Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro everyday

In this digital age, availability of information is in abundance. The consumption of internet data per person is only on the rise. Celebrities, politicians and news among other digital content has got us hooked like never before. The more we learn and see things on internet, the higher our aspirations get. Naturally our desire to be successful increases.

There is a saying, “desires are like wild horses. It requires intelligence and character to conquer them” With all these desires created by technology and by our own perception of our being and higher purpose, we have never been more ambitious before. The question is what do we do with those desires? How do we conquer them and make them a reality? Most people don’t have any answer to this question. They simply move on to other new found desires. This continues till the fire within them is alive. Once this fire is extinguished, all desires die a natural death. We are NOT going to moan those deaths. We are here to talk about that small percentage of people who WILL do something about it.

The great greek Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” One of the most simplest yet most relevant sayings of all times. This takes me back to my time in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. I had the opportunity to live in a very scenic location up in the mountains. Yes, I had my Heidi moments. Holed up in my chalet, I would wake up to snow-capped, coruscating mountains bordering the country with Domodossola, Italy. (An hour’s drive from Zermatt region). The chalet next to mine housed a mountaineer enthusiast. He would often come up to my place on every Sunday and we would have breakfast together. Every time he would visit me, he would go straight to the balcony and look at those mountains the way a child would probably look at a toy. Every time he would tell me how one day he would climb the mountain. “Prits, the view from there will be amazing. I will take pictures” “I will …I will…”. Weeks would pass and nothing would happen. No action. This was a no common man though. He HAS conquered many a feats on different mountains and is a bundle of energy packed in a human body. Short, thin and agile. Twice my age at that time! But when it came to this mountain, something would hold him back. He would talk but wouldn’t move. I am not a very big fan of trekking or that line of sport. I know my body and I like to respect it! I have also never climbed those mountains or know if that can be done on foot due to its geo-features. I did go to Italy but in a train. I met a friend in Domodossola and we walked a few places but that’s about it. One day I got fed up with my neighbour’s usual banter and chose to confront him. “Please do me a favour and not talk about that mountain again, ever” That must have come up as rude but I just wasn’t willing to take the status quo anymore. I could see he wasn’t happy with my words but I had no choice. “What have you done for your trek on that mountain” “When do you exactly start your trek?, give me the exact date.” “Have you been practising on the mountain we are on?” I threw a barrage of questions at him. As I had expected, he quietly walked out my door without a word. Minutes later I received a text message. “Let’s talk when you are in the right frame of mind”

My neighbour taught me two very important things that are at the core of the homo sapien behaviour. First, we always find fault with others, instinctively. The way my neighbour defended his stance and felt what I said was wrong, without thinking. Second, To “climb any mountain in life”, the task must be broken down in parts. Just how we eat small bits off our plate when we eat. To digest and to not get overwhelmed at once. We will talk about the first point on another day. I’m more intrigued about point two. The mountains in life. I said “in” life and not “of” life because they are subjective and contextual to every person. Landscape is same for all but the features of that landscape may be different to each. When I realised the importance of small bits off a meal, I started looking at things differently. Here I was giving a lecture to my neighbour about how he should be preparing for his feat and how I wasn’t following that rule myself. At least not to climb my own mountains. I felt gutted and embarrassed. I realised that the secret of getting things done and achieving greater feats is in day to day activities. The magic of daily routine. Think about Mt. Kilimanjaro. One of the world famous mountains. They have camps for trekkers to stay the night, to take rest and refuel. This mountain generates international interest and billions of dollars in revenue, each year.

We focus too much on the end result or the top of the mountain. Kind of what depicts in the picture above. We don’t think how to get there. We don’t plan on small bits and bites to eventually polish the plate off. The great Mr. Bill Marriott said, success is in the details. Ever since, this has become the cornerstone of how Marriott delivers its promise to the guests, worldwide. That is what we should focus on. Our work begins once we find our mountains in life. Start with small walks, then start small climbs. Climb on rocks, jump gravels. Do inclined walks on a treadmill. Do this everyday. We have to build a foundation on which the actual journey to our mountain will begin. Build stamina, resilience and determination on the way. Take that camp on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Rest at night and begin again, next morning. Talk to fellow trekkers who are equally enthusiastic about the “journey”. Avoid those who have chosen to abandon and go back from the camp. They will infect us with inaction and an attitude of surrender for the sake of convenience. Don’t look at the top of the mountain right away. Keep that for when you reach there. Focus on the road. Life is a journey and not a destination. Keep that in mind always. What if we replicate all of the above in our supposed mountains in life? Wouldn’t that be great? Identify what we want to achieve, break it down in manageable tasks and go for it daily. Religiously. Instead of looking at the mountain from ground zero to the top and getting intimidated, how about we look at the top once and look down to ground zero. We will discover that where we are at now, is the right path already! All we need to do is keep walking those steps.

Ask yourself today, what’s your Mt. Kilimanjaro.

*The picture above is an actual click taken by me on my cell phone when I was flying by Mt. Kilimanjaro. And yes, a couple of years later I received a selfie of a short, thin and agile man. That picture was taken on the mountain that could be seen from my balcony during my Heidi days, in the Swiss alps. The message attached said “Thank you for that Sunday morning”