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017: Setting Small Goals to Achieve the Extraordinary | Colin O'Brady

December 12th, 2017

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Andy Wang: [00:00:00] Today on Inspired Money.

Colin O'Brady: [00:00:02] I think that too often we don't do things in our lives because of fear, right? You know, that's on the other side of that same coin. It's like, oh, I'm afraid I can't do it. Look, I'm afraid, too. Like, people – there's a video that I’ve shown on some of my talks of the last 30 minutes before I reached the summit of Everest. I'm on this tiny, little, narrow passageway. It's literally dropping off 10,000 feet on either side of me, you know, looking over into China and Tibet on one side and looking at Nepal on the other side. I'm on a tiny little piece of ice, you know, attached to this little rope like, completely out of breath. People are like, oh what? You're just like, not afraid? You come down. I’m like, are you kidding me? Like, of course, I'm afraid!  I'm at 28,900 feet on a tiny little like knife-edge ridge looking on 10,000 feet below and I’m like, I'm human. Like, I'm afraid.

Andy Wang: [00:00:47] This is Episode 17 with American pro-endurance athlete, mountain climber, adventurer, and professional speaker, Colin O'Brady. [background music] Welcome to Inspired Money. My name is Andy Wang, a Managing Partner at Runnymede Capital Management. Each week we bring you an interesting person to help you get inspired, shift your perspectives on money, and achieve incredible things. From making it to giving it away, Inspired Money means making a difference, creating something bigger than oneself, and maybe, just maybe, making the world a better place. Thank you for joining me.

Andy Wang: [00:01:29] The show notes for this week's episode can be found at inspiredmoney.fm/017. Inspired Money is brought to you by my company, Runnymede Capital Management. We help clients to plan, invest, and worry less. Whether you're building wealth or planning for retirement we're here to help. Get to know us better and educate yourself for free by subscribing to our blog right now at inspiredmoney.fm.

Andy Wang: [00:01:59] Hey there. I usually close the show by saying, wanna to be an inspired moneymaker? Do something that scares you. Do something that's gonna make you better. Do something to give back in a bigger way to the world. I want to start with that this week. One, in case you never listen to the very end. [laughter] I hope that's not the case, but just in case. And then two, this week I wannna turn things on its head. I'm really that excited about today's guest. So, what is it that you're working on that scares you? I hope that there's something and if there is, please let me know. I'd love to hear it. When figuring out what's on the other side of fear, you're constantly asking yourself how much are you willing to try and fail? You have to trust that process and embrace it. Today, I want to introduce you to Colin O'Brady. He's an elite endurance athlete who embodies what it means to overcome obstacles, test the limits, dream big, set goals and to never give up. He's gonna tell you that he's just a normal guy, but his story is truly incredible, extraordinary and inspiring. You're gonna hear a fantastic story. But I think even more importantly, you're going to be able to apply Colin's lessons to your money and whatever it is that you do. In this episode you'll learn: One, how setting goals can lead to incredible outcomes. Two, the importance of good risk management and three, why people you surround yourself with is key. So, let's get inspired talking to extraordinary, regular guy Colin O'Brady.

Andy Wang: [00:03:49] [background music] Colin, it's so great to have you on Inspired Money. Welcome to the show.

Colin O'Brady: [00:03:53] Thanks for having me, Andrew.

Andy Wang: [00:03:55] I'm super excited. Let's jump right in. What's your earliest childhood memory of money?

Colin O'Brady: [00:04:00] I've got a good story actually. It's funny because it comes just right to mind. Not planning this at all, but I did not grow up with very much money. Pretty very young parents and didn't have a lot of money in my family when I was a kid.

And I grew up in Portland Oregon, but we were out in Spokane Washington – eastern Washington where Gonzaga University is because my uncle was in law school at that time. And my other uncle was out there with me and he said, “You know what Colin, I'm going to teach you a lesson about money.” And I'm probably like, three or four years old at this point, but this is like, a really vivid memory for me. And there was this little goat that sucks up trash in the park. I don’t know. Like, he pushed a button and then like, he sucked up trash like, you give it a cup or whatever. He pulls out a $20-bill, this is like, whatever, in 1989 or something like that. A $20 bill is a lot of money, especially to someone who doesn't have a lot of money. He pushes this button and this goat sucks up the $20-bill and he was like, “You see that? It's not all about money, you know. Like, money, you know, money will come back. Like, you know, sometimes you just gotta let go of that.” [laughter]

Andy Wang: [0:05:03.4] Wow. [laughter]

Colin O’Brady: [0:05:05.0] Well, I don’t know. That's a weird memory, but that's what came into my head; my first memory of money.

Andy Wang: [00:05:09] That's a wild story. I've never seen one of those goats and… [laughter]

Colin O'Brady: [00:05:14] It's funny. Actually, I hadn't been to Spokane in years and years and I just had a speaking engagement out there a month ago and when I landed I was like, Spokane! And that was the first memory. I hadn't thought about that in a really long time so it's really timely that you asked me that question.

Andy Wang: [00:05:27] I love that. I love that. It's not always about the money. So, your uncle had a good lesson there.

Colin O'Brady: [0:05:32.6] Exactly.

Andy Wang: [0:05:33.5] Well, your story is just amazing and almost unbelievable in so many ways. It sounds like your originally planned inspired money story, from what I gather, was to transform yourself from a kid who was in the Pacific Northwest painting for money over the summers into a high-earning commodities trader in Chicago. Was that your dream?

Colin O'Brady: [00:06:00] You know, that was certainly the road that I took. You know, growing up in Portland, in terms of jobs, my family started a chain of grocery stores so when I was in high school and I started working as what they called a courtesy clerk. Like a bagger and so, back then my first job was at $7 an hour, which is well, below minimum wage at this point, but then I got an opportunity about a few months after I took that job to learn how to paint houses and I very quickly shift to that because I was like, hey, there's more upside in painting houses, and I can learn more, and if I learn this summer I can start my own business. I was kind of like always scheming on like, the best, sort of like, route and avenue for myself. And so, as I went off to college I went to Yale University and got an economics degree and most of my peers were, you know, headed towards Wall Street for that. It was interesting for me. You know, I was of two minds. On one hand, yes. I thought, you know, I’d work in finance. It's a probably lucrative path. I certainly wanted to make some money in my career, but at the same time when I graduated, all of my peers, immediately took, you know, jobs on Wall Street at the big investment banks where keep in mind, this is 2006 so this is pre-financial crisis and so, jobs at Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were so quite attractive but I didn't take that path. In fact, I took the money I had saved painting houses, and took a backpack, and a surfboard, and traveled around the world with basically no money to my name other than just enough to put a hostel over my head at night and hitchhike down the road a little bit further. And so, like I said, I was of two minds. It was like, I knew that that career path was potentially there at some point, but I also wasn't racing towards it with the same urgency as some of my other peers graduating from college were.

