THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Conquer Your Everest & Unlock Your Best Life w/ Colin O’Brady

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

If you want to know what it’s like to CHALLENGE yourself under the most EXTREME conditions, you’re in for a treat this week.This episode will flat out HELP you with mental toughness, peace and resiliency. While simultaneously challenging your perspective on life.Colin is an American adventurer and one of the top professional endurance athletes in the world. He’s repeatedly proven it, setting a SEVEN SUMMITS speed record by climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. He also set the speed record for the EXPLORERS GRAND SLAM CHALLENGE, which adds reaching the North and South Poles to the Seven Summits challenge. He’s one of only about 50 people ever to complete this challenge. And he also set the speed record for the 50 US HIGH POINTS, completing that grind in just 21 days.What drives a person to test themselves like this?How can you take Colin’s bad-ass mindset and apply it to conquer the mountains in your life?Colin is going to tell you how he did it. You’ll learn a lot about what it takes to overcome MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY what many people think impossible. Listen to Colin’s take on the nature of discomfort and why people get stuck in a ZONE OF COMFORTABLE COMPLACENCY.   His story about climbing K2, the second tallest peak in the world, is RIVETING, especially knowing that many people die trying, including climbers Colin knows.You’ll also hang on every word about how Colin walked across hundreds of miles of ANTARCTICA over 54 days in sub-zero weather while hauling a 375-pound sled.For Colin, much of his success comes from trusting his GUT INSTINCTS and why it’s critical to focus on the story we tell ourselves. That AWARENESS OF SELF makes all things possible only when you make them the RIGHT STORIES.Some extreme challenges we look for, and others find us, like it or not.  After trying to jump a kerosine-soaked rope in Thailand, Colin burned his legs horribly and was told he might never walk again. Hear how he FOUGHT through the mental fear and physical pain on a long road to recovery.What mountains do you want to climb?Listen to how Colin has done it repeatedly and use his lessons to reach your own PEAK PERFORMANCE.

This is the Ed Milach Show. I welcome back to the show everybody. I am so excited. I have someone on the show this week that is, I've never had anybody like him on my show in the, you know, 400, 500 shows I've done. And I think the reason for is there's nobody like him actually on the planet Earth. And so to get this one dude on the show today, it's just an honor for me. Let me give you a little bit of background on this guy.

It's pretty incredible. Number one, May 27, 2016, he ends up setting a world record. He conquered with it called the Explorer's Grand Slam Challenge, which means this. Listen to this, you guys. He summited the tallest peak in each of the seven continents, including Everest, Sky, the last degree of the North and South Pole, less than 50 people have ever done this in the history of the planet Earth.

Only like a handful have ever done it in less than a year. This dude does it in 139 days. And he's like, yeah, the other thing, then he decides he's gonna go all the way across Antarctica, unmanned, like with no assistance, does that in a record time. And this is after, by the way across Antarctica unmanned, like with no assistance does that in a record time. And this is after, by the way, years before burning his feet and legs to the point where he was told he may never walk again. This dude's bananas, and I cannot wait to get in his head

and his heart to share his insights about how you can change your life. So Colin O'Brady, welcome to the show, brother. Ed, thanks for being here. Appreciate it, man. Yeah, by the way, new book out called The 12-Hour Walk, invest one day, conquer your mind, and unlock your best life.

So brother, I'm looking at all your stuff. And I'm like, first off, I thought I was gonna find it there's like six foot five, jacked. You know, I just, I don't know why this image, right? And I find out this is a very extremely fit man. But the depth of the things you talk about, we're so striking to me. And it sort of explains how you can achieve such extraordinary things with this mindset and heart that you have.

The first thing I want to ask you about, so I'm like, this is my guy. You talk a lot about how everything's temporary and that when you're going through these unbelievable physical and that when you're going through these unbelievable physical and mental challenges you're doing, that we can have a tendency to think the pain I'm in is going to last forever. So we will elaborate on that. I think it's just a light-flex. I've been talking about this exact thing a lot lately. The difference between me and you is you actually live it and do this stuff every single day. So let's just start right there. Yeah, no, it's it's funny what you said, I get that feedback sometimes. You're like, oh, it's not gonna be like six five, like huge

jagdune because I pulled a sled three hundred seventy five pounds by myself across Antarctica. People kind of like, I hope you don't take this the wrong way. But you kind of look like, I don't know, like a normal guy. That's right. It's funny, man. But you know what I love to say, I say, and I know you believe this too. The most important muscle any of us have is the six inches between our ears. It's our mind, right? It is, it is our minds. And we all, every single person has the ability to flex and develop that and that muscle, that muscle we can't so easily see with any other. But yeah, you know, I think it's interesting, this idea of pain or this idea of discomfort. You know, so often, I think in our lives, we are afraid of experiencing pain.

We hedge against it. So I've kind of started to think about life somewhat on the scale of one to 10. So one being our most painful, our most brutal kind of moments in life, you know, heartbreak. You lose a loved one. You know, you mentioned, I was severely burned in the fire and told I would be never walk again normally. These are ones, right? We know what these are.

Tens are the high-hacks, right? Falling in love for me, setting my world records. For you, you'll put your book out and absolutely slaying it. You know, big achievements, you know, whatever that is. That's a 10. You know, we want tens. But what I've realized, when I walk solo across Antarctica, you know, I get to the. But what I've realized when I walk solo across Antarctica, you know, I get to the other side, I've lost 50 pounds, I've been out there for 54 days alone, my beat up,

I'm brutal, and I touch that post on the other side becoming the first person history to do this. And it's a 10. And I realize I didn't experience my 10s because of my ones, in spite of my, excuse me, in spite of my ones, I experienced them because of my ones, in spite of my, excuse me, in spite of my ones, I experienced them because of my ones, because the willingness to take on that temporary discomfort, that temporary pain. And as you said, that shifts, problem is, it's too often I think everyone in our modern society,

so often we get stuck in what I call the zone of comfortable complacency between four and six, right? Between four and six. It's like, you know, I got this job, I don't love it, I don't hate it, I go every single day, I spend all my time doing it, it's just five, five, five, every single day, right? Or you're dating somebody, you've been together

for a few years, you're living together, it's not toxic, it's not abusive, it's not a one, but you're just kind of like going through the motions with this person, it's just a five, five, five. People get stuck in the zone of comfortable complacency because they are hedging so hard against the ones. I'm so afraid of experiencing a little bit of discomfort, a little bit of pain. But guess what? When you take the ones off the table, you also take the tens off the table. So for me, the conclusion of that thought is like for me,

when I experience those ones, when I experience those downsides, that hardship, that discomfort, I've learned to smile at them, realizing, I'm gonna embrace the ones, because guess what, I've done myself a favor. I have opened up the door to a 10. The one is temporary as the pendulum swings back to that peak arc of that 10.

Oh my gosh, brother. I'm so glad you're here. Like, I've never heard that in my life before. You can't get the tens without the ones. Has there been a time in all of your excursions, your explorations that was even like a 0.5, meaning like you were out? I mean, was it the Antarctica trip?

