I don't know about you, but there are some pretty extreme people out there.
For example:
- The guy who held his breath underwater for 22 minutes and 22 seconds
- The dude with the fastest recorded human footspeed was clocked at 44.72km/h, which is 27.8mph.
- The people who climb Mount Everest… over and over again.
Let's talk about #3, shall we?
Climbing Mount Everest is hard. Very hard. Only about 5000 people have done it and 300 died in the process — their bodies are still there, it's too expensive to recover.
The climb takes about 2 months and costs $50K.
The thing is, nobody would have ever climbed the mountain without the help of a unique group of local people called Sherpas.
Sherpas act as a guide and helper for the westerns who try to climb the mountain. They make the "once-in-a-lifetime" trek multiple times a year, year after year, like a college kid working the ski slopes over winter break.
Westerns carry a bottle of water, a jacket, a camera, and maybe lunch. Sherpas do it carrying +150 lb / 70 kg of gear, tent, and oxygen tanks.
What makes them unique?
For years, people thought they must have some kind of superpower. They must have adapted over generation after generation living in high altitudes. Come on, right? They can't be "normal".
But then, researchers from Belgium's University de Louvain did a study on 113 Sherpas.
Are their bodies specially adapted to handle it? Is their endurance a genetic trait? Is it their diet?
Guess what they have found.
"But when he and colleagues measured the movements of Nepalese porters, they reported in a recent study, they didn't find anything particularly special about how they walk. They simply go. And they keep going."
"They haven't got any trick," Heglund says. "And what they do is pretty amazing."
Read that again.
They simply go. And they keep going.
Amazing.
This is not just about mountain climbing. It's about mastery and performance.
The same secret that gives Sherpas the ability to do something 99.99% of people can't is the same thing that can give you an edge in your life and business.
Most people want things the easy way.
- "You don't need to go to the gym every day. You can do a 7-minute exercise instead."
- "You don't need to read an entire book. Here's a 5 minutes resume for you."
- "Spending 40 minutes preparing lunch? Here are 4561 recipes you can do in less than a 10."
The thing is…
I don't want easy. I want hard.
Because hard is what will make you the best. Hard will make you resilient, confident, trust-worthy. Hard will make you accomplish in 10 years what might take a lifetime to others.
Remember this: the best don't avoid hard work, THEY SEEK IT OUT.
That's why I want to challenge you today to do something you usually do, but the hard way.
- Take a longer, different route to work. Maybe you get to know your own city better, maybe you'll find a nice cafe that you've never known. Who knows.
- Tell your colleague how your day is going — and ask how his/her day is going. Maybe he/she needs some help while sitting right at your side and you don’t even know?
- Take a cold shower.
It can be anything.
Simply go. And keep going.