Andy Wang: [00:07:50] Is that because you were uncertain about what path you wanted to take at that point?

Colin O'Brady: [00:07:56] Yeah, you know. I think perhaps there's a little bit of West Coast mentality in me that's a little bit different than some of my collegiate peers or I'm not sure what that is. I was actually born on a hippie commune with about 30 people witnessing my birth where I was born at home on a futon and I was playing, you know, Bob Marley Redemption song; my mom played throughout the entire birth so, I give you a little bit of context or framework…

Andy Wang: [0:08:20.3] Love that.

Colin O'Brady: [0:08:20.9] …of my background is and so, it's not as if I grew up around a bunch of people that were like, yeah, you get to go work, you know, at a big corporation and make all the money. But I, certainly, growing up the way that was also kind of, somewhat intrigued by that. So, like I said, I was of two minds so, I’d say, yeah. I’m certain would be a fair analysis of that. It's kind of like, intrigued by what it mean to make money, or have money, or accumulate wealth, but also grew up in an environment that wasn't really putting that as a top priority.

Andy Wang: [00:08:49] Yeah, I mean, being of two minds I would imagine that while you were in school and studying economics there's this overhanging thing of like, what you're supposed to be doing, right?

Colin O'Brady: [00:08:59] You know, personally, yes. There is certainly that and I've never felt that as strongly as perhaps many others. You know, for me, more than anything, I definitely crave experiences and so, having experiences that are of deep meaningful experiences with other people, or myself, or pushing my body as an athlete, or whatever that maybe has always been what I have strived for more so than direct, you know, financial returns. Not to say that those two things can't come hand in hand and as I build my business now, I certainly am cognizant of all of that, but you know, it has definitely been. You know, I was not regretful by any means of taking, you know, traveling around the world that year as my friends were getting jobs. I figured that they weren't going to get ahead of me in the long run or anything like that. 

Andy Wang: [00:09:44] So what did you aim to accomplish on this like, multi-month, post-college, surf-trip, travel-the-world experience? And I guess eventually that will lead into, you, taking a very extreme turn, career-wise.

Colin O'Brady: [00:10:02] Yeah. You know, I think for me it was curiosity and adventure. Like I said, I'm an experienced driven person. I didn't grow up with a family that could afford to, you know, travel around the world or anything like that. I had been out of the country maybe once or twice for sporting events. When I was a kid I played a soccer tournament in Europe. My parents couldn't go, too because they couldn't afford to go. They could only send me. So, I was just curious about the rest of the world, and other cultures, and meeting new people and so, you know, I figured that at what better time and I just had turned 21 years old when I graduated from college. I think I had saved up over the four or five summers painting houses. I had about, you know, $10,000 – $12,000, maybe something like that. Not a lot but enough to buy a one-way plane ticket. And like I said, you know, go to inexpensive countries and you know, hang out and meet people and kind of see what was out there in the world. So, my objective was to just experience life a little bit. See it from a different perspective. From, you know, age five or six I've been in school. I’ve been in, sort of, a regimented structure. For the first time, I was kind of breaking free of that and spreading my wings a little bit. Ultimately, as you alluded to, I, of course… it was an amazing experience traveling, but I ended up in rural Thailand and severely burned myself in a fire. I was jumping a flaming jump rope of all things. Of course. not the smartest thing in the world although to my defense it is fairly common in Thailand. Thousands of people participate in it every day. The resort itself was promoting people doing it so it wasn't as if I had just lit a rope on fire and decided to jump it but…

Andy Wang: [00:11:37] Right and you were trying to embrace the experiences of all these different countries.

Colin O'Brady: [00:11:42] Exactly, but yes. Unfortunately, on that fateful night nearly 10 years ago the rope wrapped around my legs, splattered kerosene, you know. Top to bottom of my body lit me completely on fire to my neck. And I ran into the ocean to extinguish the flames which ultimately saved my life, but not before about 25% of my body particularly, my legs and feet were severely burned. And I found myself in a one-room rural Thai hospital with a cat running around my bed in the ICU, and undergoing several surgeries, and being nowhere near real medical facilities. My ambulance ride was a bumpy moped ride down a dirt path, so it was…

Andy Wang: [0:12:20.4] Insane.

Colin O'Brady: [0:12:21.3] It’s the was the last place in the world that you wanna end up with that kind of injury.

Andy Wang: [00:12:26] And you were traveling by yourself on this trip?

Colin O'Brady: [00:12:29] Yeah. So, I embarked on the trip completely alone and spent most of the time by myself. When I say by myself, I was merely much never alone because I was always meeting people, but not with anyone who I had knew previous to the trip. But actually, just before I was burned, I had met up with one of my childhood friend who's actually now married to my sister so he's my brother-in-law now. But one of my childhood best friends, he was in Thailand and so we had met up. So actually, when I got burned, fortunately, one of my lifelong friends was there with me. So thankfully, he was there for my immediate care in the hospital. Four or five days into the journey, my mother arrived and spent the next couple of months in the hospital with me.

Andy Wang: [00:13:11] That is insane. Being on the other side of the world, getting burned, being at a hospital where there are cats, being on a moped ambulance…

Colin O'Brady: [00:13:21] Yeah, [laughter] not an ideal sort of circumstances to say the least.

Andy Wang: [00:13:26] It's hard to even imagine. So, tell me about once your mom arrived.

Colin O’Brady: [0:13:32.2] Yeah. She really…

Andy Wang: [0:13:32.7] What happened?

