True success means more than standing on the summit

Beyond the Summit: Setting and Surpassing Extraordinary Business Goals
by Todd Skinner

(Page 5 of 8)

We climb the mountain not to stand on top, but to gain from the ascent. Choose your mountains according to what you desire to gain, and how that gain will contribute to your further ascent. True success is not defined simply by how far you go, but how much farther what you have gained will allow you to go.

"Everyone has an Everest inside," my uncle Courtney says. "It may not be a mountain peak, or a raging river, or a deep ocean, but we all have our ultimate challenges. It is reaching beyond our grasp, striving to go farther than we ever thought we could, that makes life worthwhile." Courtney's "Everest" really was Everest. That was his goal of a lifetime, and in 1988 he and my dad set off to climb it. My dad was fifty-eight, Courtney fifty-two, and between them and my older brother Orion, who joined the expedition, they had climbed the highest peaks in North America, South America, and Central America. On Everest, they chose the difficult Northeast Ridge route of Mallory and Irvine, crossing China and Tibet to get there.

They used no porters, deciding instead to give young American climbers a chance at Himalayan experience, even though all would have to haul loads, which made the ascent much more difficult. They wanted more than anything to climb the mountain, because that is what they had trained for, and that is what they dreamed about doing. They aspired to become the best mountain climbers they could be, and Everest represented the most challenging goal to move them toward that end.

Many difficulties conspired against them. They didn't have money or renown to ease their passage. They would receive no external rewards for success, and sacrificed much to make their dream a reality. Travel delays led to a late arrival at the base of Everest, and sixty-two days later, after three summit attempts, tornado-force winds destroyed their upper camps, and descending winter weather forced them off the mountain without reaching the summit. It became one of the greatest adventures in their lives, and the experience has enhanced their ability to meet other difficult challenges.

Were they successful? By the definition that equates success with standing on the summit, they were not. If that were the only criteria, they could have chosen an easier mountain, or an easier route up the mountain, or had Sherpas all but carry them to the top. But none of those options would have gained them what they were seeking, which was maximum improvement in their ability to climb.

When you are considering the question of direction and destination, understand that to gain true success, the expeditions you undertake should be chosen according to what you seek to gain, and what will move you further on your Lifelong Ascent toward your Ultimate Potential. Each goal is like a building block that raises the structure higher, and the more substantial and solid each block is, the higher you can build.

Still, there is a seemingly infinite number of expeditions and mountains to choose from, so how do you decide which of them to set forth on, and why? Your Compass, which is an essential tool to carry in the Personal Backpack you always travel with, can point you toward mountains that align themselves with the direction you want to go and can help you filter out those that don't. You should refer to your compass whenever you feel like you might be drifting off course, and if you are forced off course by obstacles in your path, you can use the compass to find your way back.

Your filter will naturally reduce the number of opportunities that fit on your compass-indicated line of ascent, but don't be content with those that are left. The mountains you see at the moment are not all the mountains that are out there you need to actively seek opportunities on the far horizon, not simply wait for opportunities to come to you. Once you have increased the number of potential mountains that match your line of ascent, you can analyze each to see which will take you farthest toward where you want to go.

Also understand that the "seemingly infinite number" of choices can be severely limited by outside forces, one of which is letting others define success for you. Success is often externally defined by traditional currencies: money, fame, prestige, applause. But these "hallmarks of success" are frequently by-products of true success, of doing something very well, and to pursue the reward while trying to bypass the solid foundation of enduring success often results in a bad ending, as illustrated by the number of bankrupt companies in the news.

If you allow your success to be defined solely by a consensus of merit, your choice of mountains will be limited to only those others recognize and find valuable. You will be the thousandth to be carried up the easy route on Everest, rather than the first to climb some unnamed spire in outer Mongolia that will truly further your Lifelong Ascent. You will be applauded more for climbing Everest, but applause can be one of the greatest saboteurs of aspiration. To gain applause, you only have to stand a little higher than your fellows. You are given a sense of arrival, bringing your climbing to a standstill, while your Lifelong Ascent is still asking for departures. And if all you seek is accolades, how will you go on if the applause dies down?

Our choices and aspirations can also be limited by resigning ourselves to a lack of opportunity. We might feel we've been funneled down a single track by circumstances and the walls are now too high to climb out, or we don't believe we can marshal the resources to change direction, or we don't ever seem to be in the right place at the right time, as if life were a lottery and success a matter of receiving the lucky number. But opportunity is not simply a matter of luck, good or bad. As the scientist Louis Pasteur noted, "In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind." You might need to be in the right place at the right time, but if you are not standing at the threshold when the door opens, you cannot pass through. You can prepare for opportunity the way you prepare for any kind of expedition. If your climbing gear is packed, and you are constantly scanning the horizon for the kind of mountain you want to climb, you will be ready when opportunity knocks your door down.

Aspiration who you want to become is one of the greatest motivational forces you have to tap in to. You want to actively expand the pool of opportunities that reflect your aspiration, as well as consciously break down the barriers that conspire to limit those aspirations. You then have a choice of mountains that all move you in the direction of what you seek to gain, and you can select among them for which will move you furthest. When you begin that selection process, remember that success doesn't come from standing on the summit, but in rising to meet the summit, and if you choose an unchallenging summit, you will not rise far to reach it.

Copyright © 2003 Todd Skinner. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced without permission.

About the Author

Todd Skinner, a Wyoming native, has established new climbs at the highest levels of difficulty in more than twenty-six countries. His experiences have been described in National Geographic and Life, and his expeditions to places as exotic as the Amazon and Timbuktu have been featured in nine documentaries. He is also a popular speaker at business events around the country.