He Watched a Man Fall 1,500m And Still Chose to Keep Climbing | Oliver Foran #643

What does it take to stare death in the face and keep climbing?
In this powerful conversation, ultra-endurance athlete and adventurer Oliver Foran sits down with Lachlan Stuart to unpack the real story behind his high-altitude climbs including Ama Dablam, where a fellow climber tragically fell 1,500 meters to his death just before Oliver’s own summit attempt.


But this story starts much earlier… with the death of Oliver’s mother at age 15, a defining fork in the road that shaped who he became and the mountains he chose to climb physically and mentally.


From walking away from real estate and the army to chasing a bigger mission, this episode dives deep into:

• Grief, growth, and why most people don’t live fully

• Mental resilience and what it means to lead yourself

• How to set goals that actually transform your life

• What most people get wrong about success

If you’ve ever wondered what it really takes to change your life, build belief from the ashes, or climb your own version of a mountain this episode is your sign.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Oliver Foran: Mountaineer
• 16:02 Losing Mom at 15
• 31:53 From Real Estate to Mountain Climbing
• 51:56 What's Next: Everest for Brain Cancer
• 52:12 The Power of Goal Setting

Transcript

Lachlan Stuart: 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the man that Can podcast. This is the first one we've done back in Australia since well, probably far out November 24. Oh wow, so pumped to be here. Man, mate, I'm on it. Welcome to be on the show.

Olive Foran: 0:16

Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Lachlan Stuart: 0:18

So we've got Oliver Foran everyone and you've got to check his Instagram out. It's going to be linked in all the places. I don't know how we connected. I think I was following you for a little bit. You must have come up in my For you page on Instagram and you were posting all these crazy climbing videos in snowy mountains and for me I was like cool shit, cool people doing cool shit. I want to get around that. And then we connected. We went for a 90-minute walk the other week and I learned a lot about you and there's so much that I took away that I want my audience to be able to learn. So, firstly, thanks for coming on.

Olive Foran: 0:51

Thanks for having me, and vice versa. By the way, like hearing your story and I guess what you did, how you did it, it inspired me and also gave me some pointers to think about.

Lachlan Stuart: 0:59

Awesome. Appreciate that man. It's the importance of having a good network, finding people who are doing things that you're interested in and connecting with them.

Olive Foran: 1:06

Yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:07

Because I think all the things that you've learned, the lessons that you're about to share, I took away so much from you as well. I'm like, oh, how could I implement that into my life? Or I never considered you would have to go through that while climbing mountains. If I ever want to do it, which probably won't happen, if my wife has anything to do it. But, oliver, you've faced death zones, avalanches, ice walls, but what's been the hardest mountain that you've had to climb mentally?

Olive Foran: 1:31

Yeah, definitely the hardest mountain that I've had to climb mentally was probably my first major roadblock and challenge in life and that was the death of my mother. So she passed away when I was 15 years old and it was quite a drawn out process as well. So, going from having that normal, typical Australian family life which was amazing we weren't the richest family but we had a lot of love in our house and that's the most important thing and then having that kind of turn upside down at 15 years old and having to navigate that, that was really hard. But saying that, that challenge kind of set me up for bigger challenges that came later in life.

Lachlan Stuart: 2:12

Yeah, what was it? So? 15, you said 15. Yeah, that's extremely young. I'm very lucky to still have both of my parents still here. How was it You're obviously going through puberty and becoming, I guess, a young man at that point To lose such a big role model and member of support in your community and your family? How did you navigate that?

Olive Foran: 2:31

Yeah, it was hard. It was hard. It was fight or flight. For a while I had great support around me. Aunties and uncles, friends and family really stood out and helped us. Yeah, your mom's your mom right, and losing your mom has a big impact on you as a kid, definitely, and my little brother was nine years old, so, and my sister was, I think she was 13, yep, so you know, I was at least a little bit older for them.

Lachlan Stuart: 2:59

It was even bigger than me, in my opinion did you notice it shifted you in a way to want to look after them more or step up, or how did how did that influence the family dynamic?

Olive Foran: 3:10

yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, I just, you know, kind of wanted the best for my brother and sister, so would do anything for them from that moment, even more so than before. I just think you want to protect them, right? Yeah, and like being 15, you know you, you're going through puberty, you're becoming a young man, yeah, so you've got a little bit more, I guess, testosterone running through your body. Yeah, exactly, exactly so. It was challenging, but I think you know those challenges make who you are and thinking about it now.

Lachlan Stuart: 3:41

So you're 26, right? So, 11 years on, how do you feel with the way that you conduct yourself and the man that you've become and the man that you're striving towards becoming, your mum would be thinking about you.

Olive Foran: 3:54

Yeah, I hope she'd be proud. I'm sure she would. She'd probably be rolling in a grave a few times with all the stuff that I've been doing. But I think, yeah, she'd be very proud of the lessons I've learned along the way and how I've kind of taken something that could have, you know, sent me down either way and hopefully done something positive with it. And you know the end goal as well. As you know, you go through this, you learn and then you go back and you help someone else who's facing that adversity.

Lachlan Stuart: 4:24

Why do you feel? I believe everyone faces a fork in the road moment, and the significance or severity of it varies for each individual. You obviously had your fork in the road, as you just mentioned. You could have gone one way and you chose to go what we view as a positive way. Why do you feel you went the positive way instead of, I guess, spiraling? Because you do hear a lot of people who do spiral out of control.

Olive Foran: 4:45

Yeah, well, it's not saying that I didn't. I definitely dipped my toe in that spiral, little dippy tip and then I think conscious was a big thing. And also I put it in perspective and I was like my mom wanted to set me up with a good life. She wanted to give me all the opportunity. We were a single income household. My mom looked after the family, so she was trying to give every opportunity for us to. She sent us to a private school. I went to college, so she was trying to give every opportunity for us to live a good life and then I thought why not still honor her and live a full life? You know, my version of full back then is not my version of full now.

Lachlan Stuart: 5:24

What's the difference? What was it full back then is not my version of full now?

Olive Foran: 5:26

What's the difference? What was it like back then to now? Back then was just having a good job, working hard, and since I dip my toe in the mountains, it's all mountains.

Lachlan Stuart: 5:34

How'd you get into the, I guess dipping your toe into the mountain? Because me that's a big dip, right, I haven't seen any version of my life where I dip my toe in the mountains, even though I love watching it. That hasn't come up for me. So how did you end up there?

