speaker-0: So like every day that I lose is it's like that.
speaker-1: What happens when a person decides that something uncertain matters enough to give it everything?
speaker-0: There's just no chance that would happen. Unrealistic unless Everything in my body is literally broken and there's no way to fix it. And that would have been
speaker-1: So then how do you make sure you're not confusing self destruction with dedication?
speaker-0: Sometimes you can force her way through it but all the times you have to realise that you're just hurting yourself.
speaker-1: Storms can also destroy things they never meant to destroy. What keeps your storm from damaging the things you actually love?
speaker-0: Like I almost lost my way and like I need to get what I want at any time.
speaker-1: Before we dive into today's episode, I have a quick favor to ask you. If you enjoy the show, it would mean the absolute world to me if you could take five seconds to head over to our YouTube and hit that subscribe button. It really helps the channel grow and let us bring even better content. All right, let's get into it. Colin, you told me that when it comes to big decisions, 100% yes or anything else isn't no. But your entire life right now is built around an outcome you cannot know will happen. So I want to start with this question for you. What are you actually 100% certain about?
speaker-0: Hmm. Well, I think two things come to mind. God is real and I one hundred percent wanna be a role model for my son.
speaker-1: What makes the certainty in this different from belief?
speaker-0: Yeah, so for me I believe we all have this gut feeling, like this inner voice that tells us what to do, like our higher self. And you can also instead of gut say God, like you have a God speaking through you. And I feel like when you listen to that, and sometimes it's a dark demon voice, right? You wanna get away from that. But I think most people can distinguish what is right and wrong by just listening to our inner voice. And then if you take action upon that and you do that for long enough, then you'll be on the right track.
speaker-1: Colin, you you've mentioned God here. What does that signal feel like before you have language for it?
speaker-0: I think for me, life was pretty selfish and it was very much focused on heathenism, right? Like a lot of ⁓ sex with different women, a lot of ⁓ trying to get things for myself. and I almost feel like we're on this journey where ⁓ God or whatever the creator of the universe was, he I truly believe he's infinite, right? So if something is infinite, it has infinite possibilities. So in this specific reality. ⁓ we have infinite different options. ⁓ and also we can be separate from the initial source or we can choose to come back to its initial source. And I think when you initially reject most things and you are separate and then you go back to that one true God, then life suddenly starts to flow and make a lot of sense and you avoid a lot of pain.
speaker-1: So that answer is exactly why I wanted this conversation. Alchemist, my guest today is Colin, the originator and athlete behind Impossible, a documentary unfolding in real time as he pursues an MMA championship after beginning this journey at twenty eight. Before this, Colin built businesses, moved through different sports and pursuits, and by his own description, kept starting over before discovering how far he could actually go in one thing. This time, he decided to stay. And I don't think the most interesting question is whether Colin becomes a champion. I think the interesting question is what happens when a person decides that something uncertain matters enough to give it everything. Because this story touches fatherhood, faith, ambition, risk, pain, commitment, money, identity, and the decisions we make when nobody can promise us the ending. Colin, welcome to the Elemental Educator Podcast. It is my pleasure to have you here today.
speaker-0: Thank you so much, Tylo. This means a lot.
speaker-1: And Colin, we're gonna go through four elemental segments, the first being Earth. So let's jump in to grounded moments. Three, two, one. Before we talk about the fighter, I want to understand the person who made the decision. You gave me this quote before you came on the show. You said the devil whispers, careful, the storm is coming. The warrior replies, I am the storm. When did that stop sounding like a motivational quote and start feeling true to your life?
speaker-0: Yeah, for me it it always made sense. Somehow it's it spoke to me, right? Like there's so much defiance and the world trying to keep you down. And for me when I grew up it was ⁓ even hard connecting with people. And I really had to almost like learn it from scratch, how to communicate with people. ⁓ 'cause the world was felt like it was a pretty harsh place. So eventually by not giving up, ⁓ no matter who whispers in your ear, if you just keep going, then ⁓ You'll come out on the other side.
speaker-1: Has fighting changed your definition of warrior?
speaker-0: Yeah. It it has. I think the biggest thing as well is I realized that I've been for the last ten years mostly on my laptop, right? Even though I've been traveling, I've been living that ⁓ nomad lifestyle. Doing physical things is what we're supposed to do in our lives. Like just hiding behind the the laptop and electronics is not something that we should be doing. So I think communication, people that you love and some kind of big goal that inspires you, I think that that makes all the difference.
speaker-1: So what was your what was your mindset or definition of warrior before you became a fighter?
speaker-0: It was somebody who chooses to do the right thing, irrelevant of consequences.
speaker-1: And w what is it now?
speaker-0: I think it's the exact same thing, but I think in the past I would have still given him. Right? I would have still justified it with my ego of like, ⁓ I can make this decision, I can cut this corner. even though I I felt like I knew what it meant to be a warrior, right? But I still chose comfort, easy choices, even justifying bad decisions. and I think right now I really try embody even even what ⁓ Jesus was saying, right? Like you you should die for your convictions. and actually that has made life a lot easier. so so yeah.
speaker-1: So like like it's a big mindset shift to even recognize that I've been making up excuses or, you know, validating bad decisions. Was there like ⁓ an aha moment or an epiphany for you where you realized this was happening and then you needed to change it?
speaker-0: Yeah, it was actually when I was doing marketing with a lot of clients and I would take clients on even though I deep down knew they didn't fully have what it takes and I put my heart and soul into them and I really sometimes would spend like five, six hours on a day just working with one client, just having them share their screen and just like making them do the the things that would give them results. ⁓ but it would always be suboptimal because it was me pushing them and and trying to drag them across the finish line. whereas I should have said from the beginning, I'm like, if you don't change as a person, then what you want to achieve will never work for you. ⁓ but because I needed shorter money or I thought I really believed in them or I I really believe they could change anybody, I sacrifice a lot of my my energy and and ⁓ advice on people that weren't ready to hear it. And ⁓ even that I created a lot of ⁓ issues on the long term, right? Because if you if you have somebody that's dependent on you, ⁓ even just to do basic things, eventually it creates ⁓ problems.
speaker-1: And you kinda had this hustle culture and you did so many different things without ever really finding out how far you could go in just one pursuit. What were you or what do you think you were searching for every time you started over?
speaker-0: It was excitement. It was just like short term passion of like whatever the hell I wanted. Right. I made some money. I didn't have to work for a couple of months. And then I just did whatever the hell I wanted to do. Like go to Costa Rica, learn surfing, like just like travel ⁓ around the world. but eventually what I realized is I stopped just when it became a little bit boring or I lost a little bit of interest or something else grabbed my attention. And I looked at my next fifty, sixty, seventy years. And I was like, if I keep living life that way, it's very shallow. Like there's no depth.
speaker-1: Yeah. For me, starting over for a while was safer than finding that absolute might still not be enough best situation to just stick into. So did you have a feeling of, you know, it was always just safer to start over?
speaker-0: Think so, yeah. Yeah. It's or maybe i it was the feeling of wanting to be more safe, but it was mostly about avoiding feeling unsafe. So I I so so it's the same thing, but I just describe it differently.
speaker-1: Yeah. You know there has to be Well hmm what what has to be true about something before you believe it deserves that level of of loyalty to stick with it?
speaker-0: I think it comes down to the simple reason of you only have a few things that you can truly excel at in life. Right? For me when I grew up I was good at a lot of different things. But if I really looked at my unique gifts, there were only two or three things I could really be doing. And even ⁓ marketing or venture capital or any of the things I've tried, like they weren't it. Like they were slowly corrupting my soul. So by finally committing to something that felt impossible with uncertainty, but I somehow had belief I could ⁓ pull through, ⁓ that has made me feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life.
speaker-1: You know, Colin, in your intake form, you used two words together that I don't just wanna move past. You described your gut feeling almost as a god feeling. When you tell somebody to trust their gut, what exactly are you asking them to listen for?
speaker-0: It depends who I'm speaking to because most people I think they're so corrupted that they can be that somebody can whisper in their ear, right? It can be a person, it can be a devil, a demon, like whatever you believe into. ⁓ it can be the YouTube algorithm, like shorts. And then they would just follow through with that. It's it kinda comes down to what I was what happened to me a lot when I was younger with my ⁓ younger sister or my parents or friends, they would say one thing and I would get really upset. Like I would get really pissed or I would feel the need to defend myself. but when I realized that it's almost like you're a fish in the in the water and let's say somebody throws a rock and eventually you get scared. But eventually you realize that it's just a rock and you d you won't die. And you can just be at ease with the w with the the way that the water is moving. ⁓ then you can actually sit still and listen to to what you truly want. So For somebody who who is in tune with themselves and they can be happy on their own, I think they can just listen right away. But for somebody who is very conflicted or confused, I really think they should just go into nature or do some kind of like five, ten day silent meditation retreat or something where they can actually understand who they who they are.
speaker-1: So how do we distinguish it from adrenaline ego and fear?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think and I fall into this trap myself too. I want to describe things, I wanna add logic to feeling or even feelings beyond what we as humans can perceive. But I think it's a knowingness. I think it's ⁓ having faith that it's the right thing. and then doubling down on does it feel certain and then not not giving up or deviating. So so go beyond the mind, right? Mm-hmm.
speaker-1: Colin, take away the documentary, take away the followers, take away the sponsors, take away all of the possibility of a belt. Nobody ever knows you attempted this. What does Colin still need to become for the decision to have mattered?
speaker-0: What I still need to become, or at least be better at, is fully trusting myself that I don't need anybody and that I can even if the whole world would break down, that all my friends would leave me, like everybody would would be gone, right? That I would be fine. That it would truly be fine. Because we are social creatures, right? We we thrive best in an environment of friends and family and and we neglect it often. But Even beyond that, I think there's still a need for a a deep need of wanting validation from people that are close to me. And I think that there's a level that can ha make me go beyond that where I can't be compromised by external influences that might not be in my best interest. Right? Going for something that's let's say a seven out of ten instead of a ten out of ten. Like just like putting money in the bank, like compound interest is real and you can either get a little bit or a lot. And if you make a bad decision over the next ten, twenty, thirty years, or even a good one, it will not be the same as making an amazing decision.
