True to form, ultrarunner Charlie Engle's story covers a lot of ground.
From surviving addiction and becoming the first person to run across the Sahara Desert, to publishing his memoir and then serving a federal prison sentence, Engle's highs and lows have been extreme.
Engle spoke to RTÉ Lifestyle about his journey from addiction and sobriety to success and everything in between, while attending the Pendulum Summit.
Now in its 10th year, Pendulum Summit is a world-class business and self-empowerment summit that invites some of the best and brightest minds of business, leadership, and culture to share their greatest learnings and insights under one roof.
Taking place at Dublin's Convention Centre, this year's event boasts a number of high-profile keynote speakers including extreme athlete and ice therapy pioneer Wim Hof, Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner, mental health advocate and writer Niall Breslin, and more.
With a range of records under his belt, Engle has become a pro at seeing an idea through to the end - even if that ends in seeming failure, such as his attempt to cross the United States in the fastest time.
Key to executing a plan, he said, is "ignoring the people who are telling you that you shouldn't do it or you can't do it".
"I have found, for me, it's hard enough to overcome my own anxiety and my own doubts and the money and the time and effort and the energy and the 'what am I going to get out of it?' Too often we ask in the very beginning what am I going to get out of this?
He's amazing! We're lucky to have him at #pendulumsummit https://t.co/URXSMlloWi
— Pendulum Summit (@PendulumSummit) January 10, 2024
"What I like to remind people of is really you can't discover the purpose of something until you dive in."
Diving in, he added, means understanding from the beginning that there will be uncertain moments. But much like he did while running across the Sahara Desert, he suggested breaking down even the biggest goals into smaller ones.
"You can only run the miles that are in front of you. Most of life is about dealing with the present moment and getting past this challenge today so we can get to tomorrow's challenge."
As well as talking to yourself positively, Engle suggested being careful who you share your ideas to: "Because people will actually, I learned the hard way, people get tired of hearing about it, for one thing."
More than this, is understanding why we need to loop people in at all: "Our insecurity makes us want to be assured all the time. 'Oh. it's going to be great, you're going to do well'. You don't need to hear that from other people, as much as we think we do. We are the only ones that matter and we think about ourselves more than anyone else does."
Failure - which Engle called a "complicated word" - has become central to his work and endeavors, and something he has become comfortable with. "The ability to be successful the next time, whatever that looks like, is born in the failure of the previous attempt in whatever it is.
"You are the only one that cares, that's how we're built as humans."
Recalling his time in prison, he reflected: "Most of us are never really tested."
"We think we're tested, but you actually don't know who you are until everything falls apart, whatever everything might mean to an individual person."
He added: "I know it's hard to look at hardship as an opportunity and it sounds a little New Age to think, 'oh, yay, going to prison!' I certainly wasn't saying that. Once I got there and I got a dose of reality and humility and seeing other people who not only had been treated unfairly, but had really had lost huge chunks of their life to legal ramifications.
"The guys in prison who, every single day, were making an 'x' mark on their calendar were the most miserable people in there because they were so focused on the day that they got out."
As for him, after the first few weeks he turned to books, working a job in their, cultivating a running group and planning his next big undertaking.
What is that, you ask? A continent-spanning trip from the Dead Sea in Jordan to Everest, symbolising the highs and lows that everyone goes through, which takes place in January 2025.
For more, watch our interview with Charlie Engle above.