Olive Foran: 5:48

So originally I was just traveling, wanted to travel. I worked in real estate for five years prior and then, yeah, went overseas, went to Europe, africa, I had a wedding for a friend in Asia, in Bali, and then I ended up in Vietnam. Now, in Vietnam, I was rock climbing and I met an American guy and he was a mountaineer, and then we ended up getting along. So we ended up getting an Airbnb together, spending a bit of time, and this guy was just like influencing me, telling me how crazy these stories were, and I feel like I'm an extreme personality and I was like biting hard. I was like this is extreme personality and I was like biting hard. I was like this is awesome.

Olive Foran: 6:27

So then, yeah, anyway, booked a, booked a ticket to Nepal, as you do, as you do, just get baited. And then you're like I'm doing it. Yeah. I was like, oh, you've inspired me, let's do it. And then, um, I was fit because I was training for our army, yep, so I was in really good shape. So I thought, hey, I'm in good shape, got this opportunity, I'm already in this, uh, on this side of the world, let's go do it.

Lachlan Stuart: 6:49

So so hold on. You were in real estate, you'd been in real estate for a number of years, and then you're also training to get into the army yes yeah, so obviously your passion wasn't real estate at the time, would you?

Olive Foran: 6:59

I loved real estate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But real estate to me was I wanted to push myself physically right. I wanted to see, like, how far I could go physically and I think that you know ties into a little bit of my past as well just wanting to see where that limit is. And real estate's such a good career. But I wasn't fulfilled physically. You know what I mean.

Lachlan Stuart: 7:24

So why not stay in real estate and then sort of dabble in the other things? Why go all in?

Olive Foran: 7:30

I think that's just my personality. Yeah, I think I just decided to dive headfirst and learn to swim on the way. I think, as well, if you don't do something to the fullest, as well, if you don't do something to the fullest, you're not going to have the success in it that you want, in my opinion. And I saw myself kind of focusing away from real estate while I was still in it and I thought, obviously this is not what my heart is. It's time to readjust and look at something else. And then that was actually the military.

Lachlan Stuart: 8:04

So that way you could sort of have career progress but then the physical challenges as well Correct. Yes, that's cool. I love that you, even though you didn't dislike it, because quite often the narrative is find your purpose or build a career in something that you love, meaning you hate where you currently are. But the fact that you really enjoyed real estate and still were looking to pursue something greater is very interesting to me, because a lot of people wouldn't do that yeah, yeah, yeah, it was um.

Olive Foran: 8:34

It was a tough decision. Nonetheless, like financially, it was probably the worst decision I could have made, but um, but yeah, I feel like in the long term, your passions run deeper right definitely, and the stories that you have to tell people in your life.

Lachlan Stuart: 8:48

So your dad's still around yeah, so your dad and your brother and sister and I guess, even colleagues. What were they like when you said, hey, this is this is what I'm gonna do?

Olive Foran: 8:56

yeah, well, my business partner, um Chantelle Joyce, she's a very good friend. She's like are you sure? And I'm like no, but, but I will give it my best crack anyway. And like dad, my whole family's like are you sure?

Lachlan Stuart: 9:14

and I'm like no, but let's do it anyway where did that belief come from for you to set out and go into this unpredictable situation where you don't even know how you're going to get paid or whether you can even do the hikes, but you did it and obviously you're walking away from a career? Where did that come from?

Olive Foran: 9:34

Well, I guess you have to look at what you've got and what we've got here, especially in like our country and most of the Western parts of the world. World is what's the worst thing that can happen. You know what I mean, and this is what I kind of leveled with myself with. I was like what is the worst thing that can happen from me just taking this leap into the unknown? The worst thing is is it doesn't work out and then I go get a job again in real estate and I just start again from the bottom and work my way back up, but with the knowledge that I learned over the last five years. It's a beautiful place. I love Brisbane.

Olive Foran: 10:08

How like there's no better place to start from the ground yeah, you know you know what I mean and I thought what's the best thing that can happen? I get to create this amazing life where I'm going on adventures. I've always been an adventurous person, seeing things that not many humans will see.

Lachlan Stuart: 10:24

That's to me like worth the risk, you know for sure, and what was so you went to Nepal then. So talk us through that first hike and getting ready for it. So you had old bud, just, I guess, baiting you to go do it. And then obviously the adventurous personality within was like I'm doing it and here we are, what take us through the next steps there yeah, mate.

Olive Foran: 10:43

So basically I got to flew into katmandu and I was uh talking to this guy uh that I saw on instagram and he had like a small trekking company there and he's basically meets me at the airport, takes me to um katmandu guest house, which is like a traditional but really cool hotel full of like mountaineers. And I just got there, I was looking at these guys. I was like this is cool, and everywhere around the kathmandu guest house it's in a part called the mel. Okay, it's just like these knockoff trekking north face last sportiva, just like all this apparel, and I was like all right, I'm gonna buy all this stuff. So I bought all the gear. It was all like, um, definitely not official, but I bought it all. And then a few days later we set out to the Himalayas for the first time, which was awesome.

Lachlan Stuart: 11:33

And, at this point, what was your level of experience and what was going through your mind?

Olive Foran: 11:38

Yeah, so I've done like a lot of trekking and a lot of hiking prior to this in Australia and traveling around different parts of the world as well, but never and like climbing as well. I've had like a bit of a rock climbing background, but never mountaineering. So I told him I wanted to climb a 6,000 meter peak and I wanted to trek to Everest base camp. Um, yes, I was very nervous, but excited for me.

Lachlan Stuart: 12:04

I'm freaking out just thinking about it because I've got visuals of on your instagram of you hanging off like the side of mountains and stuff, yeah, but so when you're getting prepared for that, like what are some of the stuff that you need to have that I guess is important or crucial to your survival on the mountain? Because and is it just you or are you going with a team of people you mentioned there was a heap of other mountaineers and yeah, so it was just me with a guide yep, uh, and then a porter, so we called them captains.

Olive Foran: 12:31

So the captains carried our duffel bag yeah, right, and then we'd carry probably like a 10 kilo pack, and then my guide as well was with us as well. So it was three of us, which was really cool because got a really authentic experience of what it's like up there and we like the big, the big ticket items for then was like a proper down jacket. I think that's something that australians don't, we don't really need. So trying to figure out what was the right one and everything was interesting experience. Just Temperatures you in Like, are you moving in? Well, that expedition? We got down like negative 30 degrees on our summit push because it was like the end of November as well, so it was coming into winter there and it was cold, but like average temperatures would probably be like in the negative five to 10 range Wow, so it was cold.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:22

And so what mountain were you summiting here? It was called Island.

