CULTIVATING HAPPINESS IN CHILDREN - Jaime Castleblanco - Speak To Inspire Graduate
In this London Real interview, host Brian Rose talks with Jaime Castelblanco, a Colombian‑born electronic engineer who moved to London, endured a decade‑long corporate career, and then faced a personal crisis that led him to explore spirituality, meditation, and mindfulness. Applying these practices with his 6‑year‑old daughter sparked the idea of creating a program to preserve children’s innate happiness, a concept inspired by Mo Gawdat’s claim that happiness is the default human state and Rousseau’s notion of societal corruption. Jaime joined Brian’s Speak to Inspire course to acquire the speaking skills needed to spread his vision. He describes the course’s intensive structure—global cohort, video modules, accountability docs, live sessions—and how the community’s vulnerability and support helped him push through major resistance, including the death of his grandmother during the first week. He recounts challenges such as perfectionism, time constraints, and discomfort with being on camera, and how the course taught him to “pull the trigger” and prioritize action over perfection. Jaime’s transformation is evident in his confidence to deliver a live speech, his plan to pursue a TED Talk in Kingston, and his ambition to scale his happiness‑cultivation program worldwide. The interview concludes with a brief, motivational interlude featuring Chris Eubank, underscoring themes of obsession, resilience, and taking risks. Throughout, Jaime emphasizes the power of mindfulness practices (meditation, breathing, cold exposure) and a low‑media diet to stay focused on his mission.
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This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Jaime Castelblanco, recent graduate of our Speak to Inspire course. Welcome.
Thank you so much, Brian, for the opportunity.
Tell us about you. Where are you from? What do you do?
I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and about 15— well, I graduated from an engineering degree. I'm an electronic engineer, and as soon as I finished my degree, I decided to come to London. About 15 years ago. And then I, for a year, decided to kind of try to find my way, just like you. You left your country, we are both American, and we just decided to throw everything away. So I just decided to experiment. I'm a person that likes taking risks. And I was waiting for a while. I was one waiter, then I moved into luggage port in a hotel. And then after a year I decided, why am I doing this? I'm just wasting my time here. I wasted my career. I'm not going to do that. So then I just put all the effort into getting into my professional career, and I did 11 years in different companies. So for, yeah, 11 years of experience. And then about 3 years ago, due to personal circumstances, I had to give up all the effort I had put into my career. And it was a really kind of dark moment for me. And I went really down into a deep hole. And I had to start kind of looking into my internal growth. I was just kind of disconnected from myself. And I started kind of soul searching. And I started looking for different ways of getting money to support my family. And I get into different entrepreneurial courses, and I did everything— property, physical products, you name it. And, but there was an internal discovery in there as well. I started looking into spirituality. I'm an engineer, I'm very kind of square, and I didn't believe in this kind of things, but I was just like, probably there is something else. And it took me into meditation, it took me into loads of different things I never expected expected to be doing in my life. So when I saw the change in me, I have a— at that time I had a 3-year-old daughter, and I was just thinking, why I don't apply this to her? Maybe this is good because it's working for me. Maybe I can do something with her as well. So I started applying all the techniques that I learned, and she started taking it, and I started explaining to her about the brain, neuroplasticity, Wim Hof. She's a big fan of Wim Hof. When I knew that I was gonna be talking to you. She said, who is Bryan? And I said, actually, Bryan is a guy who interviewed Wim Hof. And she was, really? And I showed her that. She actually wanted to come here today, but she couldn't. So, Elizabeth, I will make it happen, so don't worry about it. Sorry about that.
How old is she?
She's 6 now. Yeah. So, so yes, just basically I started applying everything that you say about gratitude, about meditation, about breathing techniques, cold exposure. She's a big fan of mindfulness. We meditate every night. So all the big things that you are trying to do in the business, in the Life Accelerator, I started applying it with her about 3 years ago. And she just has transformed into an amazing human being. And so I thought maybe I can extrapolate that and just not just teaching it to her, but creating a program, a training program that is going to help all the children in the world to be able to achieve a little bit of happiness. Because Mo Gawdat, who is the chief business officer of Google Arm, the innovation arm of Google, he said that the default state of the human being is happiness. And if you don't believe it, you just have to look at a toddler or a child, and the default state is happiness. So I decided, why I don't try to just come up with something that allowed them to keep that state, to just nurture that sense of happiness and state of happiness and just cultivate it? Because the problem is they are always happy, and through conditioning of society, we start losing that. So, well, there is a really great philosopher, he's called Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and he said that people are good in nature, but they are corrupted by society. Society. And I always— that always stuck to my mind. I learned that when I was at school. And I was just like, yeah, that's right. And I think I can do something about it. So out of my struggle, I created a business.