speaker-1: Colin, you said that fatherhood changed the question for you. Before we get into the harder part of that story, what did becoming a father change about what successful life means?
speaker-0: Life became about giving instead of taking. Right? It was about It it was about instead of everything being about me and what I wanted, it was about how can I take the best care of s something that I love so deeply that I never would want to be without it. So it was quite profound.
speaker-1: You know, we've spent some time here understanding what grounds you. Now I want to pressure test some of it. We're gonna play a game called principle or preference. So I'm gonna give you 10 statements. A principle means this is something you would defend even when the situation becomes difficult. A preference means you believe it right now, but context could change your answer. So you don't get to ⁓ you don't get to justify your answer, you just give me principle or preference, okay?
speaker-0: Amazing. So so so one more time, I just have to say principal or preference.
speaker-1: Yeah, I'll read a statement. Don't overthink it. Just is it a principle or a preference?
speaker-0: Got it.
speaker-1: Okay. A decision that still feels right after the excitement disappears is worth trusting.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Big decisions deserve solitude before they deserve advice. A goal should be judged partly by who pursues it turn sorry, a goal should be judged partly by who pursuing it turns you into, not only by whether you achieve it.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: If it is not a one hundred percent yes, it is a no.
speaker-0: Preference. You still some ⁓ sorry, I can I again yeah.
speaker-1: We'll come back. We'll come back. Once you publicly commit to a difficult goal, discomfort is never a sufficient reason to change course.
speaker-0: Preference.
speaker-1: The people who will carry the consequences of your decision deserve influence over it. When expert advice conflicts with a deep internal conviction, conviction gets the final vote.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Faith can justify action before evidence exists.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Before going all in, a leader should define the conditions that would make them quit.
speaker-0: Preference.
speaker-1: A dream can be the right dream and still become the wrong decision if the cost gets too high. Okay, let's go back to the statement that you wanted to come back to here. What were what were you wanting to get into here?
speaker-0: Can you see the the preference one more thing?
speaker-1: It was if it's not a hundred percent yes, it isn't.
speaker-0: Yeah, because You still sometimes have to be realistic. So it can be a principle. It it can be a hundred percent true. Like we still have to like like we still have to abide by the laws of nature for the most part, right? We can't jump out of an airplane without a parachute and and just because we feel like it survive, right? So sometimes we still have to adjust. ⁓ it's almost always true, but not always.
speaker-1: Thank you for elaborating on that. And you know, I think we've covered enough about what what's grounded you here. We'll jump into our next element. And so we'll get into headwinds and tailwinds. ⁓ You know, to me interestingly, the hardest thing you put on your intake form wasn't getting hit. And it wasn't losing memory. It wasn't fighting. It was your son. Before, ⁓ you know, I just want to make sure we get into this properly. You told me you're comfortable talking about a season where you haven't been able to see your son. And I don't need the legal story here. I don't need anybody else's side. I just want to understand you and how you control how far we go. So from here, take me to a point when the reality of that separation actually landed. What did that moment feel like?
speaker-0: It felt like betrayal. Right. We wanna believe in the institutions. We wanna believe in what's right and what's wrong. And on my end, the judge didn't read my file. on a last minute notice, and then my son got taken away from me. Right. And then the address of the mom changed. So we couldn't continue with the lawsuit, which delayed everything for months. And at that point, as I shared before, my I was attached to the identity of being a dad, right? To be the best I could be for my son. And I had changed my entire life from chopping most of my clients that I could spend full time with my son because I wasn't ⁓ I didn't believe in the the nanny that he had. Right. Good person, but not at at the level that we need, right? Scrolling through social media, not paying attention to him, basically things like that. Good person, but not the level that I felt like I could provide. So when I quit all my clients and I only had to work a couple hours a week. At that exact time, everything got taken away from me. So that was ⁓ quite shocking and it it really hurt for a couple of weeks until I decided to go all in on this this vision.
speaker-1: What did you want to do in those moments that you couldn't do?
speaker-0: I just wanted to hide, I wanted to avoid, I was 'cause I had so much free time. Like I tried to double down on the habits that were working. But there was just such an intense grief and sadness. Like I lost somebody, my son, right, that was so close to me, and also I really felt like I could trust the mom with everything I had. and then that suddenly changed ⁓ in a way that was that felt like backstabbing. That that was backstabbing. so I I try to double down on honestly meditation. I try to spend time in nature, but also it was a lot of watching movies, series, just to to not feel anything. Like it was a lot of avoiding the feeling. and that took a couple of weeks. I think took a couple of weeks of me fighting with myself to to keep going. and what I realized is eventually I think at the end of the day, with anything, the the only thing we can really contribute is all is all ⁓ is our example. Right, if I think back about my grandparents who died, it's their example who they were, ⁓ that left an impression. Not the pictures, not the stories about them, but the example that I saw them give. So when I realized that that was the most important thing, I felt I had some kind of control back over what I could be doing. And then it took another two weeks to figure out what my options were to do something that could show that.
speaker-1: You know, Colin, you're you're an entrepreneur. Now you're becoming well, you are an athlete. And both of these worlds they reward action. And I think about this moment and this situation we're describing with your son. What happens to someone like you when the problem cannot be fixed simply by working harder?
speaker-0: Like you keep running into a wall and the wall won't move. Right. Sometimes you can force your way through it, but other times you have to realise that you're just hurting yourself and there might be a different door on on the other side that you can go through.
speaker-1: So how did you like this takes so much patience, is what I'm hearing in your answer. How did you stop pain from making the decisions for you and and holding your patience through?
speaker-0: Yeah, so the one sentence I kept repeating in my head was like, Don't become bitter, right? Like don't become resentful. That's when it starts eating away at you. And there's probably still some bitterness and resentment right there, but I think I've done a really good job of keeping my heart open and really forgiving. Not forgetting, but forgiving and seeing the good in everything that happened, even though it was a horrible situation.
speaker-1: So how much, if at all, has that experience become fuel for impossible? And I want to separate two things. How do you let pain become fuel without lay letting pain become the driver?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think we all have different phases and different emotions that that we go through different seasons. And I think when you feel true to your goal, it should be about accomplishing it. Even if you f even if you use pain as motivation, fuel, resentment, hatred. ⁓ as long as you're moving forward towards your goal and you don't deviate from the path ⁓ too much, then I would say use anything you have. Right? Don't Don't feel bad about using something that fuels you. ⁓ of course afterwards like look back and be like, Am I being run by something wrong? And am I am I being pulled away from from my true intentions, my goals, who I want to be? But if it's just temporary and you can use it, use it. Like don't feel bad about it.
speaker-1: Yeah. You know, on the intake form you said, ask me what it's like to be punched in the face ⁓ or physically controlled by another human, ⁓ when the truth is you're simply not good enough to stop a storm yet. And so so let's go there. Take me to a specific training session where another fighter, or maybe it wasn't a training session, maybe it was a fight, where another fighter made you realize right now I cannot stop this person.
speaker-0: You know, it's it's funny because th there are a few things that come up, but the biggest thing that came up for me was actually me getting punched in the face wasn't as bad as getting like like me punching somebody else in the face. So for me it was actually more scary about hitting somebody else. And I didn't even realize it, but we grow up with so much talk about you don't want to be violent, you wanna be a good person, you want to do the right thing. But when it comes to training, eventually you have to punch somebody in the face. And for me, for example, I looked amazing on the pads. Like so jab looked amazing, cross looked amazing. And then I it was sparring time. And I didn't even realize it, but my trainer eventually yelled at me. He's like, you're not even you're pulling all your punches. And I didn't realize and he showed me the difference and eventually had a crazy person that was at the gym. He was just like hit me in the face as hard as you can. And that felt like so wrong, so horrible. that was one of the biggest moments for me where I was like, wow, I have such a block, I want to do this, but I'm afraid of hurting people. So that that clearly doesn't make sense. And in terms of being controlled by somebody else and just not ⁓ where they can do whatever the hell that they want with you, I realized that after it's so frustrating and you want to Do everything you can to to never let that happen again. I realize that it's the same as life. Just you wanna inch your way out of it. Just one small step at a time. ⁓ eventually you can get out of the bad situation. so that was some of the things that I learned.
speaker-1: Able to wrap up your story. I've never had that happen. Okay. ⁓ give me one sec here, my friend. So I I I do want to know, you said that the other fighter telling you to just punch you in the face ⁓ was a big thing. Did you have a coach at the time? And what was the communication like with your coach as you're going through this moment of this is a hard thing to do?