Olive Foran: 13:25

Peak Island Peak 6,189 meters.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:29

Bloody hell, and how long does that take?

Olive Foran: 13:33

Yeah, so this one took so from base camp to the summit and back. We were about 16 hours all up.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:41

Yeah, right, so did you have to do an overnighter, or you just hit that in one, just one push? Yeah, yeah, right. So did you have to do an overnighter, or you just hit that in one, just one push?

Olive Foran: 13:45

yeah, yeah right, I was legless by the end of it.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:48

I can imagine. So the altitude and stuff, like what's that? Like had you done any altitude training or anything before? Or you just sort of rocked up fresh face with a big grin on your face.

Olive Foran: 13:57

Yeah, definitely, altitude training is so important, as I found out. I rocked out with a fresh face, ready to rumble, and we flew into look love, which is, um, that sketchy airport that you see on all those videos. Yeah, and that's like 2700 and I just remember being like whoa, I've got a headache already dude, how do you, how do you push the body through that like you?

Lachlan Stuart: 14:21

you're at altitude, you know you're going higher, your oxygen's thinner, your head's probably pounding, and then you're also exerting yourself physically, like were there moments there where you wanted to quit that yeah, yeah, uh, definitely more so the first time I went up than this recent expedition.

Olive Foran: 14:37

But it's just, you know, you just take it slow, right, like we're moving so slow we're moving very far and for long periods, but your heart rate's not. You're trying to not keep it above like 140. Yeah, right, so you're moving slow. Uh, drinking lots of water? Yeah, water's, water's key up there. It's so important to stay hydrated and we didn't take any altitude and medicine or anything. Then there were definitely times, like there was a time so when we got to everest base camp, we were like just down like the path from that rock that everyone gets a photo on, and I actually like ended up blacking out a little bit from the altitude and came back and everything.

Lachlan Stuart: 15:18

But it was just like whoa do you remember, remember that experience, like when you're in the lead up to it, like I don't know whether you're starting to see dots or anything like that yeah, yeah, yeah.

Olive Foran: 15:28

So I remember like my vision started blurring and then I was like I'm probably just like tired, probably just tired, and then I just remember like kind of collapsing and just going black and numb and then coming back and I was like, oh, I need to get down. How?

Lachlan Stuart: 15:41

dangerous is that on the mountain.

Olive Foran: 15:42

Yeah, very dangerous, very dangerous yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 15:45

Very dangerous, yeah, so you obviously even in that period, had people with you who can, I guess, rescue you should you need it. But when you're pushing to that level, that's base camp. How many other camps are there going up Everest? Like three or four, four others? Yeah, and why are you climbing that? Because I know we'll talk about this shortly, what's up next next for you? But if you were to then hit the next couple of camps, do you have to stay there and climatize or do you just yeah, yeah, yeah.

Olive Foran: 16:10

So this is the cool thing about mountaineering is like, once you learn, you learn right.

Lachlan Stuart: 16:14

Um, because you don't want to do it again hopefully that happens in other areas of life for people right, once you learn, you learn like good, yeah, you take that lesson.

Olive Foran: 16:22

But yeah, at climatizing, like we call them rotations, and it's when you say you're at base camp and then we'll climb to camp one, you spend a few nights there and then it'll be tough, you know, you'll feel it, you'll definitely feel it.

Lachlan Stuart: 16:35

But then you come back down but that time, while you're climatizing, you're sort of just hanging out, are you? Or you're doing much physical stuff or just get there.

Olive Foran: 16:43

A lot of the time you're just hanging out. Yeah, that's good.

Olive Foran: 16:45

Yeah, because you just want to give your body time to, I guess, adjust to its environment because it is struggling with the amount of oxygen that's up there. It's very thin, so your body is having to produce more red blood cells. How incredible is the body Right, it's wild To push that and adapt. Oh, it's crazy. It's. It's wild to push that and adapt. Oh, it's crazy, it's crazy. And then, like, as we'll talk about a bit later, but what I noticed in this recent expedition to amadablam because that was a lot of intense climbing is how the body even adjusts to that with low oxygen. Like it's incredible what your body can do talk to us about amadablam.

Lachlan Stuart: 17:18

I know the amount itself from what we've spoken is extremely technical. Yeah, guys, check out his. There's some wild footage on there. What was that like? So you did base camp, you did the Northern Peaks Sorry. What was the first one? The Island Peaks, sorry, yeah. And then obviously Amidablam. What was it that drew you to that, knowing that it was so technical, as well.

Olive Foran: 17:39

Well, so, as you'll see, when you get into the Khumbu region, the Sagamatha National Park, which is the trek to Everest base camp from about day three onwards, as soon as you pass the last, you know, decently populated city called Namche Bazaar, you just see this mountain and it's just in the middle of everything. It's just like this towering peak and you just can't take your eye off it because it's so beautiful. And I was like I remember I asked my god, I was like what's that? And he's like I'm a dublin and I was like I'm gonna climb that next year. And he's like okay, and then, yeah, so that first um trek to everest base camp and climb climbing of island peak, it's just like we saw it all day, every day.

Olive Foran: 18:20

It's like what we're looking at. And then it kind kind of grew on me and then, as soon as I got back to Australia, I was like all right, if I'm going to climb this, I need to kick into gear. So I dropped drinking, I kind of just started working towards that single-minded goal of climbing that mountain. And, yeah, I prepped for like three months, flew in and it was the wildest expedition I could have ever asked.

Lachlan Stuart: 18:43

Before we dive into that. What's the um? We dive into that while you're coming back like you're starting to goal set. How important is goal setting to you?

Olive Foran: 18:55

A massive, massive man.

Lachlan Stuart: 18:57

Talk us through what your process is around goal setting. Yeah, a lot of people, even that I experienced with. I speak to people all the time who don't have goals or set them but never achieve them. You've set something that is outrageous and if it goes wrong, you probably lose your life. Yeah, I guess you decided you're going to do it. You worked back. You said you were quitting drinking. What other things did you do and how did you, I guess, break it down to the point where you're like I'm confident that I'm going to be able to do this.