And so why, why join us on the Speak to Inspire course? What was going on inside your head to think I must do this?
It started about a year and a half ago, because my vision and my dream is just to change the world. Because if we are able to cultivate happiness in a child since they are very little, that's going to have a massive impact. And the only way for me to communicate this message is just talking to people, talking to the parents, talking to the schools, trying to change the school system because everything is geared towards arithmetic and the 3 Rs of learning. And that's important, but I think we are completely disconnected from from this world, especially now with social media and everything. I'm a big fan of a low media diet. I never have any notifications. I'm very careful with what I watch. I don't consume. I just learn whenever I go to my phone. My wife thinks I'm a big consumer of media because I'm always listening to things and stuff, but it's just everything that helps me to grow. So yes, I knew that I had to speak. Because through the power of my word and through my message, I could inspire people to make a change. And I started looking into books. I read TED Talks from the guy who founded, well, the guy who bought TED Talks about 10 years ago. And I also read books from Carmine Gallo. And I started doing loads of things. But as you said, research is procrastination. So I never really did anything towards actually taking action and being able to develop the skills that I needed because it's an art. And I've been following you for quite a while, for about 3 years, and I saw your transformation and I was just like, my goodness, Brian is sharp. When he talks, he knows what he's talking about. So he's the guy to lead me through my path. So as soon as I received the email, I was just like, this is it. This is what I need. Awesome.
So you pull the trigger and then you jump inside. The first 2 weeks I introduce you to these 75 people around the world you never met, throwing video modules at you. You got the accountability doc, you got me live for 2 hours a week. I'm asking you to do a lot of assignments. What's that process like?
As I said before, I've been doing loads of entrepreneurial courses and there is nothing like the system that you have. It's just unbelievable. As you know, I had one of the biggest setbacks in my life. The biggest piece of resistance ever was thrown to me at the beginning of the course. My grandma, who is also, for me, she was also my mom, I lost her on the first week of the course. And on the first, very first video call that we did, you said something to us and you said about resistance and you said, maybe you are going to have loads of resistance in this course, but I please want you to stick to it and we will help you with accountability group and everything. We will pull you through to the end. To the end goal. So when my grandma died, I was actually here when that happened. I was here. And it was devastating news for me, but I had a responsibility towards you and towards my team as well, my team members. And I decided, Brian is right, this is your resistance. It's a massive resistance, the biggest fear I ever had since I was a little child, but that's not gonna stop me because my grandma would not allow me to stop because of that. She would like me to actually take this as an inspiration and taking it to the next level. So I just stuck to it. I talked to you. You said to me, "Wow, Jaime, that's really bad, and it's impressive that you are actually pulling through this and stuff." And I was just like, I received so much love from the group. It's just incredible. It's just this course, Brian, my respect. It's amazing.
Tell me about the group. You know, what are these people like? And how did you form relationships with them since you've never met them?
Well, it's very strange because in a space of a few days, you start feeling that they are not strangers anymore. They just become your family. And you start talking to them about things that you don't even tell your wife or your girlfriend or your friends. And people just started opening up about loads of struggles that they have in life. It was just incredible because you hear other people's stories and they are deep stories, as you know, and they were just opening up. So you feel comfortable straight away because everyone is being vulnerable. It's so important in this course that the vulnerability that you can actually go to and you feel the support of the people is just amazing. I think it's— you said it at the beginning of the course, you said that the accountability that we have here is second to none. And I can just abide by that. And I can endorse it because it's just incredible.
What did you struggle with on this course? Besides the resistance, the actual speaking skills itself, what was the hardest one for you?
The hardest one? I think I struggled more with the resistance outside the course because the course itself was extremely well structured. So I didn't really have any struggle. It was just about finding the the time to work on it because I have another business as well with my wife. We work 55 hours a week, and on top of that, I have to do things with my daughter. So by the time I finish, it's like 10 o'clock in the evening, and that's the time when I can sit down to do something, and I'm really shattered. But the way you do it, because we have support from you, we have videos, we have workbooks, so we have all the elements to make our lives easy. I think the biggest Challenge was the first video because I didn't like looking at myself before on camera or listening to my voice. So the first time I had to do that was hard. But something that I learned from you is just pull the trigger. We are engineers, we are perfectionists, and everything I did in my life was done to perfection. My education degree was always— I was at the top and everything. And with this course, sometimes I didn't have time. And I had to pull the trigger just like 10 minutes before the deadline. And I did it. And I was just so proud of myself because it's just not about perfection. It's just about just firing, firing, firing, firing. And you get there. You start getting the experience and everything. So it just takes you to the next level. It's just—
Nice work. What was it like being here last night, 30 of your classmates, and you get up in front and you do your speech, and then you get to listen to their speeches?
