Finding Your Everest

Finding Your Everest

· Sales

Finding Your Everest

The following is shared with permission by Joe Pulizzi. When I read this from Joe last week, it immediately hit me and was something I knew I had to share. As with Joe, I tend to be more willing to take risks, but so many people struggle with the fear of “failure” or even the fear of “success.” (This is me sometimes, too!) The idea of living “in the middle” is so prevalent. Maybe YOU can relate?

Last week I listened to an interview between Joe Rogan and Colin O’Brady.

Colin is a professional endurance athlete, which means he does things that most people can’t, like climb Mount Everest or walk across Antarctica.

He mentioned an idea that has fascinated me for days.

He said that most people live their lives on a scale between a four and a six. So, on a 10-point scale, one being the worst possible day and 10 being the best possible day, Colin believes that most people never get too high or too low.

People are just living routine days doing routine things.

But think about it? Four isn’t horrible for your worst possible day. And while six isn’t great, it’s not terrible.

Colin disagrees. He believes that the majority of people aren’t taking enough risks. They aren’t, as he puts it, chasing their Mount Everest. When you chase big, risky ideas and goals, Colin believes you rarely fall into the middle of the scale. You are often times an eight, nine or 10, or if you took a big risk and failed, you are a one or a two.

Is he right? Frankly, I don’t know…but it did get me asking myself if I take enough risks?

I’m a risk taker at heart. I started a business when I probably shouldn’t have and wrote a novel when I didn’t have a clue how to right one. I love challenges like that. To me, these were big ideas. But now I’m starting to question whether I’m taking enough risks.

I see a lot of people in my life waiting. Waiting for retirement. Waiting for the next holiday. Waiting for a promotion. In all these cases, are they really making a positive impact on the world, living between a four and a six? That’s not for me to answer, but it does get me thinking.

Maybe I’m not doing enough. Maybe I could be doing more. Am I afraid to take certain risks? Am I so afraid of a one I’m unwilling to go for a 10?

Now let’s pause for a second.

Not five minutes after I listened to Colin make his little speech with Joe Rogan, I accidentally pulled this quote from my cluttered desk:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." 
- Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1923-1929)

I love this quote, specifically because it gives you no excuses.

I think God is trying to tell me to get off my butt and make more change happen.

I’m curious what your Everest is? What’s the one thing that you were put on earth to do? What’s holding you back from making it happen?

“Everything is impossible until it happens.” – Nelson Mandela