What would you do if you knew you would succeed? If I could guarantee you absolute certainty that you would not fail, would you start a company? Would you start training for a marathon? Would you write that novel you’ve been dreaming about?
What if I told you that you already have everything you need to succeed?
My guest today is an expert in the power of the human mind to overcome any obstacle and achieve anything. His name is Colin O’Brady, and he recently walked across Antarctica, unguided, in just 54 days.
Yup. You read that right.
As of about two months ago, Colin holds the world record for the fastest ever solo trek across Antarctica, in addition to several other world records. He’s an elite endurance athlete at the top of his game, but he knows that the most important muscle is actually your brain.
“People love to ask me about my physical training. How do I get so strong? There [are] some fun stories about the crazy training I prepared for this and whatnot, but I believe it’s [about] the muscle 6 inches between your ears. It’s about flexing your mind — [that’s] really what it comes down [to]. … It’s about showing up. It’s about getting out there every single day.” – Colin O’Brady
Colin O’Brady is a master at tapping into his full potential and getting into that flow state of focus he needs to succeed. He’s also passionate about sharing his wisdom with others so we can all learn how to become superhuman like him! I’m so excited to have him on the show today. Let’s dive in!
Who Is Colin O’Brady?
Colin O’Brady is an endurance athlete, mindset expert, sought-after keynote speaker, and all-around superhuman. His athletic feats are impressive, but his heart is even more so.
Colin grew up in Portland, Oregon, playing outside and learning to love adventure. He was athletic even as a kid, and he competed in both swimming and soccer. Swimming helped Colin pay his way through college at Yale University, but adventure was still calling. After college, Colin packed up a backpack, surfboard, and eight summers-worth of lawn-mowing money to see the world.
But that’s when his life took a turn. While vacationing in Thailand, Colin suffered a tragic accident. He was badly burned in a fire, and he took most of the damage in his legs and feet. The doctors told him he was unlikely to walk ever again.
But Colin didn’t give up. When he returned home, his mother worked with him every day to make progress toward healing and eventually getting back into the active and athletic lifestyle Colin loved. Within two years, Colin not only completed the Chicago Triathlon, but he finished first overall. He was back in the game and ready to start a career as a professional endurance athlete!
Since then, Colin has undergone some of the most incredible adventures anyone could dream of. For one, he underwent the mission of completing the Explorers Grand Slam — an extreme expedition course that takes adventurers from the North Pole to the South Pole with hikes up the world’s seven highest summits in between. He completed that mission in just 139 days and the Seven Summits portion in 132 days, making him a world record-holder not once but twice. (Fun fact: He was also the first person ever to send a Snapchat from the top of Mount Everest — that snap got over 22 million views that day!)
For another grand adventure, Colin married the love of his life — Jenna. Driven by their enthusiasm for an active lifestyle and their genuine love for other people, Colin and Jenna started the nonprofit organization Beyond 7/2 to inspire kids to push themselves to their limits and reach for their highest goals. They’ve impacted thousands of kids through their excellent work.
And Colin doesn’t only reach out to kids! He’s also a popular keynote speaker who has shared his story at events for NBCUniversal, Toyota, Nike, Google, and more! And his TEDx talk, “Change Your Mindset and Achieve Anything” has over two million views online. This guy is reaching out to all the world to have an impact and inspire people to be their best selves.
Colin O’Brady knows what it takes to succeed. He knows that when you’re a few thousand feet from the top of Mount Everest or just a few miles from the finish line of a race across Antarctica, you’ve got to tap into your potential, get into that flow state, and keep striving for success.
Today, we’re talking about how you can do that too. You may not be ready to run a triathlon, hike Kilimanjaro, or brave Antarctic temperatures so cold boiling water freezes immediately (that’s true — Colin knows from experience!), but you have the capacity for success already built into your brain. You just have to access it. Let’s jump into my interview with Colin O’Brady to learn how to unlock our own potential to become superhuman!
Overcoming Tragedy and Becoming Superhuman
I mentioned Colin’s tragedy earlier, but I think there’s a lot we can all learn from his story. As I said, while he was traveling in Thailand, Colin experienced a fire that left him with massive burns. It was one of the scariest experiences of his life — he was in a remote area with only a small nursing station. Someone got him onto a moped and drove him the short distance down a dirt path to the nursing station where he underwent eight surgeries. During all that time, there was a cat running around the bed.
Needless to say, the situation was terrifying. Colin’s ligaments, knee joints, and ankle joints took so much damage the doctors genuinely believed he would never regain full functionality. But that wasn’t good enough for Colin.
It wasn’t good enough for his mom, either. During his time in that nursing station, Colin’s mom sat by his side, encouraging him constantly. She helped shape his mindset away from fear and victimization to one of positivity and empowerment.
“She comes into my hospital room every single day with this smile on her face, with this air of positivity where she’s going, ‘Colin, what do you want to do when you get out of here?’ I’m like, ‘Mom, are you kidding me? My life is over.’ All I can see is the darkness … and she leans in, and she finally says to me, ‘Do me a favor. Close your eyes.’ I sit there [and] I play along, and she goes, ‘Visualize yourself … in a positive life doing something in the future.’” – Colin O’Brady
You guys, visualization is powerful. If you can stop for a minute and really imagine yourself achieving your goals — maybe in a quiet moment of meditation — you unlock potential you didn’t know you had.
In that moment with his mom in Thailand, Colin imagined himself crossing the finish line of a triathlon. He pictured himself achieving that goal, and even though it seemed impossible at the time, he decided to start pushing himself harder than ever before.
When he returned to the US, Colin was still in a wheelchair. He had to be carried on and off the plane in his chair — he definitely wasn’t ready to run a triathlon. But instead of letting him get discouraged, his mom put him to work.
“She grabs this chair from our kitchen table that I grew up eating around, and she puts it one step in front of my wheelchair, and she goes, ‘Your entire goal for the day is get out of that wheelchair and take one step and show me that you can sit in that chair.’ It was three hours looking at that chair, and I finally get up, and I take that step. And the next day, she moves the chair five steps away [and] each day a few more steps … and, sure enough, 18 months later … They’ve got a big triathlon — in fact, the Chicago Triathlon at the time was the biggest race in the country … I signed up for the race … [and I] placed first with 4,000-some participants.” – Colin O’Brady
Colin didn’t win that triathlon because he’s somehow better, stronger, faster than everyone else in the world. He won because he believed he could. He put in the work, a little at a time — remember, that first day, his whole goal was to take just one step — and he trusted he would ultimately succeed. That’s what makes him a superhuman.
And that mindset set him up perfectly for a career as a professional endurance athlete — and a dangerous expedition across Antarctica.