Olive Foran: 19:29

Yeah, well, there's always like that, I guess, unknown about mountaineering, but I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to get it done with my goal setting. So it was the same in my real estate career. I write something down A lot of the time. I set it as my screensaver as well and I just want to always be looking at that goal. I just want to always be looking consistently at that goal, because I believe if you write something down, it will come true. But you have to read it, you have to keep checking in on it, right? So I write down I'm going to summit Amidabam in 2025.

Olive Foran: 20:00

And then I set it as my screensaver while I was training and I just remember checking it over and over and over again. And the thing about goal setting is you have to give yourself like structure around it. You can't just be like I'm gonna do this but then there's no pathway to it. For me, it was finding I need to go find three corporate sorry, two corporate partners. I needed to train four times a week, I needed to run this many kilometers per week and I just kind of like stepped that out and now you might not stay exactly to that and you might not do exactly what you've, I guess, set out in the structure, but by having something to work you worked with and towards keeps you accountable right, something to work you worked with and towards keeps you accountable right.

Lachlan Stuart: 20:48

So that was my process is I'll write a goal down and then I'll put you know action, action that I can nail every week, and then I'll look back on it such an important and powerful point is the setting the goal, regardless of how big it may seem, but breaking it down, because that's where you realize it's manageable, or you can have the time, or maybe you need to sacrifice certain things to do that, and even to the point where you said it did change a little bit and it didn't need to be locked in stone, that plan. But as soon as you give yourself, I guess, that first small step, that's where the momentum starts. A lot of people spend so much time getting ready, to get ready. They want this perfect plan before they do anything.

Lachlan Stuart: 21:26

And I don't know about you, but every time I've set any goal that I've worked towards in business and with travel, with adventures, the plan always changes so many times. And you got to allow that flexibility because I think if you're too rigid in your approach, I love having the boundaries, like is this moving me towards where I'm going to go? But if I find a more efficient way or if I find things that are taking too much energy and too much time and don't have a good ROI, I'm going to get rid of that because the goal is what's most important how I get there. It's, you know, allowed to change how do you set goals?

Lachlan Stuart: 21:57

pretty much the exact same way as you do. I Well, I always look a little bit bigger, like I have an idea of what I want my life to look like down the track. And for anyone who's listening, who is under 25, I would say, maybe don't think as big picture, but I think as you get more life experience it's easy to say, okay, what's five years down the track look like? Or 10 years down the track, because five years all of a sudden isn't a big deal. But when I was 18, five years is a long time, right it, five years is a long time, right, it's a third of your life.

Lachlan Stuart: 22:24

So I'm looking at seasons of life. Eventually I'll have a family, we've got mortgages, we've got responsibilities. So what needs to happen? How do I need to front load my life to have the experiences that I want to have? Hence doing things while I don't have children or dependents. At the moment I'm trying to jam as much in and I know that'll change. It doesn't trying to jam as much in and I know that'll change Doesn't mean that I can never do those things again when that happens. But there may be different experiences that I want to have. So I've got a bucket list of stuff and a vision for how I want to be as a man and how I would love people to remember me and all of that.

Lachlan Stuart: 22:57

And then every decision I make and every goal that I set that's significant. There's insignificant ones, I asked myself is this moving towards that or is it pulling me away? Because you mentioned another thing writing the goal down. For me, the reason why I do that is it keeps it in line of sight, because every single day there's new opportunities coming in and the more successful you become, you know, as you continue to do more of what you do, there's going to be people wanting your time more and coffees and other expeditions, and it's nice, like it's cool, to feel wanted and it's cool to have opportunity. But every time you look left or look right at that, you're not focusing on what's important 100%. So for me, when I've got it written down in front of me, I'm like okay, these are the important things. I will occasionally look left and look right if they're from people that I respect or trust or admire, but majority of the time it's like put the blinders on and do what's required to achieve that.

Olive Foran: 23:51

Yeah, and it's not being rude either, but you have a look at the most successful people in any field and they have the blinders up big time, you know. But at saying that it is important to reach back and help someone else If you believe that they can get there, you know what I mean.

Lachlan Stuart: 24:08

Definitely that's also for me. Five years ago, I probably wasn't as focused on that. I would definitely go for a lot of coffees and catch ups with people, but I was still trying to get myself to a point where I could breathe and I built the life that I am living and the life that I'm enjoying living coming out of a place of scarcity and pain. I hated my life and I hated myself so much that I just knew I didn't want that. Therefore, I would do whatever the opposite was of that, and I didn't really know what that was at the time. I was just like if I don't want to be broke, I need to earn money. If I don't want to be lonely, I need to find love. You know, if I don't want to be mentally unwell, I need to get mentally happy and healthy. And so I was figuring out what worked for me in that process, which meant a lot of trial and error, as I figured out and found out things that work for me and I've media, especially younger people.

Lachlan Stuart: 25:04

And this was me when I was younger. I thought I had it all figured out, but I didn't. I just didn't have enough life experience. So me I was trying to give people advice and give myself advice that I didn't yet understand. So that's where I think the experience came in. But I needed to get myself to a point where, financially, I was sweet, I'd done the things that I was essentially trying to tell people to do, and that took, you know, for me it took 11 years. I wish I was one of those people on social media who knocked it out of the park in the first 12, 24 months, but that just wasn't my journey.

Olive Foran: 25:34

But the good thing is through. I guess more time you learn, more lessons and also you know what goes into building. Yeah, so you don't want to let it go, you don't want to let it slip. You're even more committed than someone who probably did it in a year or two, exactly, yeah you understand what you've got to lose.

Lachlan Stuart: 25:52

And I went to the bull riding on Saturday night. I caught up with some mates I hadn't seen for 15 years, which was cool. They're great lads and everyone's sort of going through this phase of life where they're cutting back on drinking and other things are becoming a priority, and we all stopped hanging out 15 years ago because we were all together, were menaces, yeah. And now you're sort of watching them come into different phases of their life and you're seeing them want to change their habits to be better for their families and for themselves. And I think, yeah, to your point.

Lachlan Stuart: 26:23

It's just you don't get to give the opportunity. Like I was having a beer and having a chat with them and they were asking me questions like how did you cut out alcohol? As I have a beer, no, but like how did you change your relationship with alcohol? How have you done this? And I got to ask them questions about things, because everyone is an expert in something that you're not. And yeah, you do get to have the opportunity as a young person, and definitely as you get older, to give back, because I think if I can help people have the quality of life that I have. Just like I'm sure you're excited to help people have the experiences and adventures and quality of life that you have. It's a very cool feeling.