Colin O'Brady: [00:13:33] …so much of a hero for me in this story for sure, which is, you know, I was going into a pretty downward spiral. You know, having been burned and then in so much physical trauma, but the doctors were also saying because of the depth of my burns, particularly the damage to what they thought was ligaments, my knees, my ankles, they were like, hey look. Like, you'll likely never walk again normally. And you know, I was 22 years old, I guess at this time, and had been a lifelong athlete. I'd been a swimmer in college, a swimmer and soccer player growing up and kind of embarking on adulthood, of course, this would be a terrible diagnosis for anyone.  But certainly, someone who fully identifies as an athlete or someone who likes to move their body being told hey, you'll never walk again normally, it was just devastating to say the least. And to my mother's credit, somehow, I imagine there are some parents out there – I'm not a parent myself, yet, but imagine seeing your child in this way, in this really helpless state, in such, you know, dire sort of, circumstances, in a grim hospital, you know, she was obviously extremely afraid, and scared, and didn't know what to do. I know now that she was kind of pleading with the doctors, and crying in the hallways, and all the things that you might expect but she really never showed me that fear. Instead, she really came into my hospital room every single day kind of smiling, you know, with an air of positivity. And really it was amazing, daring me to really dream about the future. She just kept saying to me like, Colin, you're going to get out of here one day. Like, let's set a goal. Let's think about the future. And I was kind of like, what?! Like, what are you talking about? Like, look at me, Mom. Like, my life is over as I know it. Like, I can't even think about tomorrow let alone. Like, the future, you know, anywhere far into the future. But she really was persistent with that message of just kind of trying to get me to shift towards a positive mindset or think about something other than how bad of a situation I was in and so, you know, a few days into kind of, her being out there, eight or nine days into this whole ordeal, I was kind of like, I said, “Fine! You know what, Mom,” like, me just being kind of a precocious kid that I've always been. I was like, you know what? I'm going to get out of here and you know, race a Triathlon one day. Like, that's what I'm going to do, you know. You know what, like, these doctors are wrong. And she like, just didn't even hesitate. She just kind of like, smiled and was like, alright, cool! Like, that's your goal now. I’m like, looking at my legs at the time. Like, it was a ridiculous thing to say. Like, I'm gonna race a Triathlon. Like, I'd never raced Triathlon before. I was being told I couldn't walk. I was months away from taking a single step, but that's what I focused on and started just talking to my Mom about every single day in the hospital how am I going to do it. What are the distances? How far do you have to swim? How far do you have to bike? How far do you have to run? Where do the Triathlons take place? And I just started this kind of like, feedback loop in my mind of focusing on this goal.

Andy Wang: [00:16:13] Wow. So, you really got obsessed with the goal.

Colin O’Brady: [0:16:15.0] Uhm.

Andy Wang: [0:16:15.9] Early on, it sounds like because you would end up being there for three months, right?

Colin O'Brady: [00:16:20] Yeah. I was in the hospital. I eventually after the 8th or 9th day I got moved from this small island and flown via medical airplane to Bangkok, but I certainly, I was too, you know, unstable at that point to fly anywhere like back home. So, I was in Bangkok for a while, which had a bit better medical facilities compared to where I had been, but still, I was a long way from home and I spent, you know, several months over there. When I was flown back to the United States I was, you know, carried off – on and off the plane, placed in a wheelchair, still hadn't taken a single step. I think you've probably seen my TED Talk, but I mentioned this moment in my TED Talk it's just a really important moment in the growth of this for me. As I got home, my Mom was like, great, you're home now. You're not in the hospital anymore. You keep talking about this Triathlon. Like, that's great. You're going to races this Triathlon one day, but look kid like, you still haven't taken a single step. So, she grabs a chair from our kitchen table and places it one step in front of my wheelchair and she says, “You know, today, your goal is to figure out how to get up out of that wheelchair, and take one step, and sit in this chair in front of you.” And it was a crazy day. I mean, it sounds really simple, but it took me several hours to even think about the possibility of doing that, but having that chair kind of, right in front of me is a super tangible incremental goal to my larger goal. I finally got up and got into that chair. And the next day, she wasn't, you know, any easier on me. She moved the chair three steps away and the next day she moved the chair 10 steps away and each day of my goal got a little bit further until ultimately, I could walk a little bit again and one day kind of jog and run.

Andy Wang: [00:17:52] In that first day, that first week, that first month, how much of it was mental versus the physical because clearly, physical was a barrier, but how much do you think was mental?

Colin O’Brady: [00:18:06] You know, I think so much of it is mental and I so much of what I've learned from this entire, you know, lesson in my life is that there was kind of two ways that I could have gone – vastly different ways that I could have gone from the hospital or even at home of saying like, okay. The doctors are right. I'm not gonna walk again, or I'm never going to be the same, or this versus this, sort of, positive affirmation that my Mom instilled me in, which is like, think about the future. What do you want to do? And that mindset, that positivity of being like, you know what? I have a purpose. I have a reason to take that first step to get into that chair. I have a reason to try to walk five more steps tomorrow. That really, you know, from my opinion changed everything for me and I think that that can be applied to anyone really, about when you have a goal, when you have a purpose, how much are you willing to struggle and try and fail, ultimately? You know, I didn't know if it was possible, but I was like I'm willing to try. I'm willing to try to take one single step because in my mind I was just picturing this triathlon like, someday. I mean, I didn't know if it was 10 years in the future or ever, but it was just like, this is what I was thinking about every single day. And after I was a little bit more mobile again also kind of reality and if we're going to bring it back to money, I'm kind of struck, which was I was this 23-year old kid living at home with no job, no money, trying to figure out my life having gone through this terrible tragedy and so, I did actually take a job in finance like, commodities trading job as you had mentioned in Chicago. And so, I moved out to Chicago to take my first kind of real job out of college, trading energy futures and I honor that course. So, great! Well, Chicago's got a really, you know, famous triathlon, maybe, I should sign up for that and so, 18 months after my burn accident I honored that goal. I actually raced the Chicago Triathlon Olympic Distance, which is a mile swim, 25 miles bikes and 6.2 miles running and crossing that finish line was, you know, hugely triumphant moment for me to just know that I had honored that goal and just in a year and a half being told I’d never walk again to finishing that race was amazing. But what was crazy, and really unexpected, and kind of changed my entire life was that I, not only had I finished the race but I actually won the entire Chicago Triathlon placing first out of, you know, more than 4,000 other participants on the dais so the Chicago Triathlon was the largest race in terms of participation numbers in North America that year.

Andy Wang: [00:20:23] Incredible, incredible. How surprised were you because I know that you made huge leaps from returning from Thailand back home and you're just taking a few steps? By the time you went to Chicago, what kind of shape were you in when you were working? And then you were training at that point like, how are things going in your training regimen entering that race? Did you feel like, I have a chance to win or was your goal still at that point… the prize is completing it.

Colin O’Brady: [00:20:57] Yeah. My goal was just to finish for sure. I had to wear compression garments or kind of like, imagine kind of, really tight-fitting like, high socks I guess like all the way up my legs for a year…

Andy Wang: [0:21:08.8] They are common for burn victims, right?