Was it the seven peaks? Was it the 50 highest deals you did, highest peaks and the US? Has there been a point where you're like, I gotta give in here. Has there been a moment like that that stands out above all of them? You know, I had something happen to me a year and a half ago,

I was in Pakistan in 2021, and I was attempting to be the first person history to climb K2 in winter. So K2 is the second tallest mountain in the world. So I've climbed Everest twice, K2 is the second tallest, but it's actually a lot more dangerous and a lot more difficult to climb than Everest. So much so that one in four people who summit K2 die trying. It's 25% fatality rate, super intense. And then I ratchet that it up, perhaps foolishly by trying to climb it in winter, which had never been climate for it's always been climate summer, but also not only most dangerous mountain, but

during the most dangerous brutal time, we're talking, you know, minus 70 degrees outside, 100 mile per hour winds, most difficult technical mountain in the world. And it's over there for that mountain takes about two months to climb. You got to climb up and down and stop camps. It's the whole kind of complicated thing. Very remote part of the world. And finally, on February 4th of 2021,

pushing for the summit. After two months, you know, I go up to the various camps. I'm getting to the highest camp in this very historic attempt. And it's too long a story to tell all the details, but long story short, my climbing partner, a day or two earlier had turned to me and he said, calm, I've gotten into wishing, I think I might die up here. I'm going to turn around. And we knew the stakes of this expedition.

And we said to each other at sea level, before we were tired and in the moment, whatever we said. If anyone has that feeling, there's no pressure on the other ones. Now, like, come on man, suck it up. It's like, yo, I respect your decision, but he says, calling your climbing, amazing. I've never seen you climb so strong, like you should go for it.

And there was a couple other climbing teams on the mountain. And so, I did, I kept climbing. And over the next two days, I tapped into the deepest flow state of my entire life. I've been in some powerful flow states where my body is just operating on another level, but this was like nothing. Every move was seamless. I was on these cliff sides of ice and rock where it dropped off 10,000 feet below me. There was no fear.

I was tapped in. I was dialed. I was completely inflow. 24,000 feet below me. There was no fear. I was tapped in. I was dialed. I was completely inflow 24,000 feet above sea level. It's middle of the night. And I'm playing a rest there for a few hours. Boil some water, get warm, put new socks on, and then go for this historic summit push through about 20 hours to the next night

and into the following morning. As I'm getting in my tent, I hear this rustling outside. I hear these other people rustling outside. I hear these other people rustling outside. And again, I knew the other people on the mountain. There's only a few people in the world that are attempting this. And at the end of the day, like, we're all friends, like, there's some competition. But it's like, you know, the best climbers in the world are attempting this thing. We've come friends. And I hear this rustling outside. And I heard something

about people going, what do you have the tent? No, you have the tent, right? Don't you have the tent? These guys are arguing the tent, right? Don't you have the tent? These guys are arguing with each other outside of my tent. It's middle of the night, minus 70. And they have made a mistake where that the lower camps, they thought one person put something in their backpack, the other person put something in a backpack. And before they know it, they're at 24,000 feet on K2

in the middle of winter, a number of people with no shelter. Or no shelter. I mean, it's like a dire, dire set of circumstances. And so they, they knock on my tent, call him, is that you in there? And I was in there with a couple of nepalese shepherds, friends of mine. And it's a tiny little tent. So three men tent were already in their shoulder-to-be shoulder. But I think, what can I do? Of course, I'm not going to let these guys stay out there in the middle of the night by themselves. And so I invite them in. And before I know it, there's seven guys

crammed into a three-man tent on the edge of this precipice on K2. And I think to myself, well, this doesn't good. Obviously, this is a bad deal. It was a bad situation. And then we start talking about the summit push. And they say to me, calling, this is a bad deal. I'm sorry about the tent situation,

but we're good to go. We're gonna rest for a couple hours and let's all go for it together. You're climbing a partner already, turn back. We can join forces. Like, you got here hours before any of us, you're climbing best of like any person on this mountain. Like, let's go for it.

Think of the headlines, think of the praise, think of the achievement, think of all this. And there was something inside of me. Look, I'm the guy who have pushed through all these hard things. You're introduction to me, you know, like the all things I've done at leading up this, I'm sort of living my brand is like the guy who pushes through when it gets hard. I close my eyes in this tent. I actually call home to my wife on a satellite phone, a crackly satellite connection to describe it to her and she goes, I trust you. Do follow your heart.

I believe in you. You're one of the best, you know, my best in the world. You got this. So I close my eyes in that moment. I go into a little bit of a meditation, a little bit of a breathing. I go deep, deep deep into my gut. And what my gut tells me is don't go. Don't go.

And I sat with that for a second. I don't go. I'm like, I who goes, don't go. And then I went one for a second, I don't go. I'm like, I who goes, don't go. And then I went one step further, I went to my ego, went to my ego and I said, okay, if I don't go and they go and they reach the summit, I'm picturing them on the global headlines, the praise, the sponsorships,

the, you know, external achievement side of this, can my ego handle that? Like am I prepared to have my ego handle that? Because I'm not going to cheer against my friends here. If they go, I'm going to say, hey, go smash it. I'm proud of you guys. So I played that out. I actually felt into that feeling. And the intuition still said, don't go. Don't go. And the second I made that choice and spoke it out loud, my entire body relax. I said, you know what? I got to get home to Jenna and Jack. Jack's my dog, Jenna's my beautiful wife. We're trying to start a family right now. I said,

at this moment, my intuition is calling me back home. After two months on this mountain, achievement just 20 hours away. The guys couldn't believe it. I tell them, I'm not going. I'm not going. They're like, what are you talking about? You're not, you're the guy. Well, you're not going. What's going on? You're not going. I said, I'm not going.

There's just something inside of me telling me not to go. I love you guys. I wish you well. I cannot wait to celebrate with you guys back down at Base Camp tomorrow after you slay this dragon. They step out of the tent. They climb through the night. I rest until sunrise, put on my climbing harness, climb all the way, you know, takes me hours,

hours, hours to climb them all the way back down a base camp. And we find out over the next 24 hours that five of my friends die on that mountain and never come home. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And. Oh my gosh. Your question was about turning back.

And I write about this story and let Richard detail on the 12-hour walk, my new book, from the perspective of intuition. I fundamentally believe the power of our minds, the strength of our minds. And one of those things is all sorts of pieces of mindset as you and I both well know. But one of them is intuition.

And more often than not, particularly with the big questions in life, and how the big questions don't have to be life or death on the side of the mountain, but big decisions, right? About love, about life, about inspiration, about purpose. We try to make all these to-do lists. We try to logic through it.

Should I do this? If I do A, mix B, and B, and B, and B, and B, and this, and ask all our friends, and C, and this, and ask all our friends and this, and that, and the other thing. But don't underestimate the power of the fact that you know. You actually know more often than not in these big decisions. And learning to trust my instincts and my God over time, save my life. 100%. Oh, and that's one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard in my life.

percent. Oh, and that's one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard in my life. So I did about no joke. I did about 12 to 15 actual hours preparing to talk with you. And the reason is is because I became so fascinated by you, I couldn't stop listening and reading and and you know downloading your mindset and your thoughts and and all that preparation. I never I knew this was in the book. I never thought that's what you would say when I asked you that question. That's what blows my mind because you are the go guy. You were that close, right? And thank God for that intuition. You're a remarkable guy. And God bless them. I'm sorry to hear about that loss. That's an incredible freaking story. I, um, I wonder when you're doing what you're doing, because this voice you listen to, right? And I think it's so profound that you went within.

And I feel like there's this thing in life and you talk about it so eloquently. I have to imagine you're good at this better than most, that we do listen to this voice. And oftentimes this voice is like a story we're telling ourselves about our life, right? And I just don't think most people are as cognizant of this story they keep telling themselves and how much they are actually just living out this story that they

tell themselves over and over again. I have to imagine you've taken control of that narrative in your life better than most people to have done what you've done. Talk a little bit about that story piece of our lives. So I'm a big believer in this. I think I've heard you say this on social and I always smile every time that I encounter people that believe this because we're kindred spirits in this way, which is we are the stories we tell ourselves.