Olive Foran: 27:01

Yeah, yeah. Which is that thing about reaching back right? Yeah, yeah, letting someone else have the experience, yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 27:07

I think you can't always be the person who's leading. You've got to know when to support as well, and I got to do that. The Tumor Grammar 150 year, what was it? I keep forgetting the event, but it was a cool event the school put on.

Lachlan Stuart: 27:21

This young fellow was running 100k so I got to help him and that was awesome, like I wasn't really running or doing anything, but I was like he's helping him with food and cramping and all kinds of stuff, but watching him get to go through that, I'm like he started the day. A very different person to how he finished it yeah much as I'm sure you have with every adventure. What it probably leads into a good question from obviously 15, when your mom passed away, to now, 26 or 11 years later, you've done what?

Olive Foran: 27:49

three or four wild high three, three high high altitude mountains.

Lachlan Stuart: 27:55

How has that shaped you and how would you say you've? You're different to that younger version of yourself.

Olive Foran: 28:02

I would say probably the biggest difference is now I have the belief that I can really just do whatever. I can do anything, and it's not coming from a point of overconfidence or anything like that, it's just coming from a point of just if you commit to something fully, you can make it happen. It's crazy, when you set your mind to, can you shut out all the noises we were talking about putting the blinders up what you can achieve. It's fantastic. And I would probably say the young, 15 year old, oliver Foran, didn't really believe that. You know, and I think, through challenge, seeking out challenge, I kind of learned more about myself. When I'm under pressure, I don't freak out and you start building yourself as a human being. And yeah, I'd probably just say that's the biggest difference from young me to me now, and the mountains and the experiences had on those expeditions and journeys had a lot to do with it. But also just growing up, yeah, was the probably the bigger player in it.

Lachlan Stuart: 29:07

How was it, though? So your first step, the bloke who baited you and got you to do that first hike, then obviously, that was probably a pivotal conversation in your life that has shaped you into the man that you are today, because a lot of your growth from what you just shared then came through doing the hard things and putting yourself in situations where you could either back down or you could step up and step into who you wanted to become. How important do you feel it is for people listening to do hard things?

Olive Foran: 29:34

I think it's the most important thing.

Lachlan Stuart: 29:36

Yeah.

Olive Foran: 29:37

I think we live in a world now where everything's so accessible and easy and then you take yourself out of it and, like a good experience is go to a third world country and see how they live daily. There's more entrepreneurs in third world countries than there are in any Western country. Because you have to think like that there, I think the most important thing is to go seek challenge, or challenge is going to seek you at the end of the day, a way to look. Yeah, and actually what I just said then was something it's just a mantra that popped into my mind when things got hard climbing amadablam and it just kind of stuck around and it kind of has so much meaning to what I believe a human needs to do to live a life that's fulfilling. It's so good, yeah what's it, amadablam?

Lachlan Stuart: 30:22

I know there was some wild things that happened on there. What was a moment on that trek that had a significant impact on you?

Olive Foran: 30:30

yeah, um, there was one standout moment and that was, uh, we just climbed lobashay east peak, which is another 619 meter, I believe, um peak, near everest, and then we trekked the next day back to, also that same day, um, back to I think it was farish. And then we went to amadablam and when we got there we met this amazing group of people and became like friends, base camp family straight away. And there was a lovely austrian father, daughter and son-in-law. They were by far the most complete and, in my opinion, best climbers at base camp, so we were kind of all leaning on them because there were some problems with ice covering some of the ropes, so we needed to go fix a new route, which the AK Sherpas ended up doing, but they were the ones that were going to go open it up by climbing it right. So they went.

Olive Foran: 31:25

We were meant to go the day after and, yeah, unfortunately, like they did it in an amazing time, but unfortunately, um, the papa fell from the top 1500 meters and unfortunately passed away, and that it was just our team left in base camp. Everyone else was on the mountain. That put everything in perspective for us, that base camp. Everyone else was on the mountain that put everything in perspective. For us, that was so hard?

Lachlan Stuart: 31:48

what was going through your mind when you got the call and found out that that?

Olive Foran: 31:52

had happened. Well, first it was we need to get the daughter and the son-in-law off the mountain asap, which we, thanks to our lead team leader, gesmar, ended up organizing very quickly, and then it was just like they were the best. I'm not even like an eighth of a climber that he is, you know, and I'm going to go and do this soon. So I would lie if I said there wasn't like a little bit of like shock and self-doubt creeping in, but it got stamped out very quickly as well.

Lachlan Stuart: 32:21

How did you stamp it out? Because even when we were on the run and you were telling me that story in my mind, I have never been in a situation like that, like I've pushed myself in so many different instances, but I don't think there have ever been life or death, and so what you do is quite often a lot of life or death situations, and then you see it happen with someone who is a more experienced climber. How do you overcome that?

Olive Foran: 32:51

yeah, yeah, we'll overcome it. I basically decided to flip my mind and just start thinking positively about the mountain again. That was a big thing because that one event sent pretty much 75% of the climbers home. Also, the weather turned didn't make things easier, that just happened, and there was probably a two-week waiting period before the next opportunity to go and climb. So most climbers said, no, that's not going to happen, we'll come back next year, we'll come back later this year. I just went.

Olive Foran: 33:25

I feel like there is an opportunity here and we kind of spoke about it as a team.

Olive Foran: 33:30

We spoke about what happened, we spoke about things that we could work on, and safety was a big thing.

Olive Foran: 33:35

So we made a new plan which involved more of a staged approach to climbing the mountain, not just pushing from camp two and one push to get up and down, which takes like 28 hours. With those conditions we're like all right, well, let's bring a tent up, let's pitch a tent at camp three, which is very sketchy, but if we can get a few hours of rest there, get some food in, get some calories in, then we will have a good chance of pushing and, at the end of the day, stepping back and not being emotional about it and being like how can we build on this, how can we learn from this and move forwards which was tough, you know what I mean, because it's such a sad thing. And just to have to take the emotion away only a few days later and make a plan on how to actually make it happen was different to anything I've had to do before. But we built the plan. We ended up doing the climb and summiting and, yeah, it took everything I had as a human.

Lachlan Stuart: 34:33

Why didn't you quit? 75% of people are walking away. You're probably seeing them leave in droves. Yeah, what was it within you that decided you didn't want to quit?

Olive Foran: 34:42

I'd probably like I'm a bit of an extreme person I would say that had a lot to do with it, but also just I just had belief that it was possible. You know what I mean? I was like other people have summit of this mountain this season.