Colin O’Brady: [00:21:11] Right, very common. Yes. So, I had those on my legs for a full year. I wasn't particularly mobile at first even when I moved to Chicago and I just joined a gym. I joined this local gym outside my work and just started like, asking random people at the gym like, have you raced a triathlon before? Like, do you know anything about triathlon? And like, I just met these guys who were like, yeah! We're doing this triathlon like, you should come ride your bike with us. Like, you can come like, on this job with us, whatever. Literally, that's the level of – I mean, I was training every day and focused on it, but I didn't like, know a ton about it. I had not known a lot of context for like, how my training was going or my times. Anything like that and so, when I signed up for the race I don’t know how much about triathlon or big triathlons that have thousands of participants. It’s not like all the thousands of people start at the same time. They start five minutes apart from each other a hundred people at a time based on age group, and they're kind of a mix of just men and women, and everyone's kind of starting at different time. So, even when I finished the race I knew no one had passed me that had been passing other people, but I was like, in this mix of people. Like, some people had finished two hours before me when I was finishing. There were people still starting and so, it wasn't actually until about four hours after the race I had like, gotten back and got my bike. My grandma lives in Chicago, I was hanging out with her. I got lunch, walked over the finish line to check the results. I was like, I wonder how I did. And I checked the results and they were like, you are in 1st place. Not a bad run. So, I was completely surprised. Even hours after the race I had no idea…

Andy Wang: [0:22:40.2] So, it totally blew your mind.

Colin O’Brady: [00:22:42] Yes. I thought they were joking when they told me that.

Andy Wang: [0:22:45.5] Crazy, crazy. [laughter] So, it's all about setting small goals that are achievable.

Colin O’Brady: [0:22:55.4] Yeah. You know, I think that if you and I can instill a lesson downhole I’d always say I’ve had some time to think about it now, which is I think that it was hugely important for me to have this larger, you know, audacious triathlon goal, but even the more valuable step was my mom being like, great. You have this big goal and that's what you're thinking about? Like, what's the first step towards doing that? Because I think so often in our life we make dream like, you know, one day I wanna be a millionaire, or one day I want to start my own business, or whatever. But then you’re like, don't think about it. Like, what am I doing to actually get there? Rather than like, the person like my mom like, slamming a chair and like, okay. You want to run to a triathlon? Like, you need to take one step. Like, great. Like, you wanna be a millionaire? Like, well, what are your skills? Like, how are you getting better? What are you improving at? You know, you wanna go to medical school? Great. Like, walk to the bookstore tomorrow and buy the study guide for the MCAT. Like, what are the first steps towards a long, you know, long-term goals.

Andy Wang: [0:23:49.3] Before your accident was your mom always like that? Was she always having this positive mindset and like, pushing you in this positive way or did that just come out when the accident happened?

Colin O’Brady: [00:24:01] You know, it was amplified in this moment given like, the framework of how traumatic the situation I was in, but you know, looking back, my mom has always been someone who has, you know, dared me to dream big. There are people who have interviewed her now after, you know, I set these world records and all this. They asked her, well, you know, you played a role in this and she kind of says, tongue in cheek. She's like, yeah. Careful what you wish for when you tell your kids they can do anything they set their path…

Andy Wang: [0:24:29.7] Any idea where that came from for her?

Colin O’Brady: [00:24:33] You know, that would be a good question for her. I really don't know the answer to that. All I do know that, I mean, she was raised in Chicago in a, you know, Irish Catholic family. My grandparents are, you know, a Catholic family. Definitely, surrounded by a lot of love, a lot of cousins – first cousins. Oh yes. 45 first cousins or something crazy. Like, she is the oldest of five, but she was really rebellious. Most of her siblings still live in Chicago. That’s where they made their lives and when she was 18 she said, “You know what? I'm getting out of here; I'm moving west.” Actually, before she moved west she went to Hampshire College in the summer. After her freshman year of college, she did a protest at the Pentagon where they did a war reenactment and she actually spread her blood, it was pre-HIV, of course, all over the walls and sort of worrying that maybe she got arrested and spent a month or so in a federal prison in Virginia. She was 18 years old. But it's something that she wears as a badge of honor really, as you know, standing up for what she believed in. She was protesting nuclear armament in the early 80s and so, she's kind of always been, I don't know if it's the same mindset, but certainly, a rebellious, or a contrarian thinker. She's not one that just like, go along with like, yeah. Whatever everyone believes, I should, too. You mentioned this earlier in this interview you said like, that feeling of like, what you should do. She definitely did instill that in me.

Andy Wang: [00:25:53] She was nonconforming.

Colin O’Brady: [0:25:55.7] Yes, definitely. That's the best I can say or so putting it.

Andy Wang: [00:25:59] So, Colin, you've gone onto like, set even bigger goals, maybe, I'll let you talk about where we left off. You are now a winner of a big triathlon and you are going to change careers and become a professional athlete.

Colin O’Brady: [00:26:18] Yeah, yes. So, I mean, immediately after winning this triathlon I got an opportunity to get my first sponsor. A guy named, Brian Gelber in Chicago kind of heard about the story. I knew him as a family friend and he's also a trader, but not closely working for him and he was like, wow. This is an incredible story, you know, I'd love to support you and be your first sponsor, if you wanna take this, you know, triathlon, you know, more seriously. And you know, for me that was an easy decision although, I was kind of leaving behind the lucrative path in finance I went and quit my job the next day and two weeks later I was on a plane to Australia training as a professional triathlete.

Andy Wang: [0:26:58.2] No wasted time.

