What’s Your Everest?

Everest Girl

Seven months ago I embarked upon an incredible journey. I trekked Mount Everest reaching the elevation of 18,000 feet where breathing oxygen is so light that mosquitos can’t survive.I didn’t achieve this destination by accident. I set a goal, focused my intention, and achieved something that was extraordinarily important to me. In taking on this amazing trek, I learned a lot about Asia, mountain trekking, and the indigenous people of the Himalayan mountains. While there, I learned something even more important. Everything I gave to achieve my goal, I got back 100 fold. Now, as a result to giving so much to get to Everest, I have so much more to give to others.

What’s your Everest?

Another takeaway in my experience from trekking Mount Everest was that I learned that everyone has an Everest in their life.  Many shared those cerebral mountains they were climbing in their lives on the mountain in addition to actually taking on the physical Everest. Most people have buried in them an outlandish goal that other people would tell them that it’s impossible to achieve. As you read these words, think about your own life. I challenge you right now to reflect…. What is Your Everest? What steep mountain do you see on your horizon that seems so difficult to scale that you almost don’t want to dare to dream what it would take to get there? Can you see your Everest on the horizon? What’s keeping you from taking your trek?

Getting Started on my Trek to Mount Everest

As I’ve told the story about my trek to Mount Everest, people want to hear about basecamp. They also ask about the first few hours trekking where you realize that three weeks of living is all packed on your back, as your legs and lungs begin to ache as you climb, you know there is no turning back.

That said, that was not the start of my trek to Mount Everest. The actual first step of my journey came when I made the commitment to achieve this goal. As soon as I committed to this goal, I began planning, organizing, and establishing habits and rituals that would lead me to my ultimate destination. This is important because what I learned from my trek is that the first step towards reaching an amazing goal, is making the decision to do so, and then taking that first step, no matter how small, towards meeting that goal. For me,  I made the decision to trek Mount Everest and immediately on that day  of decision, I picked up the phone and began calling travel organizations to ask questions. I hadn’t pursued anything like this in my life and had inquiries upon inquiries for weeks on end. Nevertheless, my intention set, I just kept chipping away.  This ranged from physical preparation, to researching what was necessary in terms of gear, to exploring the third world country red flags in this quest of solo travel, to booking flights, travel costs ,locations, etc. The list went on and on. I booked those flights, travel leaders, and Sherpas, without an option to undo it. I was ALL IN. There were obviously thousands of additional steps to take, but I was on my way.  I was not asking for approval, it was only a matter of how and getting those questions answered before it was “go time”. Having that outlandish goal in front of me ignited my heart and life. I was on fire, my business was on fire, my coaching sessions with clients were on fire all because I was ‘walking my talk’ of breakthroughs and stepping into the unknown with courage and faith.

So when will you start your trek towards Mount Everest?

Earlier in this article I asked you to answer, What is Your Mount Everest? With that answer in mind I now am asking you to reflect on a second important question. When will you start your trek? How soon will you begin to take that first step towards your destination? You may have gathered from the previous section, the only answer to that question is ‘Right Now.’

Surround yourself with people who will encourage you to take that step. And do it today. Set your intention, put your boots on the ground, and start your trek today.

Good luck!

Allyson Mallah is a leadership coachCEO of Everest Edge Enterprises, LLC, a global management-consulting firm with one focus: to disrupt the status quo and develop an edge for the organizations they serve. Mallah brings more than a decade of successful, high-performance leadership coaching experience serving a wide variety of clients including the C-Suite, senior leaders and high-potential emerging leaders. Find her at e3aligns.com, on Facebook at Everest Edge Enterprises, LLC, Twitter at @E3Aligns, or email amallah@e3aligns.com.

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