Intention matters.

To do the thing, you must do the things.

“I’m going to show you some things I have done recently, and for 99% of you this is as close as you will ever get. These accomplishments are out of your reach”

-Eric Escoffier-

I turned away a client recently.

They came to me with the objective of climbing Denali. They told me all about what they did 15 years ago as an athlete, about how great they were. About how they’d fallen behind on life and were ready to get back in the saddle. “Good. Why aren’t you ready right now? Why can’t you do the thing you want to do, right now” I asked. It’s one of my tried and tested vetting questions for an athlete. It’s not a trick question either. If you are going to chase something significant, you need to be able to identify what work needs to be done.

Them: “I just don’t have the desire to train how I probably need to train. I can get in the gym a couple times a week and I like lifting, but I don’t like running and I don’t really have the time to get out for 2-3 hours at a time on foot on the weekend.”

Me: “So why Denali then? Do the needs for this project fit what you’re willing and able to put into this? Because if those don’t line up, the result can be a body bag.”

Them: “I just see so many guys on Youtube making it look easy and the pictures from the summit look insane. I figure I’ve been a good athlete my whole life, I just want to find a way to do something like this with the bare minimum time invested”

Most people don’t truly want the things they say they do.

Because if you truly desire an outcome, the work necessary to arrive at the destination you seek becomes trivial, automatic, like breathing.

Too many guru’s preach the tenants of what it takes to be successful when they’ve accomplished nothing of noteworthiness in their own right. Too many influencers pay for a following and engagement and photoshop themselves into a vision of success when in reality they’ve never exceeded mediocre in any area of life. Too many people in the realm of the physical spout out about how great they were or are, about all they can do, until faced with a true test of their abilities in which they fail, crumble or don’t bother to show up. Too many people want to skip the line because they think they’re special.

These people are liars, fakes, frauds and destined to fail. You are not special.

But not all people are like this. There are those who win quietly, who are the biggest fish in the biggest ponds, and you’ll rarely see them or hear from them.

When you have the opportunity, listen to and watch the real ones. Those who don’t speak with words, but with their actions. The most successful people in this world, whether in business, in the gym, in the mountains, in their relationships…are too busy being the best at what they do, and absolutely busting their ass to stay the best. They don’t have time to spout out about it in a poorly edited instagram post or drunkenly at a the bar with their old high school buddies. Those who do, do. But more importantly, they do the work necessary, to do.

The pictures of you on the summit are lovely. The big house, the nice cars, are lovely. The happy family, is lovely. The healthy mind and body, are lovely. But none of these things happen because you wake up one day, clasp your hands, close your eyes and hope for them to be your reality. The good stuff takes work, a lot of it, and it has to be hard or the objective wasn’t that great in the first place. It needs to take time, a lot of it. You can’t have anything worth having right now in your current state, if you want something more, you need to be more.

I also signed on a new client recently. She is training to solo hike the Trans Bhutan Trail, 250 miles with over 75,000ft of vertical gain. When I spoke with her on the phone and asked her these questions, she knew the answers. She knew where she is strong, where she is weak. She knew what worked for her in the past on smaller expeditions but also identified on her own, why she could not train the same way she did for her past successes for this project. She led the conversation with:

“I’ve never been truly fit or done a proper training block. I recognize I’ve been able to tough out my past adventures, but this one is different. I must be prepared, and I’m ready to do what it takes to get there. Show me what is needed and I’ll do it.

Awareness of self is a trait I spend a lot of time debating internally on whether it is learned or innate, but more and more I lead toward the ladder. I think it’s part of our DNA, you have it or you don’t, because if you don’t have it to begin with, how can you ever have it?

I preach often about chasing the big stuff. About getting out of your bubble and going after something scary, but it’s not because I want you to get the photo at the finish line. I want you to experience the journey. I want you to suffer. I want you to fail and get up and try again and repeat that. I want it to be harder than you expect to achieve. I want it to force you to become a better version of yourself. The objective is just the end of the process, it’s the decision to wake up and move every single day leading up to it that’s what will change who you are as a human.

So stop wanting the things. Wake up and take the first step to do the things. Or don’t, and maybe you’ll find yourself in a (literal or metaphorical) bodybag because of it.

Onwards, Always.