Colin O’Brady: [0:26:59.8] No wasted, literally. Like, I was in Chicago in September. I was like, well, you can't train for triathlon in Chicago in the winter. We all need to go and a new guy who is a national team coach in Australia and with these random other people I met in Chicago and there I was. I was quitting my job, sold my furniture. I was on a plane, you know, two weeks. And so, you know, I definitely could not have done that without Brian Gelber’s support. And he, you know, that was a belief in wow like, what can you do with this and that certainly was, you know, a curiosity of mine as well. You know, having a kind of dream to being a professional athlete my entire life and as I got to the end of my swimming career in college as most, you know, athletes unless you're an NBA superstar or something like that like, end of college, it's kind of like, the end of the road for most athletes. Even athletes who have done, you know, well enough to play sports in college. And so, it was kind of reigniting this dream of mine to be a professional athlete and so, over the next six years, I race triathlon professionally for the U.S. National Team, 25 countries, six different continents, lived all over the world. Really, a unique opportunity. Certainly, not lucrative in any way, shape or form, but got me the opportunity to see so much of the world, and push my body, and hyper form in that way which is a great blessing and really, not anything else I wanted to do at that point so, I was really grateful for that. But as I got a little bit further kind of into my later 20s, 29 years old. It was 2014 at the time I just won a big half Ironman race in South Carolina and I got to thinking like, wow. This is amazing but what else do I wanna do, you know, in my life? Like, is this what I wanna do? Like, triathlon… a lot of people race professional triathlon at a really high level and world championship level up into their mid to late 30s and so, there's kind of a long runway or path for me to keep doing that, but I'm always kind of evaluating that. And I kind of felt like, that chapter was closed for me. Not in a bad way but just kind of I was at peace with it. Like, well, I've done a lot here. I've raced all over the world. I've, you know, been ranked as one of the best athletes – endurance athletes in the world. Now, like, what's next? And I realized I still had a huge passion for pushing my body and setting huge goals, but I also wanted to do so in a way that was kind of larger – a way that had a larger kind of impact than just my own personal success or failure on the race course and so, with my fiancé, Jenna we dreamed up this thing, which was to see if I could set the world record for something called the Explorers Grand Slam. So, that's to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, as well as, complete expeditions to both the North and South Pole. At the time, fewer than 50 people in history had ever accomplished the Grand Slam and I was aiming to be the very fastest person to do that. So, from start to finish, no stopping, climb one mountain, come down, climb the next, climb Mount Everest, come down, fly to the next mountain, go to North Pole, whatever, without stopping. And that was that was my aim, but with a larger purpose of creating a media arc around this and founding a nonprofit to inspire kids to get outside, move their bodies, live active and healthy lives, you know. I had been raised with parents with huge values. My dad's an organic farmer in Hawaii and my mom ended up founding a chain of natural foods grocery stores so really, around health, and wellness, and kind of getting kids out behind from screens and just to realize there's a whole world out there. I’m not necessarily trying to inspire them to go climb Mt. Everest or anything like that, but just to, you know, move their bodies and realize that when you do – there's one thing I do believe which is no matter what your huge goal is oftentimes those aren't athletic pursuits, you know, that might be like I said, to be wealthy, that might be to start a business, that might be, you know, a kid who somehow wanna be the first in my family to graduate from college and those are all more cerebral pursuits, but I'm a big believer that no matter what, having a healthy body leads to a healthy mind which leads the ability to have success. So, when I was targeting, sort of, health and wellness from an activity movement nutrition standpoint really, that's a way of targeting audacious goal setting and success in a larger and larger way. So, that's where we really built this entire product around and we called it Beyond 7/2, which is now still the name of my non-profit, with seven into being the seven summits and the two poles, but the idea that this project was much more beyond that larger than just me. I was just the, sort of, center catalyst for a larger movement.

Andy Wang: [00:31:08] Why was it important to you to have this bigger greater purpose and have a positive impact. Why was that important to you?

Colin O’Brady: [00:31:17] You know, like I said, I really feel like, I went into my own world in some sense with triathlon. In a really positive way I learned so much about myself. You know, we talked about a lot of my successes on the race course, but I also had many failures, you know, crashed bikes and scraped my body up, or not winning races, or you know, falling behind the world rankings, you know, not achieving some of my goals. You know, it's just a very personal journey which was wonderful. I learned so much, but I got to a point where I was like, okay. Like, I have learned this journey. I have learned from this being burned in this fire and my mother's guidance and all this, I felt like I had something now to contribute to the world to really inspire others. Like, I don't believe myself. Like, my story when I tell my story it's not like, oh, hey. I'm the superhuman guy who like, not only like, rose from the ashes and won this huge triathlon and went on to, you know, set two of the most prestigious mountaineering world records world. Look how awesome I am. Like, it’s the opposite of that. Like, I just think I'm a regular guy who has had some luck in terms of having some great people surrounding, supporting me at crucial moments in my life, to dare me to continue to dream, to dare me to pick myself up when I have failed, to overcome obstacles and achieve and so my, you know, goal and hope was to be able to be that for other people.

Andy Wang: [00:32:36] It's incredible. I mean, I don't even know why you would select mountaineering as you're like, next big audacious goal, but it is like – it seems difficult to come up with much of a bigger goal. You’ve had that like, fewer than 50 people had accomplished this. [laughter]

Colin O’Brady: [00:32:56] Yeah, and you know, like most of these people have done so, you know, five years, 10 years, like it's a legacy lifetime project, right? Like, you know, training for one huge expedition a year, come back, think about training for the next one to the stack, all nine of them up on each other. Not to mention the fact that when Jen and I came up with this idea we had no money or funding to support the idea. It's not an inexpensive thing to do. We knew nothing. We said, “Oh, we wanted to create this huge media campaign.” Like, we knew nothing about like, media. You know, I don't have some huge social media following. We didn't know anything about founding a non-profit like, we really were just like, we have this big idea and it goes back to taking that first step. It was like, literally, you know, in the end we generated 500 million earned media impressions. We had generated 50 million impressions on social. I was the first person ever Snapchat from the summit of Everest, which was the most viewed Snapchat story of 2016, but when we started we had this idea like, talking about the first step. Like, I remember clicking on Google and googling Google. What is the difference between PR and marketing? Like, we knew nothing frankly. Like, in terms of like, building a media campaign nor do we have like, the result we are like, oh great. So, let me just pull $5 Million on my trust fund and just like, hire all the smartest people and like, tell us how to do this. Like, no. It was just like, her and I, in our 20s just figuring it out like, step by step grassroots, calling up the one guy who we think might know about something who maybe could introduce us to somebody else. And although, you know, our goal wasn't ourselves to make money with this it’s really was an entrepreneurial hustle for 18 months just to get myself to the beginning of this project, let alone, actually, you know, the next 139 days while I was climbing all these mountains and pushing my body to these extreme. Just getting to the beginning was a series of ups, and downs, and learning, and you know, success and failure.

Andy Wang: [00:34:46] I've seen the photo of you like, throwing the cup of water and it, turning into ice. I mean, it's difficult for a listener to even imagine the conditions and the difficulty of the challenge that you were able to conquer.

Colin O’Brady: [00:35:05] Yeah, yeah. That photo is one of my favorites for sure. It's a photo of me. My first expedition was the exhibition to the South Pole. So, I needed to basically, drag 150 pounds sled with all my gear and food and whatever across the last degree of latitude to reach the South Pole and the average temperature in Antarctica, even in the summer when I was there is minus 40 degrees and so, it's like crazy. Like it's just an abstraction like, minus 40 degrees. Oh, that sounds crazy cold. Like, what does that really mean? And the best way I can convey that cold is by that photo, which I'd actually taken a cup, not just of water but a cup of boiling hot water from my dinner that I had been cooking on my stove, and I get out of my tent, and I threw it straight up in the air and as you can see in the photo, just immediately turns into a dust cloud of ice. So, thinking about turning boiling hot water into ice literally, instantaneously and then being out in those conditions day after day, after day, after day. Monotonously dragging a huge weight behind you to the South Pole is an interesting undertaking.

