Colin O’Brady
Appearances
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
We can be and become anything that we set our minds to through diligence and hard work of saying, I might not be this right now, but a fixed mindset says, I might not be this right now and I will never be this ever. But being able to claim that identity, I am this, a possible mindset says the possibilities are limitless.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
Now, talking about being a beginner, I came back from the solo Antarctica crossing, which I mentioned before. And, you know, there was a lot of press, a lot of acclaim, a lot of, you know, people very curious to hear about it, lots of media and all this sort of stuff. I'm very humbled by all of that. And of course, the question I get most often then is, OK, great. But what's next? Right.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
You know, what's the next big adventure? What's the next big feat? And sometimes I laugh like, you know, I just walked across Antarctica by myself. Like, it's been a week. Like, give me a break. Right. Um, but of course I am the type of person that is curious about continuing to push my body in unique and interesting ways.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And so I started to tell people, Hey, actually, I'm going to go back to Antarctica, but this time I'm going to do it completely differently. I'm going to go in a rowboat and be like in a rowboat. I said, yeah, you know, nobody in history has ever crossed Drake passage in a rowboat. So that's from the Southern tip of South America, all the way to Antarctica, 750 miles of open ocean, uh,
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
They say it's the most dangerous ocean crossing in the world because it's got icebergs. And there's three oceans, the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean, and Pacific all converging and creating 40-foot swells and really unpredictable currents. A cruise ship just 10 or 12 years ago in modern times have sunk in the Drake Passage. This is a rough ocean.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And me and a group of others, we're going to attempt to make this crossing with no motor, no sail, just us in a tiny little 28 foot rowboat that's sitting about two feet off the ground. And so people started to hear about this, that I was planning for this project. And of course, the next immediate question is, cool.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
So you've been rowing your whole life and you've been sailing and you know everything about the ocean. And as you know, from the book, chapter four of the book is the limiting belief. I'm not a fill in the blank, which is to say, okay, Oh, well, I can't ever run a marathon. I'm not a runner. Or I have this idea for a business, but I'm a lawyer. I'm not an entrepreneur.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
So I'm not going to start this business. Or, you know, all the things we say, I'm not a boom. That's the limiting belief. And I'll tell you what, in this moment, I committed to this row. I actually pitched it to Discovery Channel, got them to put a few million bucks behind a huge production around this row.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And I looked in the mirror and said, you know, to myself and my wife's like, well, you do know I've never rode a boat before, right? Like I've never, not at summer camp. Not like a college, like I have no experience rowing a boat. But that didn't stop me in this moment. I was like, I am not a rower yet. Yet. That's the important word there. I am not a rower yet.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And I went and found it as the stories, you know, from the book come goes. And I found this incredible guy to help coach me and teach me, etc., But the lesson from this is so important. I think it's so important for all of us, and I relate to it, we all relate to it, is looking at another group of people or look at somebody's success and say, well, I couldn't be them. They're so skilled at this.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And in the book, it's some simple advice, but I go, look, you know, there was a time when Kobe Bryant had never shot a basketball and then he went and dribbled a basketball. There was a time when Meryl Streep had never read a single line and then she tried out for her school play or, you know, Janis Joplin had never, you know, strummed the guitar, but then said, I'm a musician or Stephen King.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
You know, there was a time when Stephen King had never written a book. Now he's Stephen King. He's written 64 books and, you know, all are all, you know, New York Times bestsellers, et cetera. But there was a time where he was not an author. But at some point he had to claim that as part of his identity. I am a rower. I am a writer. I am a basketball player. I am an actress.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And it's really powerful to be able to claim that identity. And it doesn't require being a master of your craft to do that. Like you've never run before, but you want to be a runner. Like go jog around your block one time. You're a runner. You are a runner. Like, yeah, you're not an Olympic gold medalist marathon runner, but you're a runner. Like, you're getting into it. You're trying.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And so the ability really is about growth mindset. You know, Carol Dweck, the woman who really originated that concept, you know, this idea that we can be and become anything that we set our minds to through diligence and hard work. Of saying, I might not be this right now, but a fixed mindset says, I might not be this right now, and I will never be this ever.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
But a growth mindset, the same mindset that I applied to this rowing project with the most dangerous ocean in the world is like, I am not a rower yet, but I can reach into my resources, people I know, my network, et cetera, and learn some skills. And the story in the book starts out with me quite literally falling flat on my face.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