We are the stories we tell ourselves. But guess what? You get to choose what story that is, right? You get to choose. Look, I grew up poor. I grew up with very little resources. I figured out a way to say, I still want to climb Mount Everest. I still want to achieve these goals. I still want to figure out how to get myself an education. I got myself in the Yale University when I was 17 years old from a public school kid with no money, important organ. And I've had a great influence, my mother's a strong influence in my life.

It's been helpful to help build this mindset, a mindset that I call a possible mindset, an empowered way of thinking and locks a life of limitless possibilities. But I'll tell you a story about the stories we tell ourselves. So in 2018, I get this idea that I wanna become the first person in history to cross an article solo.

Just incredible. I've had said a few world records at this point, but the next thing for me, I always like to ask people, what's your Everest? My first Everest was climbing Everest. That was my childhood dream, but I summit at Everest. At 30, no, my Earth 30 years old, like, well, when I do a kick my feet up and do nothing for the rest of my life, like, what's my next Everest? And when I got fascinated by it, I was continuing to push my body, a lot of my creative expression

in the world comes through sort of these physical pursuits. And I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to try to do something that not just a record that nobody in history has ever done before? So I spent a year training and planning and preparing and getting ready to go do this solo in article crossing, something that people have been trying for a hundred years. Something that people had died trying, some people had failed trying. I take this interview with the New York Times and it's, you know, a big interview for me. You know, hey, I'm going to attempt this thing. No one's done it. My project's called The Impossible First. And on the same day, across the ocean in London, a British

badass Navy SEAL kind of guy in Captain Lewis Rudd takes basically the same day, across the ocean, in London, a British badass Navy SEAL kind of guy in Captain Lewis Rudd takes basically the same interview with the London Herald, but we don't know about each other. And so these two articles come out on the same day effectively and they both say, American Colin O'Brady aims to be the first person across an article solo. And then London says, British polar explorer,

badass military dude, Lewis Rudd, is attempting to become the first person in history to cross Antarctica solo. We cross reference zone goes, wait, is that a race? Because here's the thing. People don't realize it's bad in Antarctica. We know it's super remote part of the world. There's no one down there.

But there is one season, the summer, the Antarctic summer, where it's only minus 40 instead of minus 100, that you can do this crossing. And there's also only one dude with one plane that can take you to the edge of the Antarctic continent. And so we both called, of course, the one dude. The way, dude, no way. We find ourselves, we find ourselves,

shoulder to shoulder, one week after this. In a cargo plane sitting shoulder to shoulder to get dropped off on the edge of the frozen continent. No longer just racing history, but about to race 1,000 miles, mono, we mono head to head, each point of 375 pounds led behind us with all of our food and fuel, which was going to be nowhere near enough to survive, but, or enough to feed ourself properly, but to barely survive. So I look over at Lou, and this guy, this dude, is like, I know about him.

I know he's one of the most famous polar explorers in the world, way more experienced than I am at this point. And he's just a badass. He's a special forces, British military dude. And I look over at him, and I'm trying to not talk myself out of this race before it even starts, but I can't help, I'm intimidated. And I say to him, Hey, gentlemen,

disagreement, how about we don't get dropped off right next to each other? Because if we're literally right next to each other, that thousand mile race, like, this is going to be ridiculous. And I say to him, how about we get dropped off one mile away from each other, but equal distance to the first way point. So it's same distant, but just we're not like literally standing next to each other. We start and he goes, yeah, yeah, fine. So this title little cargo plane lands

on the frozen continent, edge of the frozen continent. I hop out, I get my three and 75 pounds set out. And the plane's little cargo plane, it doesn't even take off. It just drives across the ice for about a mile. Oh, oh, oh. And I see this dude jump out. I can see him, you know, it's like,

I can hardly get you can see forever. So I just like, I can see him. It's like right there. My eyes will always stand next to me. Anyways, I kind of wave to each other and that's the official like, okay, ready to go. I pull up my GoPro, I try to say something like ridiculous and profound like a journey of a thousand miles,

pretend like I'm earned a shackle dinner or something like that. We did it, that's right, try it. And I put my harness on, we got this harness that's connected to my sled. The reason it's so heavy is because they're doing something called unsupported. So no resupplies, a food or fuel along the way completely self-supported, which means whatever you take with you in the beginning is all that you have for a thousand mile journey. Just crazy.

And I had trained as hard as I could, trained my body, trained my mind, was ready to go, put this harness on and I begin to start pulling the sled and I pull into it and I'm like I can't move it. I can't move it. And I'm like okay shake it off shake it off you're fine. I just had early nerves whatever. I try to pull it again. I can pull it 10 feet. 10 feet. I'm like what's I did I not train while I was on my sit or someone like start second-guessing myself right that's that negative story my head starts to like come up. I finally take about an hour and I've moved like a quarter mile like in these like 10 foot 20 foot like spurts And I start crying. I just fall apart and I start crying

But what happens when it's minus 30 degrees outside and you start crying? The tears they start freezing your face. Oh, it's amazing, man. Which is like, if you want to know the all time most pathetic feeling in the world, it's being alone in the middle of nowhere, the frozen tears on your face. Like, you and sorry for yourself. I thought it couldn't get any worse. And I thought, okay, misery loves company. I knew the sled was going to be the heaviest on the first day because as you eat food

and you burn fuel, obviously, it gets a little bit light on compound light or every single day. And so I think what's happening with Captain Lew? I finally decided to look over in his direction. I look over to the right thing and he must be struggling too. Instead, I see a full military man in uninterrupted March, goose goose goose goose goose goose goose, disappearing across the horizon gone. He's not having any issues. He's gone. So I pull out my satellite foam. My wife has just been my rock throughout my entire life and we've built and built these projects together and dream these things out. Not just a loving partner, but a business partner, and just a co-co-dreamer, co-conspirator, and all of our dreams. I pull out the phone,

I call her, and she answers, she goes, well, why call me? Did you just start? And I said, I guess I said, we named her project the impossible first. I said, well, babe, I think we named our project the right thing. This is for sure impossible. For somebody talking about, I was like, I can't even pull my sled like 10 feet at a time. Oh my gosh. So she says to me, she goes, this is good wisdom. She says, forget about the race. Forget about the external pressure of, you know, the New York Times where people are watching you do this or whatever, because I was just embarrassed, man. I was embarrassed, right? Like, yeah, I told people I could do this and I thought, you know what, I might fail on the 30th or 40th or 50th day. And I know that you appreciate this spirit, which is,

I literally thought it might be impossible. You know, like doing badass stuff that you don't exactly know how you're gonna pull it off. Like that's the entrepreneurial spirit. That's how amazing stuff gets created in the world. But I'll be honest, I didn't think I was gonna fail on the first day. I thought I might fail day 50. That was a cable set.

So anyways, she says, do me a favor. Just get to the first way points. Another half a mile. Drag your sled there somehow. Set up your tent, get inside your tent, reset, rest, get your mind right, and tomorrow's a new day. Just make a little bit more progress. So I did exactly that. And I go to bed that night.

It's 24 hours of daylight in Antarctica. And so it's kind of a bizarre thing. I'm asking on it, it feels like it's high new in the entire time. It's crazy, very disorienting. But I set my alarm for 5 a.m. to get up early and get a fresh start on the day. Alarm goes off. And I joke around, I say, well, who is in the sled? Who is in the tent with me? It's not Captain Lou. He didn't come back to check on me. He was thought he had the dust in me. I was crammed into that tent with the five worst versions of myself. Of course, I was sitting there, but you know, proverbially,

there was five other versions of me in there. Colin, you suck, man. Colin, how embarrassing. Colin, you told everyone you're going to do this. You are, you are miserable. And this is the most embarrassing thing of your life. You're not strong. You're not capable.