speaker-0: Yeah, I didn't even realise it myself. I I thought I was giving a my all, but I I probably was punching at maybe ten percent of the time. And we have it on video, right? We have two two or three camera people at the time with me and you just see me like tensing up and just getting tired for no reason just because I subconsciously don't wanna wanna hit a guy, right? W was sparring. Like the whole goal was to ⁓ punch each other and I'm just not. Like I'm just holding everything back. Like there's no snap to my jab, there's just nothing. And I thought I was doing everything I could. ⁓ maybe not going a hundred percent, but I thought I was going at least like seventy, eighty. But looking back, I went like ten percent. So it's almost embarrassing like how how little I was doing. ⁓ and that and my coach pulled me aside three times and then showed me on the the mids, the pads. He's like, jab, and then it was just completely different. ⁓ and the guy that I was ⁓ sparring, like a situational spell where we just focused on ⁓ one was ⁓ avoiding getting punched and the other one was punching. And he just he just loses it. He thinks he's a bit of a crazy person. He's just like he's like fucking hit me in the face. Like just hit me in the face. Takes his headgear off, just like like hit me, hit me, right? Like it litch and like I'm like, ⁓ my damn, like this is serious, right? So I hit him a little bit, he's like and then he starts yelling at me for not hitting him as hard as I could. So he literally wanted me to try to knock him out by hitting as hard as I could. ⁓ and even then in that moment after he Basically it's like I'm gonna kill you if you don't hit me as hard as I can. I probably still hit it like fifty percent. So it was ⁓ but that was a lot more than what I did before. So it was at least some kind of breakthrough. So ⁓ it's also respecting, right? If I don't give a my ult to the other person, the other person's kinda wasting their time. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. How do you like it's a such a hard sport to get into as well because like as you as you said, there's there's that human aspect to it of I don't want to hurt somebody else, I don't want to get hurt myself. There's there is a lot of fear, there's a lot of adrenaline to it. And then as you said in the intake, there's times where you feel completely out of control. How do you go from I'm not good enough yet from I'm not good enough?
speaker-0: Yeah, it's I don't think I have that voice in me of like I'm not good enough. I think I only have the voice in me of I will do better. Like like it's a system and I can figure it out. ⁓ but I've also been to gyms. ⁓ I actually dislocated my shoulder because of it. ⁓ I went to a gym and it was just a culture of animals pretty much, right? Like you know, some people they are just born to fight, like they want to hit each other in the face, they wanna destroy, they wanna just like they don't care about their own body. ⁓ and I'm much more ta technical in that sense. Like I see everything as a system, I see it like chess, like I wanna improve all the the small details of my technique. and I really believe that the right technique with the right mindset makes a difference. ⁓ but when I was going at the at the other gym, like the whole the the the mats for ⁓ grappling jiu-jitsu were just just pools. Pools of sweat. Like like you've probably seen the video ⁓ the the videos of other gyms, but it was so slippery and the mats were just like ice. And I didn't even realise it, but I I posted maybe like fifty or sixty times over like thirty minutes of rolling and the next day I was just like it was just like pop and I was like, ⁓ that's from yesterday because I went with people that couldn't restrain or control themselves in an environment that was just completely unsafe. So ⁓ definitely lesson learned and now I probably have to get on some stem cells or s or exosomes or something like that to see if we can heal it.
speaker-1: Well, I hope you can. Yeah. You know, let let's go to a hard one here, Colin. Imagine we're a year further into impossible. Three elite coaches independently tell you that becoming a world champion is no longer a realistic outcome. They also tell you that you've become a legitimate fighter though, and can continue improving for years. Your documentary's growing, the journey is changing people, and your gut still tells you to keep going. Do you preserve the original championship goal or redefine the mission or stop?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think I'm at such a level where that question doesn't even compute, right? Like there's just no chance that would happen. All my coaches would even say that because I have legitimate coaches that have trained world champions, or are world champions. And with me starting with almost no experience, they told me I could do it. So when I would actually pursue the goal and I'm one year in and they would then say say it, that sounds completely unrealistic unless everything in my body is literally broken and there's no way to fix it. ⁓ and at that point I'll I'll yield. Like if I'm that destroyed and there's really no other way of doing it, like every time I go to the gym I would dislocate something or tweak something. ⁓ then sure, like then I'll I can see it. But the the bigger journey for me is seeing if I can do it while being true to myself. Because I see a lot of movies and series where men are kind of being pushed to the side, like the woman is in control, ⁓ the man is just lazy sitting on the couch, like doing nothing. ⁓ a lot of males don't have good opinions in movies, there's not really a strong role model anym anymore. So for me to try to do something impossible while sharing the good, the bad, the injuries, ⁓ everything that I'm going through, but in a way where it's actually hopefully inspiring and where it isn't about like quitting or giving up or s or or compromising your personality or being somebody that doesn't have integrity. Like if I can just maintain that, then my original goal was to be an example for my son. And then I do believe I've accomplished that. ⁓ but even while I'm talking I'm like there's no chance. Like like that just won't happen. Like even even if they would say that they would all be gone. Like that would wouldn't be my coaches. Like gone. Like
speaker-1: Well good. What a good mindset. Yeah. You know, I wanna I want to stay in error for one more game. Every industry has beliefs that get repeated until people stop checking whether they're actually true. So this game is called Flip the Script. I'm gonna give you some commonly accepted beliefs, and you can either accept them as statements as is, or you can flip them to what you think they should be instead, okay? Yep. And I'm more interested in why than which side you actually choose, just so you know. So we might have a bit of a conversation behind each one. Here, but the first statement is you have to start young if you want to reach the top in combat sports.
speaker-0: ⁓ not true, right? In an ideal world, we started as early as possible, right? Right when we were born from the womb, we go on the on the mats. But how many people quit along the way? How many people don't succeed? How many people are with the wrong coaches and learn the wrong technique? Right? In an ideal world, yes, from since that you're born and super advanced AI trains you and you have all the right techniques and your body adapts to it, but right now that's not realistic, so ⁓ if you look at it as a game, as you were saying, like a video game, like for example RuneScape or World of Warcraft, right? You level up in the different areas that you need to be good at. That's how we're approaching it. Right. Right now I'm like level one out of ninety nine in a lot of different skills. But eventually I'll level up to maybe go to like eighty out of ninety nine in my jab. Yeah. And then we just systematically go through it in a way that's ⁓ will make me succeed.
speaker-1: Yeah, and I think with age comes sometimes an ability to pick things up a little quicker or relate them, but the opposite's also true where it can it can slow you down a little bit. As you said, injuries can start to come in and and and cause delays. But I I like what you said there with that statement. I'll give you the next one here. Confidence comes from winning.
speaker-0: no well, true and not true, right? I think there's confidence that comes from competence, right? But I think that's still too shallow. I think you need to have an inner confidence. Like no matter what happens to you, you you'll be confident. of course you still have to be realistic, right? If you're in the jungle and you have no expertise in whatever it is and you are confident you can lead the group, but there's somebody with actual forty years of survival experience, like let that person lead, right? Step down. But from the from the most part you want to be confident because you're competent, but you also and this is very neglected, you want to be confident for no reason other than you're enough. Right. And so many of us don't have it. And then we get attached to just the confidence of being competent. And then even at the highest level, think about how many fragile egos there are when they lose a little bit or when things go do go their way. So I think it's both.
speaker-1: Okay, let's you did a good job there on explaining the why for me. So let's go to the next one on winners never quit.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's tough, right? Define quitting. Right. Sometimes it's going around it. So as long as you keep adjusting and you never quit, you might end up doing something completely different, but you never give up. So so you're a winner in that sense.
speaker-1: But I honestly like that one as is, right? And and as you said, it's it's how you define quitting, right? So it's yeah, well said. Okay, next one here is successful entrepreneurs make big decisions quickly and adjust later.
speaker-0: Partially true. For most things it's true, but if you look at Jeff Bezos from Amazon, like he makes only a few big decisions per day, and everything else doesn't matter, right? So you really want to think about some of the more important decisions. ⁓ and then the small decisions, they they don't matter as much as long as the big decisions put you on the right track.
speaker-1: And last one here, if you want something badly enough and work hard enough, almost anything is possible.
speaker-0: No, I don't agree with that at all. I think there's so many people that are not smart or intelligent about the way they do things and it just leads to pain, injury, even for me, right? Like I'm trying to do this in in the most in the smartest way possible. But I still go to this gym because there was this one world champion and I wanted to roll with that one world champion to see where I'm at. And then there's a lot of egos and what I should have done is like walked away. And that would have been the smart thing. so I think if you add intelligence to it and you don't let your ego Move you then sure, but for most people it's just a a ⁓ suicide, a death threat.
speaker-1: And with that, we're starting to talk about the changes we're making versus the adversity we're facing. So let's jump into that third elemental segment, our water segment of ripples of change. So call in the romantic version of your story is that you decided to pursue an MMA championship, but the real decision had to show up in your calendar, your bank account, your body, your travel, your relationships, your team, your sleep, your habits. What was the first part of your old life that had to change before this stopped being an idea and became real?
speaker-0: Well, for me, luckily I'd I'd quit almost everything already because I was gonna take ⁓ full time care of my son, right? And replace the the nanny until that happened. So the old was already out, right? My marketing clients, like everything else I was doing. So it was more about building a new team of people I trusted that could help me with accomplishing this this mission. And from that point on I had to do it in a smart way because ⁓ right now I'm still the judge still hasn't done a ruling and we're like six months in. ⁓ but I'm right now seeing my son one hour on Friday and one hour on Sunday. That's it. So I'm doing everything. So I'm flying out on Sunday night on Monday morning and then I'm back ⁓ on Friday morning. Right. So I'm I'm flying in and out constantly, which is honestly that's the most exhausting thing. Like not just being at one place and and training consistently. But ⁓ that that's been the biggest thing, just constant travel. So I don't want to waste a single minute of time with my son. Not a single minute.
speaker-1: And that w that would be when you got rid of your old team, you're taking on your new team, within that, has any of your coaches pointed out a weakness you're willing to share? And walk walk me through the process of your new team members actually helping you.
speaker-0: biggest weakness was my nuanced thought. So I think there's a lot of I I I think the world needs more nuanced conversations, right? Not everything is black and white, not everything is one statement and then we stick with it. I think it's a lot more complicated, a lot more in the middle. But I had taken it so far probably from insecurity and everything that happened to me that I felt the need to justify myself. ⁓ and explain why I thought a certain way way too much. And One trainer just said, like, shut the fuck up, just tell me in a few words what you mean. actually be polarizing, make a statement, like don't be don't be a bitch, right? So by being courageous enough to make a statement and and stand and and stick to what I believe in without having to add all the context to it, that that made a massive difference.