Lachlan Stuart: 34:55

I'm going to be one of them Even when the bad weather came in. Was that just another hurdle for you to overcome?

Olive Foran: 35:00

Yeah, that was the most tedious two weeks. It was crazy because the mountains are alive, there is absolutely no doubt about it. Like the tragedy happened and then the mountain just snow, wind, snow wind. Like we were getting 20 centimeters of snow for like the following week and then a little bit into that second week as well, and it's just like it wanted no one up there and then we were just patient like we would. Just there was a lodge that was probably 10 minute walk from base camp so we'd go stay there for a few nights to get a shower in and like a proper shower and all of that. Then come back to base camp and play cards, hang out and like we checked our gear 48 times and it was just a huge test on resilience and patience.

Lachlan Stuart: 35:47

at the end of the day, do you feel there was any pressure to prove yourself as well at this point while you're going up the mountain? Obviously when you you didn't really have from what you shared, have too many people, as you're leaving real estate, doubt you or tell you you're an idiot, but they're just like are you sure? And you're like no, but we'll figure it out. Was there any, I guess, pressure of people or expectation or perception back home that drove you up the mountain as well?

Olive Foran: 36:14

not really. To be honest, I feel like I've got some amazing people in my corner and they like, when I make a decision, I think through their experience, it's like he's gonna do it, doesn't really matter what we say. They supported me and they're like if you think this is the right decision, I can guarantee. Like behind closed doors they're like get back, get off this mountain right now. But I kind of made the decision that this is what I wanted to do and this was going to be my testing ground to prove that I can do it. Because, yeah, like all the stuff that happens huge tragedy. But it was one of those moments where we're like, if you're going to do it, you're going to need to give everything you got and more, and then you might get it. You know what I mean. There were no guarantees, but the stage was set and I just wanted to take that step.

Lachlan Stuart: 37:04

So awesome. I get so inspired because when there's, especially when there's opportunity to quit and I don't think people would bat an eyelid if there was a death or even the change in weather it's very easy to people just go oh man, there were so many things out of your control and you allowed them to determine your outcome. That's how a lot of people live life. They live life, I guess, reacting to things out of their control and they get pissed off by them or they allow them to determine their results, where, in this situation, which was literally life or death, you still chose to be in control. As challenging as it was, you said, you started shifting your approach to viewing the mountain as still a fun experience and something that you were capable of, and I'm also sure the evidence of hiking the two previously had taught you some skills and got you comfortable. In that moment you didn't just go to the crazy one.

Olive Foran: 37:52

No, no, no, no. I learned a lot those two previous climbs and I was very lucky to have, almost like, a mentor who was our team leader is gesman um he, his skill and mountain is like second skill and strength, second to none, so it was good for me to know that we had him in our corner as well. And then my climbing partner, a lithuanian guy, andy, also very strong, and gian, who I ended up it was just gian and I who ended up summiting yep one of like the most humble but powerful human beings I've ever met.

Olive Foran: 38:28

So I was like there's a team of four here, we're taking on the risk management. Quite well, we're building a new plan. We're all strong in our own ways, a lot of them physical, I'd say. My biggest attribute was my mental strength and I was like let's do it. You know what I mean. Like it's still here, we're still in the season, like I believe we can, and that's not to say that like if the mountain said no up there, we would have turned around. But I think, because we waited it out, it threw us a bone, yep, and then we just made best with it, just chewed on it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, but they like it all came down to the team how important is team like?

Lachlan Stuart: 39:10

talk us through what you're looking for when you're putting a team together to do what you do like. What attributes you're talking about? You mentioned strength. You mentioned your best ability was your mental like. What else you're looking for when you're assembling?

Olive Foran: 39:22

team, yeah, yeah.

Olive Foran: 39:23

Well, people that aren't just going to give up when things get hard, because there is one guarantee in the mountaineering and it will get hard at some point.

Olive Foran: 39:30

You will have a massive headache, you could be a little injured, it could be like negative 20 30 degrees. You'd be in a blizzard like it is gonna suck at some point. But you want to. You want to surround yourself with people that aren't just going to throw the towel in right and not saying that throwing the towel is a bad thing because it's very smart in the mountains if it does get a bit too wild, but also like you don't want someone at the first sign of danger. That's just like no, yeah, I'm done. So that that's probably the most important thing when building a team is just finding people that have that resilience and also people that you can trust. You know what I mean because, like when we, so gun and I, went to push for the summit, it took us nine hours from we left at 12 30 and we got up there like 9 55, so just over nine hours to climb to the summit how long you're living at 12, 30 in the morning or midday, midnight far out, yeah, and like so, the.

Olive Foran: 40:25

So it's funny, you climb on blue ice and it's like this right, so what's? Blue ice is slippery as shit, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, that's the crampons. So you're just front crampons? Yeah, right, using the front crampons for hours and hours and hours.

Lachlan Stuart: 40:38

And when you were using those. Are you into it or yeah?

Olive Foran: 40:41

yeah, so you're like chipping away and just trying to get it in there. I was lucky, like mine were quite new, so that was still very sharp, so it kind of took me one or two kicks to get in there. But yeah, you're just kind of like chipping away at it hours and hours and hours of just climbing uphill how the quads feeling booting into a bit of ice non-stop.

Lachlan Stuart: 41:01

Oh it was more the shins.

Olive Foran: 41:02

My shins were like black when I came down. That's nuts, yeah. But yeah, and Garn and I like this, is you know that trust thing again, right? So the last 200 meters before the summit, like we'd just been going up and down over these hills that we thought were the summit for hours, and then we finally like see it there and the ice is buried Sorry, the rope is buried in ice and we're like, oh no. So we looked at each other and it wasn't as steep as the rest of it, like we were kind of almost there. So we tied into each other and we just walked it, which is a bit red hot because we weren't on any fixed ropes or anything towards the end there, but we wanted to get to the summit. I trusted him, he trusted me and we did to get to the summit. I trusted him, he trusted me and we did it, which was awesome.

Lachlan Stuart: 41:48

What was it like when you summited? So you said what? 6,000, how many? 812, yeah, so just shy of 7,000. Yeah, Far out. What was it like when you summited? Talk us through that.

Olive Foran: 42:00

Probably the most beautiful moment of my life, ruined by me falling asleep as soon as I got there, as you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I um, I got to the top and I was like whoa, I sat down and just like went to sleep, for I think it was probably like five, ten minutes, and then Garnt's like hey, take it in, take it in, we're not gonna get back up here for a while.