What was it like? It was an incredible experience because nerve-wracking, it's just incredibly hard. We've been doing Facebook Live and we've been doing different things, but you are just, you are just talking to a phone. Yeah. So it's different when you have the people in the room. Having said that, it's very difficult, but also when I came here, I felt that they were my family. I didn't feel that they were strangers because I had been through a journey with them. So when I saw them, I did struggle through my speech because I had to chop it down. It was too long and I didn't stick to the rules. So in the end, I messed it up. But it didn't matter because I had the support of the guys in there and you and everyone. So no, it was just incredible. Incredible. I don't remember what I said. It just— I don't know. But I just did it and I'm just proud of it.
And what was it like to watch your classmates get up there?
Amazing. Amazing. See the transformation in 6 weeks, what's possible in such amount of— it's very little time, and in 6 weeks you managed to just transform us. It's just unbelievable.
There were some impressive speeches there.
It was, yeah.
What's your plan for the next 12 months? What are we going to do with your newfound speaking talents?
As I said, I joined this course because that's the only way for me to promote my idea and the only way for me to achieve my dream. I want to do a TED Talk. And that's why I was inspired by you, because I saw your TED Talk and it was amazing. And this is one of my goals. So in January, there is a TED Talk in Kingston. I'm going to go there. I bought the VIP ticket, so I will be able to speak to the organizers, to the speakers in there and everything. So I will try to find my way to get through them straight away. I'll probably book one. Because I want to put myself on the front line.
Good, good. And you should, and you can. Tell me about you. How has Jaime changed? If I went out on the street and we bumped into the Jaime that didn't take this course, how is he different than this guy?
Perfection. That was stopping me. And before this course, I was just like, I have to have everything perfect before I launch. I've been delaying my project for quite a while because I'm just like, this is not perfect enough. And with this course, I just realized that it doesn't matter. If you don't take action, you can have every single piece of research and everything, but if no one sees it, what's the point of it? So yeah, that was my biggest take from it. Just pull the trigger, pull the trigger. It doesn't matter, pull it. If people say that it's rubbish, they are not doing it. You are better than them, right?
Yeah, and you just got some feedback.
Exactly. And you learn from it. And as you said, don't look back. Just look forward.
Yeah, that's a huge lesson, man. I love it. Last question. To someone who's thinking about taking Speak to Inspire or any Academy class, what do you say?
Just don't think about it. Just pull the trigger because, as I said, 6 weeks, you transform your life. You can do it by yourself. I was thinking about doing public speaking for, I don't know, 1.5 years. I never did anything. I had the biggest piece of resistance being thrown at me. And you still managed to pull me through. There is nothing in the market like that, nothing that can do that. So I would just say to people, just don't think about it. Brian knows what he's doing. The accountability is incredible, and you will get through it, and you will become a better person for sure.
Jaime, I really appreciate you being on this course. Your energy is amazing, and again, you know, you walk the walk. You know, because you had the resistance and yet you still pushed through and got things done. And that's like a big testament to you, you know, that you did it. And that makes you even stronger. And now you know you can handle anything. And again, like, like Dan Peña says, once you teach an engineer to take risks, they're dangerous because then they can systematize the risk-taking and we put into a process and it becomes you can become unstoppable. So I look forward to what you're going to be doing the next 12 months. I look forward to your TED Talk. I'll be there at your TED Talk.
Thanks a lot.
And welcome to la familia of London Real.
Muchas gracias.
De nada.
All right, it's been a pleasure.
My pleasure.
Thank you so much.
The critics who always speak behind my back, maybe I want to hear them remind me, "He's back, the great pretender. I hope this time he gets hurt." I love these guys. They give me fuel. You want to reach your objective, you want to achieve it, you're gonna have to be obsessive. You're gonna have to be obsessed. Feel what you do. Feel it. If you're not feeling it, it doesn't matter.
Chris Eubank Jr., how do you explain his prowess in the ring?
Junior has that obsession, that genius. That magic. Genius is obsession, but it's in one area.
You studied the sweet science for so much of your life. How do you walk away from it? Do you miss it?
You can't walk away from it. I am it. Even when I dance, really, I'm boxing. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the one who strives valiantly.
What was the worst day of your life, and how has it shaped you as a human being?
When I fought Nigel Benn, I stood like this. It was to mask this. The risk must be taken. That's why you are London Realists. That's why we're here. We're tired of sitting still, watching it happen— happening for others. Let's do it.