As I progress through my life and career, things seem to get infinitely bigger.
The challenges and hurdles seem to get bigger. The victories and defeats seem to get bigger. The mere task of trying to get all the kids in the car to go to dinner is a monumentally bigger task. Everything just seems to be bigger in its scope and scale.
I used the phrase “climbing mountains” because now it seems that one week doesn’t go by where there isn’t a substantial mountain to climb. And the mountains aren’t to be thought of in a bad way, but a lot of the mountains I am now climbing are substantial opportunities that have presented themselves for me to grow both in my personal life and my career.
It’s either the mountain in the form of a very big meeting, new business presentation, personnel issue or sometimes all of the above, but they all are presented in my path as I try to navigate each week. This isn’t to sound like a complaint, because I love the thrill of always being “on” and always having a new obstacle in my path to overcome, but it still can sometimes seem overwhelming that every week and sometimes even every day there is a mountain in front of me to climb.
The key things that I find myself doing to climb these mountains are in no particular order, but as follows:
- Always stay positive. Even when you want to be negative, DON’T LET YOURSELF GO HERE – just stay positive.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff. Always be on top of your game mentally, but don’t let the tiny details spin you out of control.
- Trust those who are around you and help you. Don’t try to over-control everything, but give direction and let people go execute on their own.
- Don’t look too far ahead. You have to first climb the mountain that you are on before moving on to the next one. Know what your end goal is, but you have to climb one mountain at a time.
- Take time for those around you. Recently, I have refocused to tell everyone I know happy birthday, check on old friends and just try to be a better and more approachable person. This makes you feel at ease when the world is spinning so fast around you.
There will always be mountains to climb. Just take the time to enjoy the hike, and appreciate the fact that they are still coming your way.