Lachlan Stuart: 42:27

Fucking hell and then. So when you woke up and like we're just looking around what was going through your mind?

Olive Foran: 42:35

I was just like I can't believe that we just did this, like we overcame so much adversity to get to this moment right now, like this is just wild, and like we had this clear view of the peak of Mount Everest and it felt like there was nothing else up there except us, the mountain that we were on and Mount Everest. That's just what it felt like. It was just this wild feeling of energy and connection and, yeah, man, I was just taken back, like so, so much respect for that area and just that part of the world. I just think it's something that, if you can get a chance to go and have a look at, because there's some big things in this world, these mountains are some of them.

Lachlan Stuart: 43:21

Yeah, I have no intent on climbing them, but I'm keen to see them. Yeah, yeah, you've mentioned in social posts and stuff, climbing for your mum. Would you be open to sharing, I guess, what that really means to you, because you have obviously touched on who you want to become for her, but when you're obviously doing the things that you're doing with, I guess, your mum in the back of your mind what into you, yeah, yeah.

Olive Foran: 43:47

Well, it means a lot, man, being able to do these tough things, and I do them. I do them for myself, but I do them for my mom as well, which leads on to what I'm wanting to do turn this into uh, which we'll mention, talk about soon. But being able to do this for someone, I think, makes it even more powerful, right?

Lachlan Stuart: 44:05

yeah, I always just wanted to make my mom proud as a kid and I was like well, I think this is a pretty cool way to do it and I enjoy it good on you, man like see people who are executing these things is inspiring, knowing a small fraction of what you've had to go through to do it and it's not always just the physical things that you have to endure the biggest challenges.

Lachlan Stuart: 44:30

I think are the mental, because the mind controls what happens next. You know, obviously dealing with the loss of your mom, then being on a trek where someone actually passed away, the things that I feel would go through my mind would probably stop me. So the fact that you were able to tame the mind and get those physical challenges overcome as well, like it, is so impressive.

Olive Foran: 44:51

Yeah, I thought about this and, like at base camp, I was definitely, I reckon, in my opinion, the most inexperienced climber there. One of them and definitely was not one of the strongest, you know what I mean Not even close. There were some amazing human beings at base camp, but I just think my mentality got me over the line at the end of the day and just being able to put up with a bit of suck or a lot of suck, plenty of it yeah, it's interesting and it's kind of a cool leveler as well, like if you have the right mentality about things, you can do some amazing feats as a human being.

Lachlan Stuart: 45:28

How do you train your mind? Is there anything that you do?

Olive Foran: 45:32

now. Yeah, I guess, when I was like building it up, not really, I think it just kind of came from having these massive traumas in my life and just trying to navigate them. And, yeah, like losing people that are close to you is probably one of the hardest things in your life, but it's one of the best things for building mental resilience and everything like that. And I've had a few terrible, terrible cases over the years. So I think it's just, unfortunately, some of it's attributed to that. But more recently, like I gave up drinking, which was a mental challenge as well, because, like being an Aussie and I've got an amazing bunch of mates and it's hard to not just go have a beer all the time with them. You know what I mean Exactly. Yeah, so I think just anything mate, mate, like in the biggest thing is like if you want to do something but you know it's going to be bad for you, training your mind is not doing that simple.

Lachlan Stuart: 46:35

Yeah, it's that simple. But then that's where the challenge right. It tests them mental, not so much the physical action that you're taking. Yeah, yeah, 100. What was it like coming down the mountain so you fell asleep on top? Then you get to take it in. It's this euphoric feeling. Is it easy to get down?

Olive Foran: 46:51

or what's it like going down the mountain, no, no, so coming down is very, very hard. So we came down to camp three and at camp three I was absolutely ruined, so we decided to spend a night there and then, when we spent the night there, we had a massive snowstorm come through and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Yeah, so we just had like massive winds I'm not 100% sure what the kilometer per hour was, but it was wild and like my zipper, like I don't know if it ripped open or froze or something, but it was just open all night and I couldn't shut it and we were just getting pounded by just like ice and snow and everything was frozen and I still have nightmares about that. I recorded a message of being like this could be it. I love you all.

Lachlan Stuart: 47:44

And that was so. There was probably a point where you're like I could die here 100. Yeah, it was the scariest moment of my life what's it like being that close to death where you actually record a message?

Olive Foran: 47:53

well, the next day I deleted it so stupid?

Olive Foran: 47:57

yeah, that would have been powerful um, I think it might be in my uh history, yeah, yeah, I'll have a look later, but yeah, it was a lot I wasn't really thinking of like, well, I'm doing this right now. I did more like I had not, because the Sherpas that I was with were in the tent next to me and it was just my tent that was getting pumped. But I was too exhausted I didn't think to just move tents as well. Simple solution, yeah. So I'm just going through this and I'm like this is the worst. This is it. This is it which, to be fair, definitely could have been so.

Olive Foran: 48:30

Camp 3, right, is on this ridge. That's maybe like two and a half meters, three meters wide, and it's just 1,500 meter drops either side. And the thing about up there as well is you can't like we didn't have any like proper way to tie the tent down, like these tents were not tied down, so it was just us and our body weight that was keeping them kind of sweet there and like you dig, you dig out of like a platform in the snow and everything like that. But man, the wind was wild coming through so it was so scary and you just felt like at any point if it just got underneath you just on it.

Lachlan Stuart: 49:08

Was your team calm in that moment, or how were they sort of well?

Olive Foran: 49:12

everything froze in their tent as well so like, like I had my boots off and I was in my summer suit, I had like all my summer socks on and everything inside of a negative 30 degree sleeping bag. So my body was fine, but everything else in the tent was just, and including my face, was just either frozen or like my face was windburned, like my lips were just like big gashes at this point. Um, it was not comfortable.

Lachlan Stuart: 49:36

Not at all that is crazy, man, like people obviously get to see photos of you summiting these things, but very rarely do they get to see or experience the whole stuff. You know all the adversity and the moments where you're like I'm screwed here that you go through, and so it does.

Lachlan Stuart: 49:53

I guess that's the beauty of social media now is with stories and stuff, you can start documenting more of that, because I even think about it with the 58 marathons there's no people can see I was injured and they can go out and run 5K and go, wow, how'd you back up and do marathons day in, day out, but they'll never understand how freaking cold it was for the first 32 days and what it's like being out there for hours at a time with wind and snow. You just can't replicate that unless you actually go out and do it. Yeah, yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 50:26

I wish there was a snow filter on instagram that you could just like freeze it for a little bit, just get off a negative five degree blow that.