The first stroke I try to take in this tiny little, really unstable rowboat and falling into a Lammet River in Portland, Oregon, near where I was living, where I grew up. But it didn't stop me. I got back in the rowboat, got back in again, and ultimately completed that crossing of Drake Passage, becoming the first person in history to row the most dangerous ocean crossing in the world.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
But had I stopped with that limiting belief, or have you listening stopped with the limiting belief, I'm not this, I'm not that, well, you never will become that. But being able to claim that identity, I am this, a possible mindset says the possibilities are limitless.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
Yeah. So, you know, I do a lot of public speaking. And in this sense, I was invited to give a speech for a Wall Street group. And I was giving the speech the following day. But the day before, they kind of invited me to a small, intimate gathering with like eight or so folks. You said all, you know, billionaire, hedge fund manager, investor, you know, big hotshot guys in Wall Street.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
Older gentlemen, kind of average age was mid 60s, maybe early 70s. And it was a very interesting night. I certainly maybe was a little bit of fish out of water, as you mentioned, walking up in a T-shirt and jeans and low top Jordan sneakers. But, you know, they made me feel welcome. And we had a really interesting conversation just around hopes and dreams and aspirations and goals.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
But they really wanted to hear about my expeditions. Oh, what was crossing Antarctica like? What was it like being on Everest? Do you see dead bodies? And every single time I try to kind of pivot questions back to them about sort of their experiences. life philosophies or really their goals, aspirations, or more deeper, vulnerable questions around that, they sort of kind of pivoted off of that.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And so at the end of the night, as I was getting ready to leave, an older gentleman, I'd guess his age around 75, kind of pulls me aside. We had this short but very memorable conversation that really stuck with me where I love to ask people from school school kids, all the way up to CEOs, you know, what's your Everest? For me, that's metaphor for my childhood dream.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
I always wanted to climb Everest and I've been fortunate to summit that mountain twice, but I recognize that most people don't necessarily want to go climb mountains or walk across the continent, but we all have huge, you know, goals, I think in our life. And I'd asked that question and no one gave me a response. And he pulls me aside and he says,
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
You know, Colin, I'm sorry, myself and none of my friends answered your question. It's a super important question. And he says, I feel like I want to share this with you, which is when you ask that question to me, I keep thinking about this moment I had in summer camp when I was 14 years old and I was sitting quiet alone on this peaceful mountain lake.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And he goes, you know, I have made more money than you can possibly imagine in my life. But there's not a day in my mind that I don't go back to that mountain lake as a 14-year-old kid and wonder what would have happened had I actually allowed myself to ask this question. I got so caught up in the rat race and what was expected of me.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And by everyone else's measure, I've been quote unquote successful. But there was something in the way he told me this story that he was like, he felt like he had kind of missed out on something that life had to offer without having asked him this question. So it's an interesting moment. I chose to open the book with that just as I think we all have an idea of what success looks like externally.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
We look at somebody on television or on our social media feeds or you know, in any sort of context and say, oh, he or she has it figured out. And this guy would be like the most obvious sort of archetype of a person like, well, that guy did it. He crushed his life. He made so much money, had this impact and whatever.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And even for him to share with me like, hey, I'm not sure I actually summited my Everest. I summited a bunch of other mountains. but it wasn't my personal Everest. And so I opened the book asking people, you know, what is your Everest? You might be down pretty far down a path. You might be wondering what your purpose is, what you're driving towards.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And it is vulnerable to actually ask yourself that question. And then of course, this book doesn't just ask you that question, but allows you to answer it and gives you an action towards actually how to move towards it, how to actually reach that summit. But I think it's important. I think it's super important to be vulnerable with ourselves and actually say, you know, what is my Everest?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
even if that's not what other people around you think you should do. And this book really starts to break down the limiting beliefs that pop up for us. Well, my Everest is this, but then you start going, oh, but I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time, but what if people criticize me? What if I fail these limiting beliefs?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
#487: BEST OF - Transform Your MINDSET, Transform Your LIFE with Steven Bartlett, Krista Mashore, Amjad Masad, Dileep Thazhmon, Martin Villig, Ankush Grove, Jerrod Blandino, & Colin O’Brady
And the book really goes through the lens of really exciting adventure stories, but through how we all have these limiting beliefs, myself included, but how I figured out how to overcome many of them and thrive and how you can as well.