inspired 10 million people to take the 12 hour walk, not as a way of padding my ego or my resume, but just saying like, Hey, the more I want of my neighbors, friends, family, community, greater global community are taking on this

Starting point is 01:03:59 challenge and evaluating and looking deeper, that's going to have a ripple effect through their relationships, their communities, their communities, their Creativities, the things that people can bring into the world, a world that's lit up by people with that are inspired, that aren't settling for the Comfortable complacency of the four in the six and are really getting out to their comfort zone to grow, to evolve, and to thrive in the 12-houralk is an easy catalyst for that shift in that change. So, if the audience wants to connect with you, what are some of the best ways that they can do it? Yeah, so 12vowrWalk.com is headquarters for all things, 12-hour walk. Obviously, we'd love if you pick up the book, you can buy the book, 12-hour walk in any

Starting point is 01:04:38 place. Books are sold online, your local bookstore, etc. But the 12-hour walk, that's where you can sign up. If you sign up, get some emails from me, which are just me encouraging you along the way of your path of cultivating this possible mindset. And then, of course, on social media, you can check me out my personal Instagram.

Starting point is 01:04:54 I'm pretty active on. It's at callin' O' Brady. I have my own website callin' O' Brady.com. But come say hello, but more importantly, do me, but more importantly, do yourself a favor. Commit to the 12-wire walk, put it on your calendar. September 10th is going to be a very exciting day to cultivate the worldwide walk day, but put on your calendar any single day.

Starting point is 01:05:12 But take that step, that inertia. If you're kind of considering it in the moment, take 30 seconds right now, log into the website and pick a date. Just putting it on your calendar, just committing to it will make all of the difference. And I'm excited to interact with many of you as you go through this walk and we continue to cultivate possible mindsets all around the world.

Starting point is 01:05:33 We're calling, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It was truly an honor. And what you have done in life and are trying to encourage people to do is really what this whole podcast is about, which is getting them to be intentional about chasing their dreams.

Starting point is 01:05:48 Well, thanks for having me, and I'm excited to have you be a 12-hour walk finisher as well, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts and your feedback on the other side of this journey. Gotta get it done. I loved that interview with Colin O'Brady. A big thank you and shout out to Colin, Scribner, and Simon Schuster for giving me the honor

Starting point is 01:06:08 of interviewing Colin for this show and helping to release his new novel. Links to all things Colin will be in the show notes at passionstruck.com. Please use our website links if you buy any of the books from our guests because the proceeds go to supporting the show and making it free for you, our listener. Videos are on YouTube at JohnRMiles.

Starting point is 01:06:26 Advertiser, Deals, and discount codes are all in one place at cashinstruct.com slash deals. Please consider supporting those who support the show. I'm at JohnRMiles, both on Twitter and Instagram, and you can also find me on LinkedIn. And if you wanna know how I book all these amazing guests, it's because of my network. Go out there and build your network before you need it. And I also wanted to let you know that

Starting point is 01:06:48 the majority of our guests subscribe to this podcast and give us advice on topics for my solo episodes as well as recommendations for guests. Please join the PassionStruck community. You will be an amazing company. You're about to hear a preview of the Passion Struck Podcast interview I did with Dr. Valerie Young, who is the co-founder of the Imposter Syndrome Institute and the leading expert in the world on this subject. She is the author of the secret thoughts of successful women, why capable people suffer from imposter syndrome and how to thrive in spite of it. I mean, do you want to work for yourself? Do you want to work for

Starting point is 01:07:23 other people? Do you want to be in a team? Do you want to work for yourself? Do you want to work for other people? Do you want to be in a team? Do you want to work outside inside? Do you want to work in different parts of the country of the world at different times of the year? Do you want summers off? When you think of that that way, you figure out what do you want your life to look like? Then you come up with ways to generate income

Starting point is 01:07:39 that's going to allow you to have as much of that life as possible. Remember, we rise by lifting others. Share the show with those you love. And if you found this episode useful and you know someone out there who needs to discover their own Everest, please share it with your friends or family members.

Starting point is 01:07:55 In the meantime, please do your best to apply what you hear on the show so that you can live what you listen and we'll see you next time. Live life passion struck.

Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Colin O’Brady on How a 12-Hour Walk Can Transform Your Life EP 171

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