‘Curiosity leads to clarity’: Motivational speaker from Limerick says now is your time to shine

ACCORDING to Aidan O’Brien “curiosity leads to clarity”.

He is a coach, motivational speaker and a Limerick man based in the desert in Dubai who has travelled and lived around the world.

With 15 years’ experience of motivating, changing lives and empowering people in their own lives, the author-to-be, also shares his own struggles with failure in the past and the key components to succeeding.

The Ballysheedy native built a successful career that began during the crash of the Celtic Tiger, when the personal trainer found himself shy of work. Not one to rest on his laurels, he cruised his way into a whole new career.

“I went travelling all over the world on cruise ships, but I was teaching seminars, we had 4,000 guests a week. And even though I was doing talks on health and wellness, mindset and stuff like that always kind of came in. And it was very much a sales driven kind of job. So that’s when I got into speaking,” he said.

The podcast host saw an opening, a calling or perhaps an awakening and he stepped onto dry land in pursuit of his new-found career.

“I ran my own events. And then I linked up with some different companies. And I ended up travelling all over the world for eight, nine years with them speaking and building. And I was coaching before I became a coach, I was building teams. And I think when you're building teams and you're involved in leadership, you really start to see patterns of people."

“And I've just been obsessed with this world for like 15 years, freedom, finding freedom, mental freedom, emotional freedom. And it just kind of evolved naturally, it’s what I was good at. I was lucky to find my lane very quickly. And for the last number of years, I've been working with individuals, companies, organisations, and it's been great,” explained Aidan.

Social media and apps such as Instagram and TikTok have become important tools in marketing and advertising for businesses but also for people like Aidan, who works with people globally. And these platforms have allowed him the freedom to work and travel.

“I was very resistant to the social media stuff for a long time. And now I have a podcast and YouTube and everything. But what's fantastic is just the reach you have. If someone finds me or they hear me on the radio, and then they look me up online, now there's a lot of podcast episodes, YouTube videos, and they get to know who you are and what you're about.
“And for me, then you don't have to go out and get anyone per se, right, people find you. So you just have to just do what you do, stay in the lane, stay in alignment with what you're best at,” he added.

The keynote speaker, who has spoken to over 300,000 people worldwide so far, explained about the importance of failure for all avenues of life.

“It's the most important part because I always talk about contrast. Contrast shows you what you don't want. And, as you get older, it's more important. We know that from relationships. When you're in your 20s, in your relationships, you think you know what you want, and have a great relationship. And maybe it goes bad, and you're like, ‘I know what I want. But now I know what I don't want’,” he explained.

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As the sun sets across the River Shannon and the hum of women begins to fill the function room of The Savoy Hotel, Aidan shares one final bit of advice for the people of Limerick.

“Talk a lot about being curious, curiosity leads to clarity, and there is no such thing as good or bad. Everything is communication. And once you learn to be more curious, without the control, and you just surrender to it, everything is possible. So every adjustment, every failure, it's not really, it's just communication. It's all about the meaning, our suffering comes from the meaning we give things.

“Now, I love when something doesn't work out, because I know, that's not for me. I call it trust and trust the process and just adjust. We're not trees, we can move. But sometimes we think we want things to go the way we think they should. And that's control, it’s the most addictive drug in the world and if we can let go of that, that's the work we have to do on ourselves. And when we do that miracles can happen.”

Aidan can be found at www.theaidanobrien.com.