You suck, man. All of these different versions of me, just beating up on myself. And you asked, we are the stories we tell ourselves. In that moment, I was telling myself the most negative story I could possibly tell. And I was grasping for straws, but I know I believe this before this expedition, we are the stories we tell ourselves and we get to choose. And I could barely cut through the chatter in my own brain and my own mind in this moment.

And so I literally got up out of my sleeping bag and got out of my tent into the minus 30 degree cold, put my arms as wise I could and not just in my head, but out loud to myself in the endless Antarctica abyss. I yelled, Colin, you are strong. You are capable. I kept yelling that you are strong. You are capable trying And I kept yelling that. You are strong. You are capable. Trying to drown out the noise of this.

And look, it's not like it made the next day super easy or the day after that. But it started to rewrite my mindset. It started allowing me to be a little more gentle on myself. It started to by the end, by day four, by day five, by day six. I started writing, calling. The story story is you're strong and capable and you can make it across this continent. My gosh, bro. And that's the difference, man. We have the choice. We are the stories. We tell ourselves, but that story has not been written by somebody else. That story's been written by you. You get to decide.

by somebody else, that story's been written by you. You get to decide. I'm so grateful I'm here right now. Just so I wanna know, I just wanna tell you what it's like in my body right now. I'm just really grateful I'm here with you right now. It's really interesting. A lot of people men say really inspiring things. You actually did and lived this.

You actually did this. It's bananas. And I'm just so grateful. Like any of you listening to this that are telling yourselves these stories and you get the five worst versions of you, imagine if he can change where he was. By the way, let's just do a little spoiler alert here.

And then we're gonna get into the 12 hour walk because it's connected to this. But what ends up happening between you and him? What ends up happening? Okay. You know, the spoiler alert is, I do pass him. I do, I do end up winning the race 54 days later, I get to the other side of the Antarctic continent. And the 12 hour walk is connected to a moment on day six. You know, I'll just share that briefly as we talk about this new book. And really, I want

everyone listening to realize this new book that I have I've written a whole book is New York Times just telling memoir about the impossible first about the Antarctica crossing which is implicitly inspiring in the ways it is as a storytelling and it's exciting if you're in tune checking that out. But my new book the 12-hour walk what I'm so excited by is that it's core I'll entertain the hell out of you. It's got inspiring stories it's edge of your seat it's page turning but this isn't a book about me. I'm not the hero of this story. You, the reader, you, the listener are the hero of this story. This is a book that is a call to action that invites you to take on something that is accessible out your front door that in one day will change your life for the better. And as a subtitle of the book says,

invest one day, conquer your mind, and unlock your best life. I'm inviting you, and we'll talk more about this on a 12 hour walk by yourself, alone, no music, no podcast, right out your front door, to go deep into your mind, your psyche, but the way, and again, I know we'll loop back on that, but the way that that came to be,

I told my wife, even once she gave me this great wisdom in an article, get to the next way point, reset. I told her 10 hours is the furthest I could ever, ever pull this dampsled. It's just too heavy. She goes, I'm looking at the spreadsheet, you don't have enough food for going in only 10 hours.

You're not making it far enough. Can you go in here for a bagel? No, I love you. And I appreciate you're trying to bring out the best of me. But I am that that is my limit. That is my absolute limit of what is possible for me. And on day six, to my complete and utter surprise in the midst of a white out, I spot a tent in the distance. I can't believe it. I'm pretty sure there's no one else wandering around the building. I'm like, I've actually found this guy. You know, like in the case of somebody else, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, unzipping of the tent and Captain Luke pops his head outside. And he starts kind of waving at me slow. Like he's the king of England or something like that.

And I continue on, try to kind of ignore it, keep my head down. And it's really hard to navigate in a white out and anortica. It's like if you were walking down our hallway if your eyes closed, you're going to smack into the wall pretty quick as humans without visual cues. Like you can't walk in a straight line. So I'm staring down at this compass,

one step to the right, one step to the left, trying to stay in a straight line. It's so disorienting. A few hours later, I look behind me. And what do I see? I see Captain Little 100 feet behind me, but he's got no compass out. He's just staring at me, letting me navigate

the white out for it, just chilling. Just chilling. He's chilling. He got to give him credit, man. The wily polar veteran has a few tricks up his sleeve and he's playing with me right that moment. So I'm frustrated and I slow down. I'm making for some to come up to me and he comes up beside me and he looks, you know, he goes, he's all chipper actually, all cheerleading chipper.

He's like, hey, good morning, mate. Like, hey, how are you doing? You know, I've got a bit of a suggestion for you. I'm like a suggestion. Like, we're out here in this battle, battle of all battles. You got to say, a friendly suggestion for me. And I stop him there and I say, Lou, I don't wish any ill will. We know someone's died trying this. Battle of all battles got said Jeff friendly suggestion for me and I stop him there and I say Luke I don't wish any real will and we know someone's died trying this. I don't want something bad to happen But let this be the last time we speak and in my mind I'm thinking there's no way He's like just offering some friendly advice them. I don't know. I like let this be the last time we speak

He's got this eye mask on you know our faces are completely covered because any exposed skin We get frostbite in like two minutes. So he pulls off his full uncovered face mask so I can see his eyes and just looks his eyes. Where is them into me? And he just goes, suit yourself. As if he's like, you know, it was going to like give me the keys. All right, suit yourself. Fine. But I'm determined. I'm like, well, this is the last time wherever we're going to speak. I'll see you later. But the funny thing about saying see you later, But the funny thing about saying see later, the guy who's also pointed 300 pounds of letters, I'll see you later.

We're like walking like one step and we're headed in the same direction. Oh, you're like, I'm freaking shoulder to shoulder. I'm gonna say, I'll see you later. Don't talk to me. An hour goes by, he's right next to me.

That's not seven hours in a day. Eight hours goes by, we're still shoulder to shoulder. If someone was watching this, what are these two dudes doing? Like we's right next to me. That's not seven hours into the day. Eight hours goes by, we're still shoulder to shoulder. If someone was watching this, what are these two dudes doing? Like we're right next to each other, middle and middle, no, we're like pretending like the other one's not there.

Wow. Nine hours goes by and I think to myself, I am not gonna stop until I finish in front of him. So it no longer matters to me how much time is on the clock. I'm just gonna go an hour further than he goes. 10 hours goes by, my limit. I could never pull my sled more than 10 hours what I just told my wife. I could never he goes. 10 hours goes by. My limit, I could never pull my sled more than 10 hours, what I just told my wife, I could never do that. 10 hours goes by. I'm determined to keep going. 10 and a half hours goes by. Determine to keep going. 11 hours

goes by. Determine to keep going. He finally reaches down and he pulls out his tent. And I think, I've got him at least for today. I'm going to go one more hour. And so I push one more hour, 12 hours that day. And it's like, get into my tent that night. My wife realized what my wife had told me before, Colin, if you want to stay in front, but more importantly, if you actually want to get to the other side without running out of food, having to get evacuated from there, you got to go further. And so I said to myself, well, if I went 12 hours once,

can I do it again tomorrow? Can I do it again through on the third day on the fourth day? And I went 12 hours every single day without taking a break for the next 48 days in a row. A recalibration of the limits within me. And so the 12 hours themselves are built upon this, but there's a more of connected tissue to the so-called real world side of the speaker. My body got so weak out there,

like I said, I lost 40, 50 pounds, something like that. I had frostbite on my face. I was, my wife didn't even recognize me when I got home because I was so skinny. My mind got stronger. I had deleted almost all my music, all my podcasts. I spent this time in these flow states, exploring the deep, deep interior of my mind got stronger. I had deleted almost all my music, all my podcasts. I spent this time in these flow states, exploring the deep, deep interior of my mind.