Andy Wang: [00:36:09] Colin, I can't wrap my head around that. My roommate in college, he liked to go ice climbing. He was a he's a rock climber and he would go ice climbing in the winter and he told me a story about how, you know, he’ll pitch like – he, sort of like, hangs on the ledge, pitches his sleeping bag and he sleeps overnight like sort of, on the rock face or on the ice face and he tells me, oh. When I wake up in the morning sometimes my thermos, the water froze and I'm like, you're insane. But what you did compared to what my roommate did like, you make his look like a cakewalk. [laughter]

Colin O’Brady: [00:36:48] Not trying to one up anyone. I think it’s just – the struggle is real. I mean, people sometimes say to me like, oh. You see, you must not get cold and

I'm like, I don't know. If it's 50 degrees outside, not wearing a T-shirt, no jacket. Like I'm just like you. I'm cold. I'm not like, immune to these things. [laughter] I’m just thinking about how to, you know, adapt to that certain environment.

Andy Wang: [00:37:09] Well, I just love your message and your inspirational story. On this show, we say that from making it to giving it away, inspired money means making a difference, creating something bigger than oneself and making the world a better place. I feel like you check off all those boxes. I'm definitely going to put the link to your TED Talk and you also have a Talk at Google Online and I'll put that in the show notes. I don't know if you're aware but like Jim Collins, he wrote the book, “Built to Last,” and I think in that book, he really used the term big hairy audacious goal and when he wrote about that like, in 1994 he was actually saying that a big hairy audacious goal is not something that one can accomplish in a year or two years. Like, it's such a big goal. It's like 10 or 15 years and you just throw that out the window. You're like, I'm gonna go from not being able to walk to winning a triathlon in 18 months. I am going to do the Seven Summits North South Pole in 139 days. Like, [laughter] is part of this – is there an aspect of not knowing any better or is does that not come into play?

Colin O’Brady: [00:38:32] You know, I suppose there is, you know, ignorance is bliss type piece of this for sure but no. You know, in truth, you know, I think that, you know, in a lot of ways, yes. Some of those things have happened quickly, but also when I look back they've also been my life's work, right? When I was five years old I dove into a swimming pool and you know, I did my – I participated in my first swim race and from that point on I, you know, trained as a swimmer and the mental and physical fortitude of that sport, you know, teaches in you as well as, you know, my pushing myself academically and all that sort of stuff so when I really look, you know, some people say like, wait. You like, you didn't really climb a lot of mountains. I climbed some mountains before but nothing on this scale. Then you just go to this. You’ve never done a triathlon before then you do this. I was like, yes, but you know the way I think about it is that I also have been in a lot of ways preparing for this for my entire life, you know, as an athlete overcoming these setbacks. You know, the burn accident not only taught me what was possible physically, but as we mentioned really, mentally. You know, what it means you know, when I'm up there, you know, climbing Mount Everest and the weather comes in and I can't breathe and all that kind of stuff, I can go back to a place in my mind and be like, this is really hard, but remember when you were burned in that fire, and how bad that felt, and how hard it was to take that first step. Like, I can do this and so, in a weird way, at least in my own mind I've brought forth all of those experiences and so it's kind of, you know, like you said, 139 days. It's almost an overnight success for someone who didn't have a huge, you know, experience of mountaineering previously, but I also say you know, also, in another way, if you look at it in another lens it’s like, oh. That’s decade's worth of work you went into that, you know, crowning accomplishment in 2016. So, kind of just depends on which way you're looking at it.

Andy Want: [00:40:19] For sure, it's a lifetime overnight success. It's what you're saying.

Colin O’Brady: [0:40:22.3] Exactly. [laughter]

Andy Wang: [0:40:24.2] Now, what you accomplished with your two world records I mean, it was dangerous. You are a living example of how important mindset is and you just alluded to the fact that, you know, it's about perspective. It's about framing ideas in your mind that, okay. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems, but when you're going through like, when you're on Everest, for example, how do you differentiate perceived obstacles versus real dangers? How do you make those decisions?

Colin O’Brady: [00:41:01] Yeah. You know, particularly, because you have a finance or money driven audience I think that, you know, risk management is something that is really crucial, not only particularly with the stakes in the mountains which are literally life or death, but also as I know from my experience trading in the financial markets, right, you're always kind of gauging, you know, risk versus reward and what's too much risk to take on. So much for me of that equation has to do with experience to be perfectly honest. There were a couple of times over the course of this project where I pushed through, you know, huge storms. For example, my last mountain Denali. Not to get too much into the context; it's kind of nuance, but I was well ahead of the pace to set one world record, but if I got into the summit of Denali in just the next 24 hours I was going to set two world records and there was a huge storm brewed in, 50, 60 mile per hour winds, you know, minus 60 degree windchills, it’s gonna be crazy a hard day. This is the end of my project so, I've been going for 100 in some days and me and my climbing partner, Tucker who had met me on climb at last mountain with me while walking out of camp and the guy unzips his tent and he says, oh. Are you guys bailing up the mountain? Like, are you guys going down? We're thinking about bailing these storms for the last 10 days and we go, no, no. We're gonna go up to the top. He was like, what?! Get back your tent. No one's climbing Denali today. And in fact, no one did climb Denali that day other than Tucker and I. We made into the summit and we, you know, have set two world records that day. And so, you know, the reason I tell that story is that yes, in a lot of sense we’re pushing the boundaries and was the guy sitting in his tent making the right decision for him? Absolutely. Like, the stakes weren't great enough for him to need to do that. If I had been – didn't have a world record on the line I probably wouldn't have climbed that day. But I also wasn't just like, I'm willing to die for this world record. I'm willing to lose my fingers and toes for this world record. Like, that's not success. You know, I looked inside of myself and said, “Is this possible? Do I think I can push through this?” And I was like, yeah. Let's climb for 15 minutes. Let's climb fort 30 minutes and see how we're feeling and re-evaluate. And we kept checking in every 15, 30 minutes for the next 12 hours till we find ourselves at the summit and we did it. We pushed through a crazy hard storm, which in a lot of ways is risky and you know, to make those risks even more, you know, apparent three people on Everest died the same day that I summited Mount Everest. Not anyone who has climbing with and I didn't know that they had perished until after I was back down, but the risks are very real up there. But I also was constantly checking in with my own self. Knowing myself as an athlete, knowing my mental fortitude. Am I safe? Like, if a huge storm pulled in right now could I get down on this mountain? Kind of like, constantly, like a pilot. Just this constant checklist. How are my feet? How are my toes? How are my hands? How am I feeling? And little by little, you know, allow yourself to take some of those risks. I would say that I think that too often we don't do things in our lives because of fear, right? You know, that's on the other side of that same coin. It's like, oh. I'm afraid. I can't do it. Look, I'm afraid, too. Like, people – there’s a video that I’ve shown in some of my talks of the last 30 minutes before I reached the summit of Everest. I'm on this tiny, little, narrow passageways that’s literally dropping off 10,000 feet on either side of me, you know, looking over into China and Tibet one side, looking into Denali on the other side. I'm on this tiny little piece of ice, you know, attached to this little rope like, you know, completely out of breath. People are like, oh, what? You’re just like, not afraid? You come down. I’m like, are you kidding me? Like, of course I’m afraid. I’m at 28,900 feet on a tiny little like knife edge bridge looking at 10,000 feet. I’m like, I'm human. Like I'm afraid, but I'm not so afraid that I'm not willing to find out what's on the other side of that fear and I trust my ability to keep pushing forward. So, it's always a calibration between overcoming that fear, pushing just hard enough, taking enough risk without jeopardizing, of course you know, a fatal accident or anything like that.

