Book 06 – The Impossible First – Colin O’Brady

This was the 6th book I read in 2020.

The meticulous details and the kind of writing has really made me obsess over this book and some of the adjectives that I could associate with this book include and not limited to are good, motivational, emotionally uplifting, and inspirational.

I learnt many things while reading this book and hope that I covered almost everything that I learnt through the below points.

Preparation is very important to achieve your goals
When I heard about this book and the kind of feats that the author had already achieved in his life, I was not aware about the preparation that went in realizing this goal. It was until I read this book that I realized how hard it is to actually achieve what the author has achieved. The sheer audacity of attempting this feat of crossing Antarctica alone, unassisted, and without refueling his supply is simply amazing and the preparation for doing that was even more arduous and strenuous.
I was amazed to read how his coach helped him prepare for this journey of the lifetime. I can’t get the picture out of my head where the author is trying to solve a piece of puzzle with the cold hands (which were in the bucket full of ice), doing wall sit with his legs in the bucket full of ice. I got cold shivers just looking at that picture and didn’t realize he trained this much hard for his journey through Antarctica.
The other preparation that he did was to go through Antarctic like conditions in the snowy mountains of Greenland. I am not sure if I am right about the place, but you get my point, right?
The one aspect of this preparation that we cannot take away is the mental preparation and that’s what blew me away. He was dropped off by his StepFather at a Vipaasana retreat for a 10-day workshop on building the mental strength and meditation. During the later stage of his climb across Antarctica, the author realized how important those 10 days were and how much he has benefited from just going through the ritual of meditation. That helped him to keep calm and do what he was destined to do.

It is always better to take a step back when things are not under control
This was the biggest learning for me while reading this book.
During one of the days on ice, the author was attacked by a severe storm and the moment he opened the tiny zip of his tent, he knew the climbing today won’t be easier. He was contemplating whether he should continue his journey or take a rest as he has been hauling his sled for more than twelve hours each day for past twelve days, so he was due for a rest day. But, the thought of Captain Rudd catching upto him captivated his mind and he decided to go ahead and see how far he could go. He thought he might end up surprising himself and accomplishing a few more miles before calling it a day.
Boy, he was so wrong. Not only he survived what seemed like a mission ending accident, he barely completed three miles for the day. It was a high risk low return kind of deal and he regretted not staying put and taking a rest day. If he would have taken a rest day, he would have avoided going through the physical pains of recovering that accident and wouldn’t have been emotionally and mentally drained to find out he could cross only 3 miles in the entire day.
It is always better to take a step back when things are not in your hand and you cannot do anything about it.

Cherish & Appreciate small moments in life
During his time on the ice, he understood the importance of small things that he missed back home. His grand family gathering, the Hawaiian term that he coined – Ohana. Ohana means family in English. Whenever he was depressed or missed home, he used to imagine these yearly family gatherings and how they used to spend time with each other. He used to miss the time he spent with his wife back home and how she had supported him and still supporting him in his journey to capture Antarctica.
He reminisced all old memories that he could while walking and hauling his sled across the ice. He realized how much he missed simple and small things in life like spending a lazy weekend afternoon with his wife and spending time with school kids, telling them and trying to inspire them about his journey and world records.
Sometimes, in our daily lives, we take things for granted and never appreciate them. It is until we lose them we realize how important they were. So, one thing to learn from this is to appreciate and value what you have in life, instead of, running to achieve something else.

Be humble and show gratitude
When I was done reading the book, the last few pages were filled with Acknowledgments. I was so engrossed in reading that I didn’t even realize I was reading that section and thought of going ahead with that and really finish the book in one go as he finished the last 70 miles in around 35 hours and termed it as an ultramarathon at Antarctica.
I was simply amazed and humbled to find how detailed and truthful his acknowledgements were. The most unfathomable thing that I found was he started this section with his wife and who truly deserved it. After reading the entire book and knowing the kind of struggle that these guys went through to raise money for his other expeditions, his wife, deserves equal recognition for all the work that they both have accomplished.
Also, one more mention in the acknowledgement section that surprised me was that of Captain Rudd, who was his competitor during this “race” to become the first man to cross the Antarctica, on foot, unassisted, and without refueling their supplies. I was humbled to see how down-to-earth the author was to recognize the importance of his competitor to achieve this once-in-a-lifetime goal.
And the last thing that blew me away was the fact that he stayed a couple of days after crossing the finish line to see Captain Rudd cross his finish line and accomplish what he wanted to do. He made sure he would camp a mile away from the actual finish line to let Captain Rudd have his own moment and don’t overcome the feeling. What was more intriguing was the fact that the author recognized the feeling that he was experiencing at that moment was felt by only one more person in the whole wide world and that was Captain Rudd. So, it was awesome to read that he waited for him for a couple more days and then flew together out of Antarctica to see their respective families.

Be loyal to people who stuck with you during tough times
Even after achieving these many things in life and holding 10 world records, the author is still humble and down to earth and it is what inspired me the most.
He values the support that he got during this journey and vows to never take that for granted.
He is still highly respected of his wife and Ohana and all the amazing and important people in his life who directly or indirectly help him achieve his goals.

#BePossible
And this hashtag is the core of this book. Through this book, the author tried instigating the never-say-never feeling for the readers. You never know what the human body is capable of, so, the best way to find out that is to actually do it and see if you are successful or not. There is not other way. PERIOD.

I am in awe of the way this book is written and understood why it is the NYT bestselling book.