I was afraid and I was frightening and scary at first. But ultimately what I found was bliss and peace and a connectedness to what I call infinite love, call it spirit, call it God, call whatever you want, the universe. I felt the oneness of humanity, although I was the most lonely, a solid two person on the entire planet.

And the last week, last 10 days in this flow state of solitude of these 12 hours, I felt connected to my wife, to my family, to love, to infinite love in a way that I had never felt before completely full up. As my body got weaker, my mind got stronger and more connected to my deepest and through his purpose. And it was beautiful, man. It was beautiful. Oh, and that's amazing. You, uh, I want to keep going on this. Uh, do you believe that that? So what you talk about, that story, I'm just watching these two dudes just like inching next to each other and not talking that just blows my mind and then somehow the competitive spirit, whatever it is,

recalibrates the limits. I hope everyone's listening or watching today, thinking through their own life through your prism. That's where the lessons lie. It's not in, you can very easily get caught up and call and story about how remarkable it is and his incredible ability to tell stories. But I think for the rest of

the show everybody is you're listening to this man's stories. I want you thinking about yours as you hear his because that's where the lessons are. That's with your own limitations. The stories you're telling yourself, the five versions of you, the first question he asks in the book and I'm working on, I'm not going to go through all of it in the book is, what's your Everest? What's your Everest? And by the way, for me, it was really interesting. I said, I know. And then I started to read the chat from like, you know what? I don't know if I'm as clear on my overall life Everest as I could be. And I'm a guy who does this kind of with people for a living. And the reason that I mentioned this to everybody is I think the walk may be connected

to you getting clearer about your Everest. The walk to me, Colin, is like a metaphor for time with self. And you talk in the book, is like a metaphor for time with self. And you talk in the book, and you can, you can weave this however you want into the book. But you talk about one of the great gifts of all these explorations you've had and the meditation you do is awareness of self. Yes. And I feel like, man, like, there's this story that we tell ourselves, which is this version we've created of us. But then there's all these distractions, there's our worries. There's our fears. There's technology and the technology of

the TV, the social media, the relationships when our angst, our financial issues, all this. They're all really diversions of awareness of self. There's millions of things sort of collaborating to distract us from ourselves. And I think that's the profound power of this book, is that it fights against that. So talk about awareness of self and how it's tied into the profound nature of the book and the work you do. Totally.

And I love what you said at the top of that comment, which is, I share these stories. I don't need to be patted on the back. Oh, Colin, you did this. You walk across an article. The reason I'm passionate about storytelling and sharing them ways is is because of you, because of you, the listener, because of you, the reader of the book. This is only my one shared experience. And guess what's amazing about life? We all have epic stories. We all have a life

story that we're living and that we're authoring. We all have so much to learn from each other. In the 12-hour walk, the book, the concept, the call to action, the global movement, this is about you and I'll get into how that connects. So I get back from Antarctica and I'm riding high, man. Not just a bunch of external praise, made millions of dollars, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But when I say I'm riding high, just emotional. I'm just good spiritually in a good place with myself.

That self-awareness is just, wow, open up my eyes. A bunch of good things happen for the next couple years. I do another world record where I row a boat across Drake Passage, the most dangerous stretch of ocean in the world. Big Discovery Channel documentary. My next book becomes a New York Times best sell. Things are going well for me.

And then COVID hits. And then COVID hits. March of 2020, I'm on the middle of that book tour, canceled. I've got a big expedition in a pall that's gonna be film all things canceled. Not gonna pretend my expedition, my book tour being canceled or at least the world's problems in this moment. People are dying, you know, people the borders are closing.

But I'm locked now in my house. Can put you different than the path that I thought that I was walking down, disrupted, like we all were, March, April, May, 2020. We all remember that moment, right? Yeah. My wife and I go to the Oregon coast. My family has a small cabin,

and that's where we spend our time locked down, start dog me and my wife. And at one point, my wife looks over at me, and she's not used to seeing this side of me, but she goes, I'm worried about you. So what are you talking about? She goes, con, you haven't changed out of your pajamas in three days.

And you're literally just sitting there doing scrolling social media in the news. Every five minutes I'm announcing, did you see the board is closing here? Did you see this person died? I'm so worried about my grandparents. I'm sure my parents are not just in this spiral of fear. And it was an crazy time, right?

And a very uncertain anxiety is time. But I had completely lost that center of myself that I had found in Antarctica. And I had gone down this path of anxiety, of fear, of just not feeling centered. And she was right. Again, my wife, just my anchor, my rock. She was right. And so I sat with myself that day and I said, one was the last time that my wife just my anchor, my rock. She was right.

And so I sat with myself that day and I said, when was the last time that I felt connected to self, peaceful, less anxietyous? And I said, crazy enough, despite the minus 40 degree temperatures in this 70-prime or winds in my face, whatever, it was those last 10 days in Antarctica. What was I doing during that time? Well, I guess I was just walking alone in silence.

And so I said to my wife, maybe this sounds ridiculous, but she always laughs because you see me do so many ridiculous, they seemingly ridiculous things. I say, I'm going to be gone all day tomorrow. She goes, okay, it's a lockdown. Like, where are you going? I said, I'm just going to walk out the front door. I'm going to walk for, I don't know, 12 hours.

I'll see you at dinner. Just like I did in Antarctica. She said, great. So I walk out my front door that next day, 20 minutes into the walk, my front door that next day, 20 minutes into the walk, my phone buzzes in my pocket. My best friend is texting me about something. I pull my phone out and about to text him back. And I think to myself, like, what am I doing? I've been doing scroll my news. I've been staring at my social media. I've been

in my notifications and all this kind of stuff. I don't need my phone today. So I put it on your play mode. And for the next 12 hours, I walk in silence, no music, no podcasts, no inputs. I take breaks, I rest, but I'm alone with my thoughts this entire time. And I walk back in the door of this cabin, my dog jumps up on me, and my wife goes to your back. And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I told you, you know, I was coming back around dinner time

and she goes, no, no, you're back, you're back. She could just see it. I hadn't even said a word, but she just, my spirit was back. And I said, you're right. This is the best that I've felt in a long time. Now, to be honest, I didn't think too much of it because I thought to myself, great, I'm the guy who walked to Crest in Artica and walked all this time and I spent this time alone. I like it was a good check in, a good reset. For me, I'm proud. Happy about that. But because COVID kept on folding, we had so many friends as we all did. Friends, colleagues, family members who were going through hard times. And I just started mentioning this to people, hey, I know this might sound crazy, but

turn my phone off and went outside for 12 hours and walked by myself. Maybe you should try it. And before I knew it, all sorts of people started taking me up on this. People were young, people old, my 77-year-old mother-in-law. And her 12 hours had taken as many breaks as you want. Her 12-hour walk with like her walking one time around her Block then sitting on her front porch in silence for an hour and then taking another walk she may be covered a mile my crazy old Tramerathon friend and 50 miles of walking through the San Francisco hills and whatever Either one of them is doing the 12-hour walk better than the other one I don't care if you walk for one mile or 50

It's about committing to one day of the stillness and the silence of your own mind. And now I've had thousands and thousands and thousands of people from all over the world because there's like 40 or 50 countries already, every continent, you know, people have done this walk. My goal is to inspire 10 million people to take this walk. But what all those different people have in common, and hopefully those listening are fascinated or curious about this for themselves. Is that young old fit, not so fit, you know, in a great place in their life and not so great place in their life?