speaker-1: So how do you build a room where people are genuinely allowed to tell you, the guy whose dream this is that he's wrong?
speaker-0: For me, the one thing I learned when I build businesses is that I have to go through ten to a thousand times more people than I think I should. Because I'm very trustworthy. Like I I would believe you immediately when you say something and then I would be like, Yeah, cool, let's do it together and then you might not be the person that you say you are, right? So for me I At this stage I can only fully trust you or I don't trust you at all. So I have to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of coaches or trainers that I have screened, that have done it before, that are at the absolute peak right now, that have been validated by everything everybody else. And only then I reach out, ⁓ try to work with them if it's possible and then I commit to them. So at that level I they have my complete trust, I would give give them my life.
speaker-1: So who do any of them have veto power over you? Like can actually say we're not doing this?
speaker-0: In the skills specific task, yeah. All of them. Okay. ⁓ on the general mission of of the entire thing though. Like they they wouldn't be able to pull me off if they wanted to. I wouldn't so then yeah, I would listen, but yeah, I wouldn't be pulled off.
speaker-1: So then how do you make sure you're not confusing self destruction with dedication? Like what safeguards have you built around to make sure that you're not just following down a same repetitive path?
speaker-0: Big thing for me is as long as I'm improving in the skill, right? For boxing, for example, we have sixteen different categories, right? Like one is the jab, one is the hook, one is combinations, one is parrying, right? The different facts of of of defense. And the the system is getting very good at that and then applying it within situational sparring and then within sparring and then the the fight happens. So if I'm improving in those areas without destroying my body, then there's no reason to quit or stop. And every coach thinks the same. ⁓ But I've had so many people that haven't done it before, that haven't trained world champions, tell me this is not possible. Like so many that are just like this is stupid, this is unrealistic, or just do one hour a day. even very close to to people that have been in the top five or or top three in the world, they've all told me it's not possible. Like you can't do this, like you're gonna destroy your body, just start easy, right? Just only train one or two hours a day. But all the true world champion coaches They've all told me this is possible, one hundred percent. And I think that's the difference in ⁓ the belief that the best people in the world have from the second best people in the world. So that's that's been extremely inspiring and I think in the exact same way as them. So so I'm grateful for that.
speaker-1: Good. That's great. And we start to get into those decision processes around the change. And so we'll jump into our last element of Spark or Burn. Hey, if you're enjoying today's episode, make sure you leave a rating and review on Apple and Spotify. It helps the show reach more people. Let's get back to it. You know, we've talked about the signal, we've talked about the adversity, we've talked about the system. Fire is where decisions become real because eventually conviction has to cost something. And yours did. You told me that one of your boldest decisions you've ever made was selling your twenty percent ownership interest in the farm in Phoenix and using that money to fund this journey. Take me to the point where selling became real. What did that ownership represent to you before you let it go?
speaker-0: To me, it was my backup plan because if I would have just trusted it for a few more years, I probably could have sold it for a very nice multiple. And that would have been retirement. But it was it seemed like it was one of the only ways for me to get money fast. So again, I can still buy the shares back, like it's slightly more complicated than just selling it, but it did give me the ability to have money fast. for much less than what what it was worth. And I just realized that that might be worth it. Like pursuing my goal now. ⁓ versus 'cause 'cause really I have three or four years left in my physical prime. So like every day that I lose is it's like death. Yeah. So I just commit it.
speaker-1: So a huge part of my work is studying how people make decisions under uncertainty. Most high stake decisions don't give us complete information. And when you say a hundred percent yes or it's a no, are you saying you need a hundred percent certainty about the outcome or do you mean a hundred percent alignment with the choice despite being uncertain about the outcome?
speaker-0: I I think it goes hand in hand but a hundred percent certainty about the alignment. For example, I I did the call with the owner of the company and I kinda shared them my vision and he's like, This is what I can offer right now. and then before I answered I paused for I think two minutes straight. I was just like, give me a moment and I really sat with it and I just let all the thoughts come to my head and then I asked myself, Is this the right thing? I said, Yes. Be like, it's just a hundred percent the right thing. Yes. And then I just said yes, then he sent the contract over and then within a few days it was signed. So I think it's just sitting with yourself and being like, Is this a hundred percent the right thing? And if your gut feeling doesn't say yes right away, it's not.
speaker-1: So how do you know when your decision or your sacrifice is actually serving the mission and when the mission has started feeding on sacrifice?
speaker-0: It's when you lose yourself in the process.
speaker-1: I want to bring you all the way back to your opening quote of I am the storm. There's a power in that identity. But storms can also destroy things they never meant to destroy. What keeps your storm from damaging the things you actually love?
speaker-0: You know, I went through it this week. I think it's a selfish pursuit in the sense of becoming a champion in fighting. even if we have the mission of like inspiring my son, inspiring the next generation, documenting everything that it takes to do something impossible. I think there is still a selfish part of doing it. Even if I feel like I'm doing it for the right reasons. So last week I I sat down and I was like, I so many people have been helping me and I haven't thanked them properly or Ask them how I can help them. So I went through every single person that helped me and just sent them a message, like, hey, like sending you some love. Like if I can do anything for you, like let me know. Or if there's anything that you need help with, let me know. And that shifted my mind. Like I almost lost my way and like I need to get what I want at any cost. And then I shifted back to I have to give, I have to give back as much as I can as I'm doing this.
speaker-1: You know, one day your son is gonna watch this whole story. And so I want to separate the outcomes. If you become champion, what do you hope he learns?
speaker-0: That if he sets the right goal that's in l that's truly in line with him, and he gives it his all in a small way, like truly gives it g gives it his his all, that he has a very high chance of succeeding and that he ha that he should have the courage to pursue it, irrelevant of the cost.
speaker-1: And if you don't become champion, what do you hope he learns?
speaker-0: Honestly, I hope he just laughs. He's just like crazy motherfucker, like good try.
speaker-1: You know, if he was to watch everything one day and then ask you, Dad, was it worth it? What would have to be true for you to confidently tell him yes it was?
speaker-0: Sorry, one more time if
speaker-1: I if he said dad, was it worth it? What would actually have to happen for you to with one hundred percent certainty say yes it was?
speaker-0: I hope to look him in the eyes and not see resentment or bitterness and hope that his eyes are full of light and hope and inspiration of doing the next amazing thing, whatever that is for him. That will make it all worth it.
speaker-1: We've explored your leadership and your decision making from almost every angle. And we're gonna finish with a final answer game here. I'm just gonna give you two words, and you have to pick one. And that word survives and the other disappears, and the winner keeps facing more words and more rounds until we have a champion. We we don't get to explain anything, so we just trust our instincts, okay? The first two words are instinct or evidence.
speaker-0: Instincts.
speaker-1: Instinct or discipline.
speaker-0: Instinct.
speaker-1: Instinct or patience.
speaker-0: Patience.
speaker-1: Patience or courage.
speaker-0: Courage.
speaker-1: Courage or humility?
speaker-0: Humility.
speaker-1: Humility or commitment
speaker-0: Humility.
speaker-1: Humility or adaptability.
speaker-0: Emailed him.
speaker-1: Humility or faith.
speaker-0: Faith.
speaker-1: Faith or purpose Faith or Legacy.
speaker-0: Faith. Faithful.
speaker-1: So your final answer was faith. Why did that word survive over everything else?
speaker-0: If there's no faith, there's no hope. And life becomes meaningless.
speaker-1: Colin, what's the most important thing we haven't talked about today?
speaker-0: Life's good. Like life is pretty fucking amazing. Like we live at a in an amazing place. People are good. And I think we can make it a whole lot better. So life's good.
speaker-1: So one of the ⁓ traditions on the show is my previous guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they are, what we're talking about, when we'll talk, what we bring. The question left for you is in this episode right now that we just recorded. What did you get out of this episode?
speaker-0: It lit my heart up talking to you. Like I felt very much alive in the way that you were present, in the way that you asked questions. ⁓ like I just felt like something was shining through you. So I was just really grateful that I get to to talk to you.
speaker-1: What a good energy. I'm glad I brought that. That's pretty sweet. You know, I'm gonna bat myself on the back there. You know what? It's all you two. You showed up you talked about showing up a hundred percent. And one of the things that I try to do every time we sit down is show up a hundred percent for who I have with me here today. And so it mean it means a lot to hear that that's reflected on your end as well. What I'd like to know as well is what question would you like to leave for the next guest, not knowing who they are, what we're gonna talk about, or where the direction will go.
speaker-0: Okay. I I would ask and y I I would preface it by saying you can only make a statement and you can't explain your statements. But what is something that would seriously hurt or piss the people off that are closest to you that you still think is true?
speaker-1: ⁓ okay. Almost like a hot take. That's true. I like that. I'll make I'll make sure that I get that to them. Colin, this could easily have become a conversation about chasing an impossible goal. I think the more important question underneath is what happens when someone or something matters enough that you're willing to commit without being able to control the result? We've talked about belief, pain, evidence, sacrifice, fatherhood, and the difference between refusing to quit and refusing to learn. I appreciate that you were willing to talk about the uncertainty, not just the ambition. But before I let you go, if somebody wants to follow impossible, as the story unfolds, where should they find you?
speaker-0: Impossible documentary dot com. Just one word. Impossible documentary dot com. I'll type my name in on Google and you'll ⁓ you'll find me.
speaker-1: Make sure you check the links in the description of the show. They're gonna be there too. Colin, thank you for joining me on the Elemental Educator Podcast. It's been my pleasure to have you here. Thanks for sticking around to the end of the show. If you have feedback, a suggestion, or just want to start a conversation, fire off an email, Tyler at elementaleducator.com. I actually read them. And if this episode sparks something, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. It helps more leaders find the show. And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube.
speaker-0: Dude, thank you so much.
speaker-1: Where I put out additional content. I'll see you next time. Same time, same place. ⁓
speaker-1: What happens when a person decides that something uncertain matters enough to give it everything?
