There’s a friend of mine that’s climbing Everest. I said, with all-knowing genius, “Like the mountain?” He said, “No, like THE mountain.” Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, at 29,028 Ft. (5.5 miles of God’s vertical rock and ice, 23 Empire State buildings tall, 87,084 Twinkies stacked high ) bordering Nepal and China. Needless to say, I was in awe—I mean, that’s a lot of Twinkies. Everest basecamp started out as a Dream for my friend 5 years ago, but as soon as he put a date on it, it became a goal—a real one. How many times do we look at a mountain and just stare at the top, wondering how we’re going to get there? To get ready, he actually “started small” with the Ironman (makes me picture the men from 300, with metal muscles and ironclad tanks)—a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike race, and a 26.2 mile marathon run—a warm up. I, on the other-hand, climbed the gym treadmill at an incline of 3.5 last month (take that, Everest-climber). A few things stuck out for me, when he was discussing his training 1). He allowed himself plenty of time (4 years) to train (instead of the 2.5 minutes some people give themselves to reach a goal and then beat themselves up, when they don’t reach it) 2). He sacrificed his time (6-10 hour) training days on the weekends and sometimes weekdays (no watching “Housewives of I’m-Not-Really-a-Housewife-County” for him) 3.) He had a “going through the fire” mentor-buddy (someone you can curse at or with along the way), and 4.) He failed a lot—having to walk the last few miles of a run because of heat exhaustion or getting sea sick. But he finished it. And now the man is climbing Everest—like the mountain. I used to wonder if you can immediately spot a guy who’s going to “do something great”—if they look “ambitious” or “important” or “special” or something. If you guys met my friend climbing Everest, you’d never spot him—not the obvious athletic type, likes computers more than people, and doesn’t eat on Mondays (yes, you read that right). So, often times, there’s no exact person-formula—just a guy or gal who had a split-second imagining of something they wanted or could be, and decided to hold onto that mind-pic, until they got it or were it. So what’s your Everest? And how are you climbing it?
RECOMMENDED BOOK:
THREE FEET FROM GOLD: TURN YOUR OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES—SHARON L. LECHTER & GREG S. REID
A personal favorite. “Three Feet from Gold” takes the principle of never giving up from the revolutionary best seller (“Think and Grow Rich”) and presents it in a new and modern fable. A young writer sets out to interview business leaders and other influential figures of today about the importance of persistence in attaining your goals. Through these inspirational real-life stories, “Three Feet from Gold” offers advice about having passion for what you do, finding your own personal Success Formula, choosing good counsel, and above all: never giving up.
Cover via Amazon
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