Andy Wang: [00:44:58] And is it still a matter of breaking down each step into like, a very granular level because then it’s just small goals and at once, that you can be very decisive about because if you're just measuring like, in 15-minute increments on Denali and you're looking for that feedback, right? Are my fingers okay? Are my feet okay? Can we keep going? And you're going to be decisive. If things were not going well you say, all right. We got to make a pivot.

Colin O’Brady: [0:45:29.2] For sure. I mean, on two of the mountains, you know, I actually had to make two attempts on Everest. My first attempt on Everest I got caught out in a huge storm in the depths. I was above 26,000 feet, weathered the night in it and climbed all the way back down the mountain, which for most people was the end of their expedition. And I, you know, of course, I was able to summon the sort of, energy and courage to give it a second shot a few days later when the weather got better. The same thing happened to me on Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America. I was climbing completely by myself on that mountain. That’s 22,800 feet high, which is higher than I've ever been at that point and I got up above 20,000 feet all alone. Huge storm pulled in and I wasn’t just like, I'm going to the top no matter what. Like, I turned around, climbed all the way back down to base camp at 12,000 feet and had, you know, had to wait five or six days until I got another shot at the mountain. So, there were times when I did turn back thinking it's too risky right now, I'm gonna hopefully gonna have another shot. Maybe, I won’t. In the case of Everest, it looked like I might not, but I was like, it's not worth it to go up. I can't. You know, I can't summit it in these conditions right now so, it really is. And you mentioned also breaking it down to a granular level. This whole project, even, you know, when I set the audacious goal and then you know, started being like, okay. Well, how do I raise the money to do this? It’s the same thing when I was even in the middle of the project. It wasn't like, okay. I'm climbing on Aconcagua right now, that's the third of nine expeditions, but I need to be ready for Kilimanjaro, and Everest, and the North Pole, and Denali and do all these things. It was like, wait. Okay. How do I get to the next camp? What do I need to do to set up my tent tonight and hot water? You know, just thinking about it and realized that if I could execute on each one of those incremental steps it would lead to the next step and eventually, add up to 139 days and two world records. But when you think about the sort of, if you zoom too far out on this massive big hairy audacious goal, as you put it, there's no way. You’ll just be like, crippled by fear and doubt. Like, wait. That's too crazy. [overlapping conversation]

Andy Wang: [0:47:21.1] Right, it’s overwhelming.

Colin O’Brady: [0:47:22.5] Yeah.

Andy Wang: [0:47:23.2] Colin, who is achievement for?

Colin O’Brady: [0:47:27.2] Who is achievement for in the world in general?

Andy Wang: [0:47:31.5] Yeah.

Colin O’Brady: [00:47:33] You know, I say in my TED Talk I think achievement is not for the limited few. You know, I really think that achievement is simply for those who. you know, dare to dream never give up. For those who, you know, put more steps in front of one another. You know, that's what I really think who achievement for is.

For any of us who are willing to keep at it, being persistent and you know, passionate about what they care about.

Andy Wang: [00:48:00] And you really believe that human beings, all of us are capable of unlocking these reservoirs for untapped potential in achieving extraordinary things.

Colin O’Brady: [00:48:12] I really do believe that, you know, 100%. I believe that, you know, as humans we really do have reservoirs of untapped potential inside of us and have the ability to really achieve what we set our minds to. And that doesn't mean that that's gonna be like, oh. I just believe I can do it and say, it’s the easiest path. That's gonna be, you know, rife with setbacks and challenges, but I do think there's something about that perseverance and grit that can ultimately get you there if you continue to keep knocking at the door.

Andy Wang: [00:48:41] My last question for you because going back to the beginning when you were 22, you had eight surgeries in eight days. What do you do to counter the downward spiral for those who feel like, they're in that downward spiral?

Colin O’Brady: [0:48:58.8] Yeah. Even with what I have learned throughout my entire life and obviously, I have some success I can supposedly hang my hat on…

Andy Wang: [0:49:05.9] Just a little bit. [laughter]

Colin O’Brady: [0:49:07.4] You know, I have these moments of doubt, too, still. It's not like, I'm just like, oh. Well, I'm just like so awesome now. Like, no way. Like, I wake up some days in a funk, not feeling great, doubting my next steps. All that kind of stuff and so, I have not only great empathy for someone going through something as intense as I was in a burn accident, but I have empathy for the person that are just kind of like, in a rut in their life like, oh, God! I hate my job or I'm having trouble with my relationships at home or whatever that is. Like you know, that unfortunately is part of life. What I would say in that case, again I mean, it comes back to thinking about small but it's like maybe, the long run answer is if you hate your job is to figure out, you know, how to find a job that you love and move on. You know, move on the next thing if you’re in a relationship that's toxic to get out of that relationship, but my advice isn't necessarily like, wake up tomorrow, quit your job, break up with your, you know, girlfriend, or spouse, or whatever, husband and you know, change everything tomorrow. You know, my… really, I would say, what can you do to take care of yourself a little bit better? You know, like, literally it can be the smallest thing. It’s like, you know, my body's not feeling great. Like, great! Like, maybe I’ll have a healthier lunch tomorrow. You know, maybe you know, you haven't exercised a long time like, go for a run. Maybe you feel like your mind is running in a million places and someone mentioned meditation to you. You've like, never done anything with meditation before like, I don't know. Download headspace and like, try it for 10 minutes tomorrow. You know, who knows? Who know what that small little thing can add to because, you know, any one of those things, you know, maybe you're feeling like you don't have a great, you know, I believe that humans are most happy when we have great interpersonal relationships in our ground and in community and so, maybe you're feeling adrift with that. Like, join something. Find a local, you know, pick a basketball game, or a book club, or you know literally, just like put yourself out there a little bit. Try one thing. It might be the wrong direction.