speaker-0: There's just no chance that would happen. Unrealistic unless Everything in my body is literally broken and there's no way to fix it. And that would have been
speaker-1: So then how do you make sure you're not confusing self destruction with dedication?
speaker-0: Sometimes you can force her way through it but all the times you have to realise that you're just hurting yourself.
speaker-1: Storms can also destroy things they never meant to destroy. What keeps your storm from damaging the things you actually love?
speaker-0: Like I almost lost my way and like I need to get what I want at any time.
speaker-1: Before we dive into today's episode, I have a quick favor to ask you. If you enjoy the show, it would mean the absolute world to me if you could take five seconds to head over to our YouTube and hit that subscribe button. It really helps the channel grow and let us bring even better content. All right, let's get into it. Colin, you told me that when it comes to big decisions, 100% yes or anything else isn't no. But your entire life right now is built around an outcome you cannot know will happen. So I want to start with this question for you. What are you actually 100% certain about?
speaker-0: Hmm. Well, I think two things come to mind. God is real and I one hundred percent wanna be a role model for my son.
speaker-1: What makes the certainty in this different from belief?
speaker-0: Yeah, so for me I believe we all have this gut feeling, like this inner voice that tells us what to do, like our higher self. And you can also instead of gut say God, like you have a God speaking through you. And I feel like when you listen to that, and sometimes it's a dark demon voice, right? You wanna get away from that. But I think most people can distinguish what is right and wrong by just listening to our inner voice. And then if you take action upon that and you do that for long enough, then you'll be on the right track.
speaker-1: Colin, you you've mentioned God here. What does that signal feel like before you have language for it?
speaker-0: I think for me, life was pretty selfish and it was very much focused on heathenism, right? Like a lot of ⁓ sex with different women, a lot of ⁓ trying to get things for myself. and I almost feel like we're on this journey where ⁓ God or whatever the creator of the universe was, he I truly believe he's infinite, right? So if something is infinite, it has infinite possibilities. So in this specific reality. ⁓ we have infinite different options. ⁓ and also we can be separate from the initial source or we can choose to come back to its initial source. And I think when you initially reject most things and you are separate and then you go back to that one true God, then life suddenly starts to flow and make a lot of sense and you avoid a lot of pain.
speaker-1: So that answer is exactly why I wanted this conversation. Alchemist, my guest today is Colin, the originator and athlete behind Impossible, a documentary unfolding in real time as he pursues an MMA championship after beginning this journey at twenty eight. Before this, Colin built businesses, moved through different sports and pursuits, and by his own description, kept starting over before discovering how far he could actually go in one thing. This time, he decided to stay. And I don't think the most interesting question is whether Colin becomes a champion. I think the interesting question is what happens when a person decides that something uncertain matters enough to give it everything. Because this story touches fatherhood, faith, ambition, risk, pain, commitment, money, identity, and the decisions we make when nobody can promise us the ending. Colin, welcome to the Elemental Educator Podcast. It is my pleasure to have you here today.
speaker-0: Thank you so much, Tylo. This means a lot.
speaker-1: And Colin, we're gonna go through four elemental segments, the first being Earth. So let's jump in to grounded moments. Three, two, one. Before we talk about the fighter, I want to understand the person who made the decision. You gave me this quote before you came on the show. You said the devil whispers, careful, the storm is coming. The warrior replies, I am the storm. When did that stop sounding like a motivational quote and start feeling true to your life?
speaker-0: Yeah, for me it it always made sense. Somehow it's it spoke to me, right? Like there's so much defiance and the world trying to keep you down. And for me when I grew up it was ⁓ even hard connecting with people. And I really had to almost like learn it from scratch, how to communicate with people. ⁓ 'cause the world was felt like it was a pretty harsh place. So eventually by not giving up, ⁓ no matter who whispers in your ear, if you just keep going, then ⁓ You'll come out on the other side.
speaker-1: Has fighting changed your definition of warrior?
speaker-0: Yeah. It it has. I think the biggest thing as well is I realized that I've been for the last ten years mostly on my laptop, right? Even though I've been traveling, I've been living that ⁓ nomad lifestyle. Doing physical things is what we're supposed to do in our lives. Like just hiding behind the the laptop and electronics is not something that we should be doing. So I think communication, people that you love and some kind of big goal that inspires you, I think that that makes all the difference.
speaker-1: So what was your what was your mindset or definition of warrior before you became a fighter?
speaker-0: It was somebody who chooses to do the right thing, irrelevant of consequences.
speaker-1: And w what is it now?
speaker-0: I think it's the exact same thing, but I think in the past I would have still given him. Right? I would have still justified it with my ego of like, ⁓ I can make this decision, I can cut this corner. even though I I felt like I knew what it meant to be a warrior, right? But I still chose comfort, easy choices, even justifying bad decisions. and I think right now I really try embody even even what ⁓ Jesus was saying, right? Like you you should die for your convictions. and actually that has made life a lot easier. so so yeah.
speaker-1: So like like it's a big mindset shift to even recognize that I've been making up excuses or, you know, validating bad decisions. Was there like ⁓ an aha moment or an epiphany for you where you realized this was happening and then you needed to change it?
speaker-0: Yeah, it was actually when I was doing marketing with a lot of clients and I would take clients on even though I deep down knew they didn't fully have what it takes and I put my heart and soul into them and I really sometimes would spend like five, six hours on a day just working with one client, just having them share their screen and just like making them do the the things that would give them results. ⁓ but it would always be suboptimal because it was me pushing them and and trying to drag them across the finish line. whereas I should have said from the beginning, I'm like, if you don't change as a person, then what you want to achieve will never work for you. ⁓ but because I needed shorter money or I thought I really believed in them or I I really believe they could change anybody, I sacrifice a lot of my my energy and and ⁓ advice on people that weren't ready to hear it. And ⁓ even that I created a lot of ⁓ issues on the long term, right? Because if you if you have somebody that's dependent on you, ⁓ even just to do basic things, eventually it creates ⁓ problems.
speaker-1: And you kinda had this hustle culture and you did so many different things without ever really finding out how far you could go in just one pursuit. What were you or what do you think you were searching for every time you started over?
speaker-0: It was excitement. It was just like short term passion of like whatever the hell I wanted. Right. I made some money. I didn't have to work for a couple of months. And then I just did whatever the hell I wanted to do. Like go to Costa Rica, learn surfing, like just like travel ⁓ around the world. but eventually what I realized is I stopped just when it became a little bit boring or I lost a little bit of interest or something else grabbed my attention. And I looked at my next fifty, sixty, seventy years. And I was like, if I keep living life that way, it's very shallow. Like there's no depth.
speaker-1: Yeah. For me, starting over for a while was safer than finding that absolute might still not be enough best situation to just stick into. So did you have a feeling of, you know, it was always just safer to start over?
speaker-0: Think so, yeah. Yeah. It's or maybe i it was the feeling of wanting to be more safe, but it was mostly about avoiding feeling unsafe. So I I so so it's the same thing, but I just describe it differently.
speaker-1: Yeah. You know there has to be Well hmm what what has to be true about something before you believe it deserves that level of of loyalty to stick with it?
speaker-0: I think it comes down to the simple reason of you only have a few things that you can truly excel at in life. Right? For me when I grew up I was good at a lot of different things. But if I really looked at my unique gifts, there were only two or three things I could really be doing. And even ⁓ marketing or venture capital or any of the things I've tried, like they weren't it. Like they were slowly corrupting my soul. So by finally committing to something that felt impossible with uncertainty, but I somehow had belief I could ⁓ pull through, ⁓ that has made me feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life.
speaker-1: You know, Colin, in your intake form, you used two words together that I don't just wanna move past. You described your gut feeling almost as a god feeling. When you tell somebody to trust their gut, what exactly are you asking them to listen for?
speaker-0: It depends who I'm speaking to because most people I think they're so corrupted that they can be that somebody can whisper in their ear, right? It can be a person, it can be a devil, a demon, like whatever you believe into. ⁓ it can be the YouTube algorithm, like shorts. And then they would just follow through with that. It's it kinda comes down to what I was what happened to me a lot when I was younger with my ⁓ younger sister or my parents or friends, they would say one thing and I would get really upset. Like I would get really pissed or I would feel the need to defend myself. but when I realized that it's almost like you're a fish in the in the water and let's say somebody throws a rock and eventually you get scared. But eventually you realize that it's just a rock and you d you won't die. And you can just be at ease with the w with the the way that the water is moving. ⁓ then you can actually sit still and listen to to what you truly want. So For somebody who who is in tune with themselves and they can be happy on their own, I think they can just listen right away. But for somebody who is very conflicted or confused, I really think they should just go into nature or do some kind of like five, ten day silent meditation retreat or something where they can actually understand who they who they are.
speaker-1: So how do we distinguish it from adrenaline ego and fear?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think and I fall into this trap myself too. I want to describe things, I wanna add logic to feeling or even feelings beyond what we as humans can perceive. But I think it's a knowingness. I think it's ⁓ having faith that it's the right thing. and then doubling down on does it feel certain and then not not giving up or deviating. So so go beyond the mind, right? Mm-hmm.
speaker-1: Colin, take away the documentary, take away the followers, take away the sponsors, take away all of the possibility of a belt. Nobody ever knows you attempted this. What does Colin still need to become for the decision to have mattered?
speaker-0: What I still need to become, or at least be better at, is fully trusting myself that I don't need anybody and that I can even if the whole world would break down, that all my friends would leave me, like everybody would would be gone, right? That I would be fine. That it would truly be fine. Because we are social creatures, right? We we thrive best in an environment of friends and family and and we neglect it often. But Even beyond that, I think there's still a need for a a deep need of wanting validation from people that are close to me. And I think that there's a level that can ha make me go beyond that where I can't be compromised by external influences that might not be in my best interest. Right? Going for something that's let's say a seven out of ten instead of a ten out of ten. Like just like putting money in the bank, like compound interest is real and you can either get a little bit or a lot. And if you make a bad decision over the next ten, twenty, thirty years, or even a good one, it will not be the same as making an amazing decision.