By taking this 12 hours, people have that awareness. They have that reset. And the book, the book is written through this lens of something you talked about before, which is limiting beliefs. The book is broken down into these 10 most common limiting beliefs, because I asked this question of so many people and I know you've done this in your work, Ed.

I asked this question, what's holding you back from living your best life? What's holding you back from being your best self? And I've asked that to thousands of people. And you would think you asked one question that thousands of people maybe get thousands of answers. It turns out you just get the same few answers over and over and over again. And the question is, here's what's holding me back, Colin.

I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time. I'm not strong enough. What if I fail? What if people criticize me? I don't have the answer myself inside. And so the book breaks down those 10 most common limiting beliefs, but through the lens of the walk, the answer, the antidote to all of those things actually lies within you. And by taking 12 hours, I'm not vilifying technology. Technology is allowing me to have this conversation with you and for millions of people to hear it. We do and I both embrace storytelling on social

media and things like that. But, but, but, If you never take a break ever, if you never take a moment to not distract yourself, as you mentioned, Ed, by all of these things that we have swirling, you fail to know yourself. And so the 12 hour walk is an invitation. One day, it might sound like a long time, but the sun's going to come up tomorrow, and it's going to set before you know it. In that amount of time, you can fundamentally change your life. It is free. It's right outside your front door. I've created an app and a website that helps support all that 12 hour walk.com. I become your accountability partner, but it's literally free and accessible for any person. Like I said, take as many breaks as you want. But the person that you will be when you walk back in that front door,

as Jenna, my wife said to me, you're back. You will find yourself or that purpose again, and it is simple but profound. The depth of the programming on this call is so profound. I am. We weren't designed to be like we are right now. We weren't designed to be in these little boxes. We weren't designed to be getting input all the time. We weren't put together this way as humans yet we function this way. And this limiting belief part of the book is profound. It's actually part two of the book and it goes through, you know, I hate being uncomfortable. I don't have enough money. I don't have all these different things. And, you know, you really are, you can begin to believe all these limiting beliefs

when you're not aware of yourself. But when you actually do things, there's two things about your work that blow my mind, one the walk. I have to tell you that I was preparing for this interview. I decided to take a walk getting ready to read the 12 hour walk. I love that. Right, so I live at the beach and I walked

and it's a beautiful view. I didn't get a hundred yards without grabbing my phone. And all these different reasons I grabbed it. It did buzz with the text. Then I'm like, I gotta get a picture of that wave right there. Wait a minute. This would be a great social media post right here. I couldn't get 100 yards.

And I'm thinking, what, and then I finally said, can you do this favor? I haven't read your book yet at that time. I'm like, can you walk for this end of the freaking beach to the other end of the beach without grabbing your phone? And just that was a gift to me. Just that alone with my steps, I could hear my breathing. I looked at my feet in the sand.

By the way, I could have been in the park anywhere. The next week, I'm in Central Park. I was doing good morning America. And I had done the show. I'm like, I'm just going to go take a walk. And it felt incredible to keep my phone in my pocket. And now from now on, I'm going to take it with me sometimes. Never mind a 12 hour walk.

So there's two things about your work. When I think pushing yourself to these places, you don't think you could go. You then learn things about you. You didn't know. So that's one part of your work. This extreme, see if I can go do this. Not enough of you listening to this or seeing if you can go do something.

Not knowing you can. Not being completely prepared. Just seeing if you can go do this, not enough of you listening to this or seeing if you can go do something, not knowing you can, not being completely prepared, just seeing if you can go do something, you will learn so many things and become so much more self-aware. And then ironically, the other part of that from that walk at Antarctica is this idea of just unplugging. And so what would you, I just want to make sure I give my stamp on both parts of it, because I think they're connected, but they're different, right? What if you had never pushed yourself to an extreme? I'm just curious, you burned your legs in your feet.

And by the way, he's in this hospital, it's unsanitary, his catwalking over his body, like, and again, his mom comes and what if after that? Because he decides, by the way, I just got to give this away to everybody. It blows my mind. He's like, his mom says, what's your ever? It's basically, well, he's laying there. And he's like, I don't way, I just got to give this away to everybody. It blows my mind. He's like, his mom says, what's your everest, basically, well, he's laying there. And he's like, I don't know, I'm never gonna get out of here.

I'm never gonna walk again. And I'll just speak at four call call and says, I'll do a triathlon. 18 months later, this dude does a triathlon after he was told he could never walk again. And he freaking wins it. He freaking wins the triathlon. It's insane.

And then you've gone on, what if you had never pushed yourself, never known what you were cable because there's a lot of people calling to go through this whole life and the five six range, never knowing what they're capable of. What if you had never done that in your life? How much different do you think you would be? Your marriage would be. You as a person would be. If you had never done that in your life, how much different do you think your marriage would be? You as a person would be.

I mean, I don't know if you ever sit back and think about that. What if I'd never seen what I was capable of? It's such a powerful and an important question. And I'm smiling because it just strikes at the heart of what I'm passionate about sharing what I've shared about those ones and tens. People have asked me, and it's a different question, but it's come from the same place of, I was 22 years old. The reason I got burned this fire was I jumped a flaming jump rope.

I was on a beach in Thailand, 22 years old, clearly not a fully formed prefrontal cortex. And I saw a couple guys with a carousine, so jump rope. And I was like, gee, that looks like, far and wide could possibly go wrong here. Right. And I wrapped that rope around my body, lit my fire looks like far and what could possibly go wrong here. Right. And I wrapped that rope around my body, lit my fire completely on, lit my body on fire

to my neck and I thankfully was near the ocean, jumped in the ocean, saved my life, but not before about 25% of my body was burned, as you mentioned, predominate my legs and feet. And Dr. Stato would never walk again, and I spent months in rural Thai hospitals. I was in a wheelchair, all these things, right? People have asked me, well, if you could go back in a time machine and whisper to

your 22 year old self, would you tell them not to jump the jump rope? And it's an interesting question because the knee joint response is, of course, don't jump the jump rope. Don't light your body on fire. And I wouldn't wish the physical pain of that injury on my worst enemy. And I'll tell you what was worse than the physical pain was the emotional trauma, not only that I suffered. My mom, thank God, she saved me from that mess, but she also had to stare and see her child severely burned

in a place where no one spoke the language in the middle of nowhere that she couldn't move and the hurt that that caused her and my family. So on one hand, I wouldn't want to cause that hurt to anyone in my family. But here's the thing. I learned some of life's most valuable lessons from the resilience gain to recover from that, from having that specific goal, at least for me, which was a triathlon.

