Episode 329: Matt Formston - Blind, But He Stopped Believing He Can’t
In this episode of Limitless, I sit down with Matt Formston, a legally blind world champion athlete, world record holder, professional surfer, executive, board member, author, speaker, husband, and father.
Matt has no central vision and only a small amount of peripheral vision, but blindness was not the part of his story that struck me most. What stayed with me was his honesty about the years when bullying, anger, bad behaviour, and living for other people’s perception pulled him away from accountability and self respect.
One of the defining moments came on Christmas Eve, when Matt woke up at a bus stop covered in someone else’s blood, with no memory of what had happened. It was a painful image of a man who had been fighting the world, but had not yet taken full responsibility for his own life.
From there, Matt began rebuilding through standards, goals, discipline, and what he calls the Why Not mindset. We talk about disability, identity, leadership, psychological safety, parenting, self trust, and the danger of believing the excuses the world hands us.
Matt also shares what it took to surf a 51 foot wave at Nazaré as a blind surfer, and why trust is never built in the big moment alone. It is built through the small commitments we keep when nobody is watching.
This conversation is for anyone who has been underestimated, bullied, held back, or quietly using old pain as a reason not to change.
Contact Matt to collaborate:
Website: https://mattformston.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-formston-am-gaicd/
Find more episodes: https://www.nickjonsson.com/podcast