speaker-1: Colin, you said that fatherhood changed the question for you. Before we get into the harder part of that story, what did becoming a father change about what successful life means?
speaker-0: Life became about giving instead of taking. Right? It was about It it was about instead of everything being about me and what I wanted, it was about how can I take the best care of s something that I love so deeply that I never would want to be without it. So it was quite profound.
speaker-1: You know, we've spent some time here understanding what grounds you. Now I want to pressure test some of it. We're gonna play a game called principle or preference. So I'm gonna give you 10 statements. A principle means this is something you would defend even when the situation becomes difficult. A preference means you believe it right now, but context could change your answer. So you don't get to ⁓ you don't get to justify your answer, you just give me principle or preference, okay?
speaker-0: Amazing. So so so one more time, I just have to say principal or preference.
speaker-1: Yeah, I'll read a statement. Don't overthink it. Just is it a principle or a preference?
speaker-0: Got it.
speaker-1: Okay. A decision that still feels right after the excitement disappears is worth trusting.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Big decisions deserve solitude before they deserve advice. A goal should be judged partly by who pursues it turn sorry, a goal should be judged partly by who pursuing it turns you into, not only by whether you achieve it.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: If it is not a one hundred percent yes, it is a no.
speaker-0: Preference. You still some ⁓ sorry, I can I again yeah.
speaker-1: We'll come back. We'll come back. Once you publicly commit to a difficult goal, discomfort is never a sufficient reason to change course.
speaker-0: Preference.
speaker-1: The people who will carry the consequences of your decision deserve influence over it. When expert advice conflicts with a deep internal conviction, conviction gets the final vote.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Faith can justify action before evidence exists.
speaker-0: Principle.
speaker-1: Before going all in, a leader should define the conditions that would make them quit.
speaker-0: Preference.
speaker-1: A dream can be the right dream and still become the wrong decision if the cost gets too high. Okay, let's go back to the statement that you wanted to come back to here. What were what were you wanting to get into here?
speaker-0: Can you see the the preference one more thing?
speaker-1: It was if it's not a hundred percent yes, it isn't.
speaker-0: Yeah, because You still sometimes have to be realistic. So it can be a principle. It it can be a hundred percent true. Like we still have to like like we still have to abide by the laws of nature for the most part, right? We can't jump out of an airplane without a parachute and and just because we feel like it survive, right? So sometimes we still have to adjust. ⁓ it's almost always true, but not always.
speaker-1: Thank you for elaborating on that. And you know, I think we've covered enough about what what's grounded you here. We'll jump into our next element. And so we'll get into headwinds and tailwinds. ⁓ You know, to me interestingly, the hardest thing you put on your intake form wasn't getting hit. And it wasn't losing memory. It wasn't fighting. It was your son. Before, ⁓ you know, I just want to make sure we get into this properly. You told me you're comfortable talking about a season where you haven't been able to see your son. And I don't need the legal story here. I don't need anybody else's side. I just want to understand you and how you control how far we go. So from here, take me to a point when the reality of that separation actually landed. What did that moment feel like?
speaker-0: It felt like betrayal. Right. We wanna believe in the institutions. We wanna believe in what's right and what's wrong. And on my end, the judge didn't read my file. on a last minute notice, and then my son got taken away from me. Right. And then the address of the mom changed. So we couldn't continue with the lawsuit, which delayed everything for months. And at that point, as I shared before, my I was attached to the identity of being a dad, right? To be the best I could be for my son. And I had changed my entire life from chopping most of my clients that I could spend full time with my son because I wasn't ⁓ I didn't believe in the the nanny that he had. Right. Good person, but not at at the level that we need, right? Scrolling through social media, not paying attention to him, basically things like that. Good person, but not the level that I felt like I could provide. So when I quit all my clients and I only had to work a couple hours a week. At that exact time, everything got taken away from me. So that was ⁓ quite shocking and it it really hurt for a couple of weeks until I decided to go all in on this this vision.
speaker-1: What did you want to do in those moments that you couldn't do?
speaker-0: I just wanted to hide, I wanted to avoid, I was 'cause I had so much free time. Like I tried to double down on the habits that were working. But there was just such an intense grief and sadness. Like I lost somebody, my son, right, that was so close to me, and also I really felt like I could trust the mom with everything I had. and then that suddenly changed ⁓ in a way that was that felt like backstabbing. That that was backstabbing. so I I try to double down on honestly meditation. I try to spend time in nature, but also it was a lot of watching movies, series, just to to not feel anything. Like it was a lot of avoiding the feeling. and that took a couple of weeks. I think took a couple of weeks of me fighting with myself to to keep going. and what I realized is eventually I think at the end of the day, with anything, the the only thing we can really contribute is all is all ⁓ is our example. Right, if I think back about my grandparents who died, it's their example who they were, ⁓ that left an impression. Not the pictures, not the stories about them, but the example that I saw them give. So when I realized that that was the most important thing, I felt I had some kind of control back over what I could be doing. And then it took another two weeks to figure out what my options were to do something that could show that.
speaker-1: You know, Colin, you're you're an entrepreneur. Now you're becoming well, you are an athlete. And both of these worlds they reward action. And I think about this moment and this situation we're describing with your son. What happens to someone like you when the problem cannot be fixed simply by working harder?
speaker-0: Like you keep running into a wall and the wall won't move. Right. Sometimes you can force your way through it, but other times you have to realise that you're just hurting yourself and there might be a different door on on the other side that you can go through.
speaker-1: So how did you like this takes so much patience, is what I'm hearing in your answer. How did you stop pain from making the decisions for you and and holding your patience through?
speaker-0: Yeah, so the one sentence I kept repeating in my head was like, Don't become bitter, right? Like don't become resentful. That's when it starts eating away at you. And there's probably still some bitterness and resentment right there, but I think I've done a really good job of keeping my heart open and really forgiving. Not forgetting, but forgiving and seeing the good in everything that happened, even though it was a horrible situation.
speaker-1: So how much, if at all, has that experience become fuel for impossible? And I want to separate two things. How do you let pain become fuel without lay letting pain become the driver?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think we all have different phases and different emotions that that we go through different seasons. And I think when you feel true to your goal, it should be about accomplishing it. Even if you f even if you use pain as motivation, fuel, resentment, hatred. ⁓ as long as you're moving forward towards your goal and you don't deviate from the path ⁓ too much, then I would say use anything you have. Right? Don't Don't feel bad about using something that fuels you. ⁓ of course afterwards like look back and be like, Am I being run by something wrong? And am I am I being pulled away from from my true intentions, my goals, who I want to be? But if it's just temporary and you can use it, use it. Like don't feel bad about it.
speaker-1: Yeah. You know, on the intake form you said, ask me what it's like to be punched in the face ⁓ or physically controlled by another human, ⁓ when the truth is you're simply not good enough to stop a storm yet. And so so let's go there. Take me to a specific training session where another fighter, or maybe it wasn't a training session, maybe it was a fight, where another fighter made you realize right now I cannot stop this person.
speaker-0: You know, it's it's funny because th there are a few things that come up, but the biggest thing that came up for me was actually me getting punched in the face wasn't as bad as getting like like me punching somebody else in the face. So for me it was actually more scary about hitting somebody else. And I didn't even realize it, but we grow up with so much talk about you don't want to be violent, you wanna be a good person, you want to do the right thing. But when it comes to training, eventually you have to punch somebody in the face. And for me, for example, I looked amazing on the pads. Like so jab looked amazing, cross looked amazing. And then I it was sparring time. And I didn't even realize it, but my trainer eventually yelled at me. He's like, you're not even you're pulling all your punches. And I didn't realize and he showed me the difference and eventually had a crazy person that was at the gym. He was just like hit me in the face as hard as you can. And that felt like so wrong, so horrible. that was one of the biggest moments for me where I was like, wow, I have such a block, I want to do this, but I'm afraid of hurting people. So that that clearly doesn't make sense. And in terms of being controlled by somebody else and just not ⁓ where they can do whatever the hell that they want with you, I realized that after it's so frustrating and you want to Do everything you can to to never let that happen again. I realize that it's the same as life. Just you wanna inch your way out of it. Just one small step at a time. ⁓ eventually you can get out of the bad situation. so that was some of the things that I learned.
speaker-1: Able to wrap up your story. I've never had that happen. Okay. ⁓ give me one sec here, my friend. So I I I do want to know, you said that the other fighter telling you to just punch you in the face ⁓ was a big thing. Did you have a coach at the time? And what was the communication like with your coach as you're going through this moment of this is a hard thing to do?