And so that's all to say, I sit here with 10 world records and we're not talking about the 10 world records that I set before I stupidly burn myself in a fire and screwed up my entire life. I set those records after that burn. And I only could have walked across an article if I had burned myself in the fire. And forget about the external achievement. I love that you brought up marriage into this. I show up for my wife with love and compassion and grace. And I don't always get it right. I'm not perfect, but I am a better person

because I have sought out what the limitations and the challenges and I've suffered some. And so it's a weird thing. I know you were, I was just listening to your most recent episode with Eric, the hip hop preacher. I love that dude. What a guy. And you're saying that you just listening to your most recent episode with Eric, the hip hop preacher, love that dude, what a guy. And you're saying, you're saying to him, he's like, you know, he's, he's been homeless and he's been in the four seasons, you know, he's been illiterate and he's got a PhD. There is something about pushing the edges of what we're capable of in any given

moment that teaches us so much about life. And that's why people ask me, even after I share a story about five of my friends dying, five of my friends dies. There's not a day that goes by, I tear up often still, 18 months later, thinking about the tragedy of that moment that I share. And people sometimes ask me, they say,

hey, come on, aren't you afraid of dying? I think about it. Yeah, I'm afraid of dying. I'm super afraid of dying. This think about it. Yeah, I'm afraid of dying. I'm super afraid of dying. This life is such a gift. I am afraid of dying. But you know what I'm more afraid of? I'm afraid of not living. I'm afraid of not living. And just sitting there in that five day after day after day, and never seeing what you're capable of, and never seeing what you're capable of and never seeing what you can create and never feeling into your full potential Even if to feel into that hurts a little bit for a moment in time those ones those two's those threes

That is the juice of life That's the spice and the 12 hour walk even the walk itself is a metaphor for this experience Guess what if you walk for 12 hours even if you take a ton of breaks, your feet are going to get tired at some point. You might be a little bit out of your comfort zone in terms of bring some food with you, bring some water. It might be a little dehydrated. You might get a blister on your foot. You might be tired. You might think to yourself, I hate being alone. This is uncomfortable. Yes, you are likely going to experience some ones and two, some threes on that day. But how many five days over the last 365 can you not even remember? What you do last

Tuesday, what you do a month ago, what you do two months ago, there are so many days in our life that don't even imprint and register in our memory because they're just eh, because you're not alive, you're not fully living. You take this 12 hour walk, you're going to seek some of this comfort. It is going to be challenging at times, but I guess, guess, guess who, what? If I asked you a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, have you ever walked very far? You know what? 10 years ago, I did walk by myself alone in sounds. It's not going to be a five day. You're going to feel some one, some two, some three, but every person I know to get back to their front door, every person I know that wakes up in their bed the following day of the few sore muscles. This is a seven. It's an eight more often than not.

A nine, a 10. Thank you. I felt alive. I am not afraid of, as afraid of dying as I am afraid of not living. Oh my gosh. Come on. Again, I just have to tell you I'm so grateful. I'm sure on this time with you brother.

You like I feel exact same man. So when you're talking, I think about this thing I say often, which is extremity expands capacity. When you do something to what you think is an extreme, you expand your capacity to do extreme things, even if they don't seem very significant to you. And then I think about this might be an ironic thing I just wanted to tell you when I was prepping and take this the right way. And I know that I just say it the way I mean it.

I don't know. No grain salt. This is a dude who struggled to jump this the right way. And I know that I just say it the way I mean it. I don't know. No grain salt. This is a dude who struggled to jump rope with some fire, right? I know you were a college swimmer, but it's just the same dude who couldn't jump rope with fire that almost ended his life is now doing world records across Antarctica, climbing peaks, doing the grand slam. So it's amazing. I think oftentimes we think, well, I'm not very good at something now.

So I'll like never be good at it. Well, this is a dude who didn't even jump rope correctly when he was 22 years old. I know there was fire with it and all that. But then to think that same dude is now the dude shattering all these records that literally no physical living human being has ever done before is a dude

who couldn't get the jump rope thing right when he's 22 in Thailand. Do you ever think about that like that proves extremity expands capacity right? I'll go one step further, which is after the analytic cropping, I had a lot of the doors open to me. There was so much press media, two billion media impressions, it was most widely viewed expedition in modern history. And of course, that's going to open some doors, right? And it was a beautiful experience, a beautiful moment in time that I'm deeply humbled and grateful for, was able to build a very successful and lucrative series of businesses on the back of that, et cetera, et cetera.

But I decide that Paris-London's what's your next expedition? I get this idea to row a boat across Drake Passage. So a row boat, tiny little row boat, for people who don't know Drake Passes is most treacherous stretch of ocean in the entire world. So a row boat, tiny little row boat, for people who don't know, Drake Passage is the most treacherous stretch of ocean in the entire world. So from the southern tip of South America, all the way to Antarctica, 750 miles, it's where the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Ocean all converge.

And that convergence of those ocean currents creates like 40 foot waves. And there's icebergs. It's freezing cold. I mean, it's insane. There's been a laundry list of thousands of boats that have shipwrecked in Drake Passage, but not just like 100 years ago. 10 years ago, a cruise ship sunk in the middle of Drake Passage. That's how it crates.

Like, that's a modern time cruise ship, still sunk in Drake Passage. And I'm thinking, I'm gonna get a couple of buddies and we're gonna row a boat, no motor, no sail, 28-foot-long, three-foot-wide, two-feet-off-the-water's-edge, and open hole. So we're getting crashed the entire time. So I go to discuss Discovery Channel, it's like, I want to film your next thing, whatever

it is, tell me what it is. So I go to them and I say, well, next thing is a robot crossing a straight passage, no one's ever done it. And it's like, great, great, great. They they sign this big, you know, seven figure check to produce the whole thing and pay, you know, hold whatever. And great, great, great. It's going gonna be awesome.

I'm leaving in three months. It's a pretty quick turnaround. And I finally, I feel all the paperwork sign, everything's down ready to go. I turn to the producers. My family knows this, but most people don't realize this. I'm rowing a boat across straight passes. It's that's great. And I said, but I got some one thing I got to tell you. I've actually never rode a boat anywhere. Come on, man. But I got some one thing I got to tell you. I've actually never rode a boat anywhere. Come on, man.

Anywhere. Literally. Not at summer camp, not at night. Oh my gosh, come on, dude. Not at, you know, not in college, not at night. Oh my God. I've never, I've never, and then I've also not spent, you know, it's like I'm a sailor.

So I don't know like everything about ocean and sea fringered. This is a 100% fully unfamiliar thing. That's been the thing that's not unfamiliar is pushing my body or pushing my mind or taking on big goals or things of that nature, but I have literally never wrote a book anywhere ever. And so I reach out to a body of mine who's a rowing coach, important organ where I grew up, and I said, I need you to come meet me down at this doc and teach me a little bit about rowing.

And so he's like, yeah, sure. And I can't explain the whole thing. He thinks, you're out of your freaking mind. Maybe five years from now, when are you doing this? I said, whoa, I'm leaving it three months. And so he gets me on this one man's single rowing school. You may be seeing people do that or pictures of it or whatever. And I get in there.

I'm in six inches of water on the dock. I try to take my first stroke and I fall flat on my face. I literally fall out of the boat and I'm like flailing around in six inches of water and I stand up soaking wet. And this is that moment where you go like, either I am an idiot. And of course, this is an extreme example. I'm never going to be a rower. But here's the thing. I said to him, I look at him and I go, well, I guess I'm not a rower. But one word changes that.

I guess I'm not a rower yet. Yet. I'm not a rower yet. We've got three months for that. And that is everything, right? We talk about God. that's the reason. That is it. I'm not whatever you are right now, no matter what age you are,

you're listening to this podcast wherever you are, your hopes, your dreams, your Mount Everest, what's your Everest, you haven't reached the summit of your Mount Everest yet. Here's the thing, Kobe Bryant had to shoot his first hoop at some point. Stephen King had to sit down and write the first paragraph of his first novel before he could write 65

of the best-selling books of all time. Maril Streep had to try out for her school play. All of these people were not at the top of their game when they came out of the womb, but at some point they chose to say in their identity in their own confidence and their own strength in the story that they are writing about themselves. I am not this yet, but I can be and become anything I set my mind to.