Andy Wang: [00:51:05] Colin, can people have multiple goals or do you really need that be like, singular minded?

Colin O’Brady: [00:51:10] For sure. I mean, you know, I'm not a big believer. I'll answer that question in two ways. I am not a big believer of what is often referred to as life in perfect balance and what I mean by that is sometimes we’re just like, oh. I wannna have a really balanced life which means like, a great, you know, we're great at work, great at home, you know, great in, you know, five different categories with my hobbies, vacations and all these kind of stuffs because I think that that mindset leads people to believe I should only… okay, so, 20% of my energy goes to work, 20% of my energy goes to my relationships at home, 20% to this. What I really believe is that we should be doing 100% at all of those things but they need to be segmented. They need to be like, hey. Right now like, I'm working on an entrepreneurial venture and like, I'm gonna like, turn off my phone and be really focused on that for the next four hours and then like tonight when I'm having dinner with, you know, my wife or husband I'm gonna be really present with that person and do that really well in that moment. To me, that is more balanced and so, can you have multiple goals at once? I think so. I think there's also a limit to the amount of energy and hours that we have in the day. I don't think that I couldn't have been trying to set these world records while also, you know, trading commodities at a high level right now and returning for, you know, my investors and like that. You know, at some – there’s certain moments in time, but I do think that you need to also look at it as a longer form timeline of life which is just because you’re hype. I was hyper focused on climbing the mountains for 139 days in 2016 doesn't mean that that's the only thing I'll ever do in my life ever again. Like, I had a long life. So, if you're super focused on one thing in a period of time and you can be super focused on other things throughout time or multiple things and of course, read quote “you know, more normal or real life often with, you know, kids, responsibilities, job, career, relationships, it's multifaceted but it's a matter of not spreading yourself too thin to not do any of them well.” That's where I think that people do make a mistake. It's like, oh. I'm gonna take on a million things. Say yes to everything and try to do everything great because ultimately you do none of them well, which doesn't serve any of them. It doesn't serve your career. It doesn't your relationships. It doesn't serve, you know, your own personal, you know, well-being. So, you know, that's what I would say.

Andy Wang: [0:53:31.1] Right or central to your experience. It's just being overwhelmed mentally and just not even trying.

Colin O’Brady: [00:53:38] Exactly. And I think that, you know, for better or for worse technology I'm not a Luddite by any means, but you know, technology has given us so much availability of choice, right? Like, we constantly, on our phones, on our computers every single day or any day with like, what about this? What about this? What about this? Someone calling, someone texting, this opportunity, that opportunity, this picture on Instagram. That like, and that can be super overwhelming. I don't think as humans we’re necessarily hardwired for assimilating all of those decisions, all that choice in our lives so sometimes, I do think it is good to narrow that focus. And really, I do. That's what I do think is powerful about goals and particularly, goals that you have articulated, written down, told somebody else about because then you have at least a North Star of some kind.

Andy Wang: [0:54:25.8] Yeah. Accountability.

Colin O’Brady: [0:54:27.3] Yeah, yeah.

Andy Wang: [00:54:28] Thank you, Colin. Thank you for sharing your super inspiring story. Your almost unbelievable story. When I first heard your story. I was like, Colin’s like a Marvel comic. It's like, you got burned and you turn into a superhero or something. I mean it's almost that far out there, but thank you for sharing your inspired story, and your successes with us, and the lessons that you've learned along the way. I think that our listeners can take away so much valuable information. They do not need to try to break your record. They can take away the lessons. Where can the inspired Money listener find more about you and about Beyond 7/2?

Colin O’Brady: [00:55:12] Yes. So, all this stuff is on Beyond /72, a non-profit and certainly, a lot of archive stuff on the project itself is on Beyond72.com website. And I'm very active on socials. My name @ColinOBrady on Instagram, Facebook and whatnot. I’m getting ready – I won't give you the specifics but getting ready to launch some more exciting projects into 2018. I’m also working on a book as well so, stay tuned on that, but you know, all the updates will be on Instagram @ColinOBrady and I’m actually working on a new website that will be out pretty soon here, but for the time being, you know beyond72.com and @ColinOBrady on social.

Andy Wang: [00:55:52] Awesome. Can't wait to consume all that valuable information. Thanks Colin. Thanks for joining us and it's just been amazing.

Colin O’Brady: [00:55:59] Thanks Andy. I appreciate it.

Andy Wang: [00:56:04] Thanks for listening. What was your favorite Inspired Money moment? There was so much for me. One, set your big hairy audacious goal right now

and then figure out the smaller achievable goals to get there. Whether it's your 401k preparing for retirement, investing for your kids or grandkids education do it right now. It's New Year's resolution time. So, it's as good a time as any. Two, I love that Colin's message is that we all have it in us to achieve great things. Set your goals, maintain a positive mindset, manage your risk and then lastly surround yourself with great people. For Colin it was his mom, his wife, his sponsors. So, go out and build your team. Before you go I've created a free workbook to help you reflect on 2017 and set your big goal or goals for next year. Go to inspiredmoney.fm/goals and download it.

Andy Wang: [00:57:12] If you enjoy today's show, don't miss the next one. Go to iTunes right now and hit subscribe go to inspiredmoney.fm/iTunes. Even better. please also leave a review and rating. I've got a money savvy piggy bank. It's a really cool way to teach your kids, not only about saving but what it means to save, spend, donate and invest. After you leave an honest iTunes review and rating send me an email with your iTunes username and I’ll enter you into a drawing for the money savvy piggy bank. I'll announce a winner in a couple weeks. And to be honest, we don't have a ton of reviews so, write your review right now and your chances of winning are super high. Good luck to you. All the music on today's show is by my friend Jim Kimo West. Aloha Kimo and thank you for tuning in to the very end. Until next time. Find your inspiration and run with it.

 

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