Olive Foran: 50:31

Yeah, jesus man, that's really cold. But he did 100, yeah, but, um, so that next morning, like we were, we just I just kept saying, like the sun will come up, the sun will come up, the sun will come up. Eventually the same sun came up. We were in such a bad way like I'll show you a photo after this, but it was just like not all right how we were. We hadn't really drunk water. I accidentally left my water outside of my sleeping bag, an ice block. So I had an ice block.

Olive Foran: 50:54

Yeah, like the boots were frozen so you had to like thaw the boots out to get them back on, and they've got boa twisters or connectors or something, so I couldn't turn the boa because it was frozen. So, yeah, we were in a bad way and then we called the base camp to basically say, hey, we need to get airlifted off this mountain asap. Like we are beat up here, and, um, the heroes that drive those helicopters ended up getting us off, which is cool. So you got rescued. Yeah, we got rescued on the way back down after what was that like for you?

Lachlan Stuart: 51:27

like mentally, did you feel like you'd failed in a way, or how? What was going through your mind?

Olive Foran: 51:34

no, I didn't think I failed. I think, then and there, that was the right decision. I think I think I would have paid the ultimate price maybe on the way back down, because it was the conditions just got so bad. So, yeah, it was a tough decision to make, definitely, but I think it's, you know, one that I'm happy I made at the end of the day, and it gives me the opportunity to now go and climb again.

Lachlan Stuart: 51:56

So what is next? You always working on something.

Olive Foran: 52:00

Yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 52:00

What's in the goal book?

Olive Foran: 52:02

Yeah, definitely always working on something. Yeah, what's in the goal book goal? Yeah, definitely. Well, all the lessons that I learned from amadablam, I'm going to go and well, basically what happened was I want to climb everest right, but I want to do it in a way that's going to raise a lot of money for brain cancer. And I got an email from my partners over in nepal the other day basically saying that unfortunately, amadablam doesn't count as like a prerequisite now to climb Mount Everest. It's got to be 7,000 meters or above, which I haven't done yet. So in the next few months I'm going to go to Kyrgyzstan and climb Lenin Peak, so I can pick that.

Lachlan Stuart: 52:37

And so what's the difficulty of that climb compared to Amidablan?

Olive Foran: 52:42

It's high. It's high, so altitude would be tough, but from everyone I know that's climbed it. There's a few people that I've spoken to about it already. They say it's not as technically challenging, so I'm really excited to just go there. Also, I want to do it in a bit of a different style this time. What do you mean by that? I want to carry my own gear all the way to the top, so it'll be with a bigger pack what do you?

Lachlan Stuart: 53:06

how much weight are you looking at there?

Olive Foran: 53:08

like 18 kilos, yeah, yeah, when you go. So we'll obviously set up a camp three and then push. So I won't be carrying 18 kilos to the summit. I'll leave it stashed at camp three. But for the rest of the climb, um, it'll be, yeah, the 18 kilos on the back and so when have you set a date for that, or? Talking to some local companies over there.

Lachlan Stuart: 53:29

It's looking like it's going to be early august and that's going to be here in no time, and how soon after that, so that'll allow you to qualify for everest? And then, how soon after that do you plan on doing everest?

Olive Foran: 53:40

ideally next, next year, beginning of next year. And what's the height of Everest? 8848.86, yeah.

Lachlan Stuart: 53:46

He knows it too. And how will you like, in the lead up for this next one, what's your training look like?

Olive Foran: 53:53

Yeah, definitely. So some lessons I learned up there is we don't like if we're getting up to like 170, 180 BPM, we're doing the wrong thing. You know what I mean? Or something's gone terribly wrong. So I'm going to really focus on more of that zone two, space and cycling as well, because there's only so much running that you can do. Yeah sure.

Olive Foran: 54:17

Unless you're a lucky student, just keep going. Yeah, exactly, biking is going to be probably a big part of it, and just climbing outdoors yeah, just way more time at the crags on the ropes. And, yeah, just learning all about that.

Lachlan Stuart: 54:32

And you're looking for more brand partners at the moment as well.

Lachlan Stuart: 54:34

Like to, when I say brand partners, people to you know be part of this with you that can contribute, whether it's through finances or connections, in some way as well.

Lachlan Stuart: 54:43

Right, 100, it's an important part and I don't think I've spoken enough about it, but I couldn't have done what I did without our sponsors and the support. So even when you have big ideas, it's like you've obviously executed on a couple and I have done I mean a year, nearly seven years, worth of challenges before I got my first sponsor, because people not always, but there's a number of people who ask me how do you get sponsors? And I think one you got to have the runs on the board to show that you can back through, because they want to know what invest in you, because generally there's not going to be a huge ROI. Their brand's going to be everywhere while you're doing cool stuff. But most of the brands that invested in me just wanted to see some cool things happening and obviously got behind the mental health cause, which was a big part of it. And while we're raising funds, you're raising funds for brain cancer. So if there's any businesses or people out there, get in contact with Oliver as well.

Lachlan Stuart: 55:38

One last question. Please One last question. What would you say to someone who's stuck chasing success?

Olive Foran: 55:44

they don't even want. Stop, simple, yeah, if you don't want it like, there's no point chasing it. I think I heard a podcast the other day, right and Will Ahmed he founded Woop and he said I'm a finance like, I've got a finance background. That's what I was focusing on. I had nothing, I had no idea about the health, the technical side of things, the technology, but he's like.

Olive Foran: 56:09

I listened to that voice in the shower or in the back of the cab after, you know, a dinner out, just that quiet moment. I listened to what spoke to me and this is what I built and I just thought like that's so incredible and I want to emulate that. You is what I built and I just thought like that's so incredible and I want to emulate that. You know what I mean and I think more people should. You know what I mean. Like a world filled with people chasing their passions and following their dreams is going to be a happier place than one. People just doing what they're told when they're told and not saying that that's a bad thing at all. But just find what you want to do and if you want to be an accountant, be an accountant. You know what I mean. Be the best fucking accountant you can be, exactly, and when you're in alignment and you're doing something because you're passionate about it, everything else doesn't really matter.

Olive Foran: 56:57

You know, what I mean. It'll work itself out. You know what.