And three months later, I became the first person in history to row about successfully across the most stretches, fetched ocean in the world. You can see the documentary Discovery Plus as it's called the Impossible Row. If you want to see me get bashed around in some crazy ass situation in the middle of the ocean, but we can be and become anything that I'm on still. That's the truth. It's just unbelievable. And the way you tell a story and weave in the point, it's just so freaking good.

I really do believe this too. The people that I know that are the most happy and successful or just one or the other, have a lower threshold of how good or how prepared they think they have to be before they actually start something. And the people that aren't very happy or that aren't very successful have this massive threshold of what they think they have to know to just begin. And so they don't begin to your point.

Now that is rather mind blowing. It's like Rob O'Neill is on my show, Killbin Laden. He couldn't even, he did not swim weeks before becoming a Navy seal. Then I have you on and you're telling me, I've never rode a boat and you're doing something that freaking bananas. Just, it just, it just blows my mind, bro. Let me ask you a couple last things because I want to make sure that everyone gets this book to it. What would be next for you? Like you, I guess, I'm sitting here going, what the heck else can you do, dude?

So is there something brewing in that brain of yours right now that's the next thing that you're working on? This is the most sincere answer. There's two things that I'm working on right now. I will I set other world records or certainly push my body and other expeditions. Yes, I'm passionate about that and that's always gonna light me up or at least feel for this chapter and

multiple chapters in my life. There's two things that I'm most focused on. I ask myself this question often, Colin, what's your biggest adverse? And I write this at the end of this book. One is starting a family. My next ever says I want to have children. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to also do expeditions and can you run my businesses and can you use drive? But my heart is really passionate about that. And the other thing is it's truly, truly, truly. My next Everest in this regard is to inspire 10 million people to take to 12 hour walk. That's my goal. That's my Everest in this moment. And again, I do things in parallel. So I'm also, yes, I'm building other expeditions. And yes, I'm building other things. But I am passionate about that.

And the question is why? Why? Well, I know this because I know about your work and what you do. Just because you have these personal tools within yourself, Edmai let the badass, the genius, the creative, the amazing entrepreneur. You sit here passionately wanting to share with other people

because the ripple effect of positivity and uplifting that we can have in the world. For me, the 10 million people doing the walk, like I said, get the book. I'd love for you to pick up the book. 12-wirewalk.com sign up for the walk. It will change your life. But it's not like I get a dollar for every single person who does the walk. It is free. It's outside your front door. There's no barriers to entry on purpose. So why do I care so much? Because I believe 10 million more people on this planet knowing themselves better, the ripple effect of positivity through your community as a spouse, as a colleague, as a human being on this planet will lift the collective energy in a positive way. And I'm passionate about

yes, pushing myself and I'll continue to do that. But right now, my biggest ever is to inspire that change in the world at scale. Because I so crazy to me, we all have this ability. We actually all have access to it. I'm not saying, hey, wait, so you have a million dollars and you can fly to the other side of the world to do the thing, whatever I am literally saying, put on your running shoes, commit to a day, sign up on my website and walk out your front door. And if every single person took just 12 hours to look inward for themselves, the planet, the world that we live in, would be in a better place, more innovation, more creativity, more trust, more love, more compassion, more empathy. My gosh. Bro, you blow my mind.

But in the book, I'm so pulled into you that I'm forgetting that we're even having a conversation sometimes. That doesn't happen when I interview. He has this outline in the book about commit, record, unplug, walk, rest, and reflect. I want you to get the book so you understand what all of that stuff means, guys. But I just really feel like this is the last thing I want to ask you to call. By the way, I'll have you back on this any time you want. This is one of the best

conversations of my life on or off the podcast. And by the way, I think he would also tell you when that 12 hours done, the first podcast you should download is the Ed Mylet show. I think there's no dispute about that. I'm just kidding. But I want to ask you this last because I think it's your relationship with pain and your relationship with fear that gets altered when you do things like you've done in your life. And I bet you haven't been asked this in a while or maybe ever. But how would you describe lastly that people are listening to like, look, I want to do this and I'm afraid I want to do this. You put it in the book too about the limiting beliefs and I don't like being uncomfortable

or being in pain. You have developed as have other people I know, and whatever they're good at, they have a different relationship with pain. They have a different relationship with fear, because I think we build relationships with these things. And I think pain means something to some people that it doesn't mean to others. Fear means some things that it doesn't mean to others.

So the last thing I'd ask you, because there's a hundred, look at this, I mean, there's a hundred more things I'd love to ask you. How would you describe your relationship with pain and fear, the one that you have currently? And I think we'll leave it on that, and then we'll have them get the book. I love it. I love it. Yeah, we'll definitely have to get around to it at some point. I would love that. Get rest of the through pages of those notes. I'm sincerely, I love it. One thing that I love to say is something that's a reminder myself,

it's a paraphrase of a Hacurian-Americanme coat that I've kind of made my own a little bit, but it is, pain is mandatory, suffering is optional. Pain is mandatory, suffering is optional. What I mean by that, what the least of what that means to me is life is hard, man. Life is hard. I don't care if you were born into a billionaire family. I don't care if you

were born homeless. I don't care if you were born in a rural part of the world with no drinking water or you're born in a penthouse in Manhattan. Life is inevitably hard. It is hard. It truthfully is at times. And it's also beautiful and amazing and it unfolds in incredible ways. But there are times when it is implicitly hard. It's in this point painful. Pain is going to happen, emotional, physical, et cetera. But we get to choose. In those moments, it's so easy to start asking ourselves questions painful. Should I give up? Why me? Why is this happening to me? This shouldn't be done, you know, all the things, right? But I've come to realize that truly one question only matters when facing these great obstacles

or this pain, which is how will you respond? How will you respond? You have a choice in this moment. Is it, is it, you're gonna choose fear? You know, lean into fear of this moment or you're gonna lean into love? Is, is that moment of like I said, embrace the ones? Is this an insurmountable obstacle that you just want to do everything to avoid? Or is this a huge opportunity for growth? You get to decide. The

objective thing of the pain is going to happen to you at some point or many points throughout your life. But you get to choose if you're going to apply that to suffering, to suffering. That's your choice. And so for me, that's my relationship with fear and pain, man, is that they are inevitable, but we can use them as fire, as fuel, to make ourselves stronger and more realize and to feel that juice of actually being alive. I'm so glad I asked you that. I get all kinds of questions. I want to know what a relationship with a Sherpas like after you've gone through that journey is all these things I want to know from you. So we're going to have you back on again. Listen, first of all, I just want to say this. I want you to hear me. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so grateful that you spent this hour with me and the people I love so much in our audience here today, bro. So thank you so much for being here.

Second, secondly, go ahead. You're gonna say something. I was just gonna say thank you, Manid. It's just an honor to sit down with you. Like I said, I've long admired your work and we have many many mutual friends overlapping our community. So it's so fun to be here and sit with you and many, many mutual friends overlapping our community. So it's so fun to be here and stay with you and your positivity, your joy, what you bring to the world is so impactful and so beautiful. So it's an honor, my friend. Thank you. And now I cannot you as a friend. And the second thing I want to tell everybody is that you need to go do the 12 hour walk and go pick up the book, the 12 hour walk. This is one of these things where here's what's great. There ain't another book like it. You ain't never heard this before. There's another book like this.

This is just another one of those. Oh, it reminds me of that. No, this doesn't remind you of anything. And so please go get Collins book, follow him on social media and everyone share this show. This is something people need to hear what we covered today. And I implore you to share it. We are the fastest growing show in the world

because all of you share the show. So please make sure that you go get Colin's book and you participate in the 12 hour walk as well. Colin, thank you again, brother. And everybody out there, God bless you, max out your life. This is the end my let's show. you