speaker-0: Yeah, I didn't even realise it myself. I I thought I was giving a my all, but I I probably was punching at maybe ten percent of the time. And we have it on video, right? We have two two or three camera people at the time with me and you just see me like tensing up and just getting tired for no reason just because I subconsciously don't wanna wanna hit a guy, right? W was sparring. Like the whole goal was to ⁓ punch each other and I'm just not. Like I'm just holding everything back. Like there's no snap to my jab, there's just nothing. And I thought I was doing everything I could. ⁓ maybe not going a hundred percent, but I thought I was going at least like seventy, eighty. But looking back, I went like ten percent. So it's almost embarrassing like how how little I was doing. ⁓ and that and my coach pulled me aside three times and then showed me on the the mids, the pads. He's like, jab, and then it was just completely different. ⁓ and the guy that I was ⁓ sparring, like a situational spell where we just focused on ⁓ one was ⁓ avoiding getting punched and the other one was punching. And he just he just loses it. He thinks he's a bit of a crazy person. He's just like he's like fucking hit me in the face. Like just hit me in the face. Takes his headgear off, just like like hit me, hit me, right? Like it litch and like I'm like, ⁓ my damn, like this is serious, right? So I hit him a little bit, he's like and then he starts yelling at me for not hitting him as hard as I could. So he literally wanted me to try to knock him out by hitting as hard as I could. ⁓ and even then in that moment after he Basically it's like I'm gonna kill you if you don't hit me as hard as I can. I probably still hit it like fifty percent. So it was ⁓ but that was a lot more than what I did before. So it was at least some kind of breakthrough. So ⁓ it's also respecting, right? If I don't give a my ult to the other person, the other person's kinda wasting their time. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. How do you like it's a such a hard sport to get into as well because like as you as you said, there's there's that human aspect to it of I don't want to hurt somebody else, I don't want to get hurt myself. There's there is a lot of fear, there's a lot of adrenaline to it. And then as you said in the intake, there's times where you feel completely out of control. How do you go from I'm not good enough yet from I'm not good enough?
speaker-0: Yeah, it's I don't think I have that voice in me of like I'm not good enough. I think I only have the voice in me of I will do better. Like like it's a system and I can figure it out. ⁓ but I've also been to gyms. ⁓ I actually dislocated my shoulder because of it. ⁓ I went to a gym and it was just a culture of animals pretty much, right? Like you know, some people they are just born to fight, like they want to hit each other in the face, they wanna destroy, they wanna just like they don't care about their own body. ⁓ and I'm much more ta technical in that sense. Like I see everything as a system, I see it like chess, like I wanna improve all the the small details of my technique. and I really believe that the right technique with the right mindset makes a difference. ⁓ but when I was going at the at the other gym, like the whole the the the mats for ⁓ grappling jiu-jitsu were just just pools. Pools of sweat. Like like you've probably seen the video ⁓ the the videos of other gyms, but it was so slippery and the mats were just like ice. And I didn't even realise it, but I I posted maybe like fifty or sixty times over like thirty minutes of rolling and the next day I was just like it was just like pop and I was like, ⁓ that's from yesterday because I went with people that couldn't restrain or control themselves in an environment that was just completely unsafe. So ⁓ definitely lesson learned and now I probably have to get on some stem cells or s or exosomes or something like that to see if we can heal it.
speaker-1: Well, I hope you can. Yeah. You know, let let's go to a hard one here, Colin. Imagine we're a year further into impossible. Three elite coaches independently tell you that becoming a world champion is no longer a realistic outcome. They also tell you that you've become a legitimate fighter though, and can continue improving for years. Your documentary's growing, the journey is changing people, and your gut still tells you to keep going. Do you preserve the original championship goal or redefine the mission or stop?
speaker-0: Yeah, I think I'm at such a level where that question doesn't even compute, right? Like there's just no chance that would happen. All my coaches would even say that because I have legitimate coaches that have trained world champions, or are world champions. And with me starting with almost no experience, they told me I could do it. So when I would actually pursue the goal and I'm one year in and they would then say say it, that sounds completely unrealistic unless everything in my body is literally broken and there's no way to fix it. ⁓ and at that point I'll I'll yield. Like if I'm that destroyed and there's really no other way of doing it, like every time I go to the gym I would dislocate something or tweak something. ⁓ then sure, like then I'll I can see it. But the the bigger journey for me is seeing if I can do it while being true to myself. Because I see a lot of movies and series where men are kind of being pushed to the side, like the woman is in control, ⁓ the man is just lazy sitting on the couch, like doing nothing. ⁓ a lot of males don't have good opinions in movies, there's not really a strong role model anym anymore. So for me to try to do something impossible while sharing the good, the bad, the injuries, ⁓ everything that I'm going through, but in a way where it's actually hopefully inspiring and where it isn't about like quitting or giving up or s or or compromising your personality or being somebody that doesn't have integrity. Like if I can just maintain that, then my original goal was to be an example for my son. And then I do believe I've accomplished that. ⁓ but even while I'm talking I'm like there's no chance. Like like that just won't happen. Like even even if they would say that they would all be gone. Like that would wouldn't be my coaches. Like gone. Like
speaker-1: Well good. What a good mindset. Yeah. You know, I wanna I want to stay in error for one more game. Every industry has beliefs that get repeated until people stop checking whether they're actually true. So this game is called Flip the Script. I'm gonna give you some commonly accepted beliefs, and you can either accept them as statements as is, or you can flip them to what you think they should be instead, okay? Yep. And I'm more interested in why than which side you actually choose, just so you know. So we might have a bit of a conversation behind each one. Here, but the first statement is you have to start young if you want to reach the top in combat sports.
speaker-0: ⁓ not true, right? In an ideal world, we started as early as possible, right? Right when we were born from the womb, we go on the on the mats. But how many people quit along the way? How many people don't succeed? How many people are with the wrong coaches and learn the wrong technique? Right? In an ideal world, yes, from since that you're born and super advanced AI trains you and you have all the right techniques and your body adapts to it, but right now that's not realistic, so ⁓ if you look at it as a game, as you were saying, like a video game, like for example RuneScape or World of Warcraft, right? You level up in the different areas that you need to be good at. That's how we're approaching it. Right. Right now I'm like level one out of ninety nine in a lot of different skills. But eventually I'll level up to maybe go to like eighty out of ninety nine in my jab. Yeah. And then we just systematically go through it in a way that's ⁓ will make me succeed.
speaker-1: Yeah, and I think with age comes sometimes an ability to pick things up a little quicker or relate them, but the opposite's also true where it can it can slow you down a little bit. As you said, injuries can start to come in and and and cause delays. But I I like what you said there with that statement. I'll give you the next one here. Confidence comes from winning.
speaker-0: no well, true and not true, right? I think there's confidence that comes from competence, right? But I think that's still too shallow. I think you need to have an inner confidence. Like no matter what happens to you, you you'll be confident. of course you still have to be realistic, right? If you're in the jungle and you have no expertise in whatever it is and you are confident you can lead the group, but there's somebody with actual forty years of survival experience, like let that person lead, right? Step down. But from the from the most part you want to be confident because you're competent, but you also and this is very neglected, you want to be confident for no reason other than you're enough. Right. And so many of us don't have it. And then we get attached to just the confidence of being competent. And then even at the highest level, think about how many fragile egos there are when they lose a little bit or when things go do go their way. So I think it's both.
speaker-1: Okay, let's you did a good job there on explaining the why for me. So let's go to the next one on winners never quit.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's tough, right? Define quitting. Right. Sometimes it's going around it. So as long as you keep adjusting and you never quit, you might end up doing something completely different, but you never give up. So so you're a winner in that sense.
speaker-1: But I honestly like that one as is, right? And and as you said, it's it's how you define quitting, right? So it's yeah, well said. Okay, next one here is successful entrepreneurs make big decisions quickly and adjust later.
speaker-0: Partially true. For most things it's true, but if you look at Jeff Bezos from Amazon, like he makes only a few big decisions per day, and everything else doesn't matter, right? So you really want to think about some of the more important decisions. ⁓ and then the small decisions, they they don't matter as much as long as the big decisions put you on the right track.
speaker-1: And last one here, if you want something badly enough and work hard enough, almost anything is possible.
speaker-0: No, I don't agree with that at all. I think there's so many people that are not smart or intelligent about the way they do things and it just leads to pain, injury, even for me, right? Like I'm trying to do this in in the most in the smartest way possible. But I still go to this gym because there was this one world champion and I wanted to roll with that one world champion to see where I'm at. And then there's a lot of egos and what I should have done is like walked away. And that would have been the smart thing. so I think if you add intelligence to it and you don't let your ego Move you then sure, but for most people it's just a a ⁓ suicide, a death threat.
speaker-1: And with that, we're starting to talk about the changes we're making versus the adversity we're facing. So let's jump into that third elemental segment, our water segment of ripples of change. So call in the romantic version of your story is that you decided to pursue an MMA championship, but the real decision had to show up in your calendar, your bank account, your body, your travel, your relationships, your team, your sleep, your habits. What was the first part of your old life that had to change before this stopped being an idea and became real?
speaker-0: Well, for me, luckily I'd I'd quit almost everything already because I was gonna take ⁓ full time care of my son, right? And replace the the nanny until that happened. So the old was already out, right? My marketing clients, like everything else I was doing. So it was more about building a new team of people I trusted that could help me with accomplishing this this mission. And from that point on I had to do it in a smart way because ⁓ right now I'm still the judge still hasn't done a ruling and we're like six months in. ⁓ but I'm right now seeing my son one hour on Friday and one hour on Sunday. That's it. So I'm doing everything. So I'm flying out on Sunday night on Monday morning and then I'm back ⁓ on Friday morning. Right. So I'm I'm flying in and out constantly, which is honestly that's the most exhausting thing. Like not just being at one place and and training consistently. But ⁓ that that's been the biggest thing, just constant travel. So I don't want to waste a single minute of time with my son. Not a single minute.
speaker-1: And that w that would be when you got rid of your old team, you're taking on your new team, within that, has any of your coaches pointed out a weakness you're willing to share? And walk walk me through the process of your new team members actually helping you.
speaker-0: biggest weakness was my nuanced thought. So I think there's a lot of I I I think the world needs more nuanced conversations, right? Not everything is black and white, not everything is one statement and then we stick with it. I think it's a lot more complicated, a lot more in the middle. But I had taken it so far probably from insecurity and everything that happened to me that I felt the need to justify myself. ⁓ and explain why I thought a certain way way too much. And One trainer just said, like, shut the fuck up, just tell me in a few words what you mean. actually be polarizing, make a statement, like don't be don't be a bitch, right? So by being courageous enough to make a statement and and stand and and stick to what I believe in without having to add all the context to it, that that made a massive difference.
