Rising To The Challenge

 

 

A lesson learned …

My wife and I, with a group of friends, were recently in Provence, France on a cycling holiday. On one of the days, we had the opportunity to ride to the summit of Mont Ventoux. This is one of the climbs that is frequently included in the Tour de France cycling race. Now, to be absolutely clear about this, we were not racing. We weren’t even in a hurry! Our objective was simply to reach the summit.

This is a mountain that is geologically part of the Alps. The top 500 metres are devoid of trees and the name Windy Mountain is well deserved. We had read that wind speeds of over 300 km/hr have been recorded and that the wind blows at 90 km/hr 240 days out of the year. Furthermore, at 1900 metres elevation, the temperature can be downright frigid.

With the above as our understanding, we were nervously anticipating the day of our ascent. Had we packed sufficient clothing to stay warm? Could we do it?

Fortunately for us, the day of our ascent was one of the 120 non-windy days!

It turned out that the ride to the summit wasn’t as difficult as we had conditioned ourselves to expect. But, it is interesting to me to reflect upon the thinking that preceded the actual ride. It wasn’t too hard to think that a number of plausible excuses for not going would avail themselves on the day of the ride.

And, that causes me to wonder “how often do we let ourselves get overwhelmed by the possibility of an obstacle”?   How often do we pull up short without having taken the time to consider how we might overcome that particular obstacle?  How often does our fear of failure prevent us from even trying?

I like to think that obstacles are meant to challenge us and without a challenge, how can we know the satisfaction of accomplishment?

I can tell you that it was very satisfying to know that I’d succeeded in riding to the top of Mont Ventoux and it was also very satisfying to reap the reward of the accomplishment.

The view was spectacular!

Get Uncomfortable!

Here it is.  It is early January 2014 and many of us have been thinking about our goals for the new year, or we are about to spend some time doing so.

Why don’t we decide to make this the year in which we challenge ourselves to do something different?  As you think about the activities that you were involved in during 2013, what comes to mind regarding the following:

1) do more of some things

2) do less of some things

3) start doing something completely new

4) stop doing something that you currently do

In particular, what actions could you take that are completely new for you?  What new skill would make a dramatic impact on your career or your business?

Many of us allow fear and doubt to become such large obstacles that we are constrained from trying something new.  We suffer from the fear of failure and/or the fear of rejection.  These are natural fears that many of us acquired a long time ago and they are very resilient.  They are very adept at paralyzing our good intentions.  As a result, the outcomes that we might have envisioned for ourselves simply wither because we fail to take the action necessary to move them forward.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can bolster our courage and our confidence by acquiring new skills and knowledge. We can recognize that failure frequently precedes success. We can make a commitment to ourselves to try something new.  Write it down.  Keep it in front of yourself. Be persistent.  Above all else, take action in your intended direction.  It will likely be uncomfortable but it will be worth it!