speaker-1: So how do you build a room where people are genuinely allowed to tell you, the guy whose dream this is that he's wrong?
speaker-0: For me, the one thing I learned when I build businesses is that I have to go through ten to a thousand times more people than I think I should. Because I'm very trustworthy. Like I I would believe you immediately when you say something and then I would be like, Yeah, cool, let's do it together and then you might not be the person that you say you are, right? So for me I At this stage I can only fully trust you or I don't trust you at all. So I have to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of coaches or trainers that I have screened, that have done it before, that are at the absolute peak right now, that have been validated by everything everybody else. And only then I reach out, ⁓ try to work with them if it's possible and then I commit to them. So at that level I they have my complete trust, I would give give them my life.
speaker-1: So who do any of them have veto power over you? Like can actually say we're not doing this?
speaker-0: In the skills specific task, yeah. All of them. Okay. ⁓ on the general mission of of the entire thing though. Like they they wouldn't be able to pull me off if they wanted to. I wouldn't so then yeah, I would listen, but yeah, I wouldn't be pulled off.
speaker-1: So then how do you make sure you're not confusing self destruction with dedication? Like what safeguards have you built around to make sure that you're not just following down a same repetitive path?
speaker-0: Big thing for me is as long as I'm improving in the skill, right? For boxing, for example, we have sixteen different categories, right? Like one is the jab, one is the hook, one is combinations, one is parrying, right? The different facts of of of defense. And the the system is getting very good at that and then applying it within situational sparring and then within sparring and then the the fight happens. So if I'm improving in those areas without destroying my body, then there's no reason to quit or stop. And every coach thinks the same. ⁓ But I've had so many people that haven't done it before, that haven't trained world champions, tell me this is not possible. Like so many that are just like this is stupid, this is unrealistic, or just do one hour a day. even very close to to people that have been in the top five or or top three in the world, they've all told me it's not possible. Like you can't do this, like you're gonna destroy your body, just start easy, right? Just only train one or two hours a day. But all the true world champion coaches They've all told me this is possible, one hundred percent. And I think that's the difference in ⁓ the belief that the best people in the world have from the second best people in the world. So that's that's been extremely inspiring and I think in the exact same way as them. So so I'm grateful for that.
speaker-1: Good. That's great. And we start to get into those decision processes around the change. And so we'll jump into our last element of Spark or Burn. Hey, if you're enjoying today's episode, make sure you leave a rating and review on Apple and Spotify. It helps the show reach more people. Let's get back to it. You know, we've talked about the signal, we've talked about the adversity, we've talked about the system. Fire is where decisions become real because eventually conviction has to cost something. And yours did. You told me that one of your boldest decisions you've ever made was selling your twenty percent ownership interest in the farm in Phoenix and using that money to fund this journey. Take me to the point where selling became real. What did that ownership represent to you before you let it go?
speaker-0: To me, it was my backup plan because if I would have just trusted it for a few more years, I probably could have sold it for a very nice multiple. And that would have been retirement. But it was it seemed like it was one of the only ways for me to get money fast. So again, I can still buy the shares back, like it's slightly more complicated than just selling it, but it did give me the ability to have money fast. for much less than what what it was worth. And I just realized that that might be worth it. Like pursuing my goal now. ⁓ versus 'cause 'cause really I have three or four years left in my physical prime. So like every day that I lose is it's like death. Yeah. So I just commit it.
speaker-1: So a huge part of my work is studying how people make decisions under uncertainty. Most high stake decisions don't give us complete information. And when you say a hundred percent yes or it's a no, are you saying you need a hundred percent certainty about the outcome or do you mean a hundred percent alignment with the choice despite being uncertain about the outcome?
speaker-0: I I think it goes hand in hand but a hundred percent certainty about the alignment. For example, I I did the call with the owner of the company and I kinda shared them my vision and he's like, This is what I can offer right now. and then before I answered I paused for I think two minutes straight. I was just like, give me a moment and I really sat with it and I just let all the thoughts come to my head and then I asked myself, Is this the right thing? I said, Yes. Be like, it's just a hundred percent the right thing. Yes. And then I just said yes, then he sent the contract over and then within a few days it was signed. So I think it's just sitting with yourself and being like, Is this a hundred percent the right thing? And if your gut feeling doesn't say yes right away, it's not.
speaker-1: So how do you know when your decision or your sacrifice is actually serving the mission and when the mission has started feeding on sacrifice?
speaker-0: It's when you lose yourself in the process.
speaker-1: I want to bring you all the way back to your opening quote of I am the storm. There's a power in that identity. But storms can also destroy things they never meant to destroy. What keeps your storm from damaging the things you actually love?
speaker-0: You know, I went through it this week. I think it's a selfish pursuit in the sense of becoming a champion in fighting. even if we have the mission of like inspiring my son, inspiring the next generation, documenting everything that it takes to do something impossible. I think there is still a selfish part of doing it. Even if I feel like I'm doing it for the right reasons. So last week I I sat down and I was like, I so many people have been helping me and I haven't thanked them properly or Ask them how I can help them. So I went through every single person that helped me and just sent them a message, like, hey, like sending you some love. Like if I can do anything for you, like let me know. Or if there's anything that you need help with, let me know. And that shifted my mind. Like I almost lost my way and like I need to get what I want at any cost. And then I shifted back to I have to give, I have to give back as much as I can as I'm doing this.
speaker-1: You know, one day your son is gonna watch this whole story. And so I want to separate the outcomes. If you become champion, what do you hope he learns?
speaker-0: That if he sets the right goal that's in l that's truly in line with him, and he gives it his all in a small way, like truly gives it g gives it his his all, that he has a very high chance of succeeding and that he ha that he should have the courage to pursue it, irrelevant of the cost.
speaker-1: And if you don't become champion, what do you hope he learns?
speaker-0: Honestly, I hope he just laughs. He's just like crazy motherfucker, like good try.
speaker-1: You know, if he was to watch everything one day and then ask you, Dad, was it worth it? What would have to be true for you to confidently tell him yes it was?
speaker-0: Sorry, one more time if
speaker-1: I if he said dad, was it worth it? What would actually have to happen for you to with one hundred percent certainty say yes it was?
speaker-0: I hope to look him in the eyes and not see resentment or bitterness and hope that his eyes are full of light and hope and inspiration of doing the next amazing thing, whatever that is for him. That will make it all worth it.
speaker-1: We've explored your leadership and your decision making from almost every angle. And we're gonna finish with a final answer game here. I'm just gonna give you two words, and you have to pick one. And that word survives and the other disappears, and the winner keeps facing more words and more rounds until we have a champion. We we don't get to explain anything, so we just trust our instincts, okay? The first two words are instinct or evidence.
speaker-0: Instincts.
speaker-1: Instinct or discipline.
speaker-0: Instinct.
speaker-1: Instinct or patience.
speaker-0: Patience.
speaker-1: Patience or courage.
speaker-0: Courage.
speaker-1: Courage or humility?
speaker-0: Humility.
speaker-1: Humility or commitment
speaker-0: Humility.
speaker-1: Humility or adaptability.
speaker-0: Emailed him.
speaker-1: Humility or faith.
speaker-0: Faith.
speaker-1: Faith or purpose Faith or Legacy.
speaker-0: Faith. Faithful.
speaker-1: So your final answer was faith. Why did that word survive over everything else?
speaker-0: If there's no faith, there's no hope. And life becomes meaningless.
speaker-1: Colin, what's the most important thing we haven't talked about today?
speaker-0: Life's good. Like life is pretty fucking amazing. Like we live at a in an amazing place. People are good. And I think we can make it a whole lot better. So life's good.
speaker-1: So one of the ⁓ traditions on the show is my previous guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they are, what we're talking about, when we'll talk, what we bring. The question left for you is in this episode right now that we just recorded. What did you get out of this episode?
speaker-0: It lit my heart up talking to you. Like I felt very much alive in the way that you were present, in the way that you asked questions. ⁓ like I just felt like something was shining through you. So I was just really grateful that I get to to talk to you.
speaker-1: What a good energy. I'm glad I brought that. That's pretty sweet. You know, I'm gonna bat myself on the back there. You know what? It's all you two. You showed up you talked about showing up a hundred percent. And one of the things that I try to do every time we sit down is show up a hundred percent for who I have with me here today. And so it mean it means a lot to hear that that's reflected on your end as well. What I'd like to know as well is what question would you like to leave for the next guest, not knowing who they are, what we're gonna talk about, or where the direction will go.
speaker-0: Okay. I I would ask and y I I would preface it by saying you can only make a statement and you can't explain your statements. But what is something that would seriously hurt or piss the people off that are closest to you that you still think is true?
speaker-1: ⁓ okay. Almost like a hot take. That's true. I like that. I'll make I'll make sure that I get that to them. Colin, this could easily have become a conversation about chasing an impossible goal. I think the more important question underneath is what happens when someone or something matters enough that you're willing to commit without being able to control the result? We've talked about belief, pain, evidence, sacrifice, fatherhood, and the difference between refusing to quit and refusing to learn. I appreciate that you were willing to talk about the uncertainty, not just the ambition. But before I let you go, if somebody wants to follow impossible, as the story unfolds, where should they find you?
speaker-0: Impossible documentary dot com. Just one word. Impossible documentary dot com. I'll type my name in on Google and you'll ⁓ you'll find me.
speaker-1: Make sure you check the links in the description of the show. They're gonna be there too. Colin, thank you for joining me on the Elemental Educator Podcast. It's been my pleasure to have you here. Thanks for sticking around to the end of the show. If you have feedback, a suggestion, or just want to start a conversation, fire off an email, Tyler at elementaleducator.com. I actually read them. And if this episode sparks something, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. It helps more leaders find the show. And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube.
speaker-0: Dude, thank you so much.
speaker-1: Where I put out additional content. I'll see you next time. Same time, same place. ⁓
