Success Lessons from Mountain Climbing

Well one of the things I cherish the most about my job as an Intern is that it takes me places. I do not necessarily work in the office all day but I go out to places daily and meet different people while seeing different places. Someday, our routines took us to Gwanda where we passed through a place called Mbalabala and we had to climb a mountain in order to access one of our Base stations.

Mountain climbing is a rare treat for me which comes once in a while, simply because where we live in urban areas there are no mountains to talk about. So I concentrated on the task at hand and as a motivational teacher and writer I found myself drawing lessons from the exercise.

The mountain slope is steep and it demands so much energy from the limbs, especially the legs. While going up, the whole slope was not entirely steep; it had steep stretches and others stretches where it seemed to flatten. I soon found out that I would apply much of my energy at the steeper stretches. I would go up the steeper stretch running then slow down when the slope flattened while gasping for air and enjoying the moment. The same happens in the pursuit of our goals; the steep paths, where you face more challenges will require that you apply yourself wholly and fully so that you can break and rest when the challenges lessen.

While going up the mountain, you have to tread carefully because if you misplace your footing you will definitely lose your balance and the result could be futile. However you do not turn back and start climbing down because the ground is slippery, you keep going because the peak is where you wanted to get in the first place. In the pursuit of our goals we will always find tricky situations and tough circumstances that seem to work against us. That does not mean you abandon the goal, you press towards the peak of your goal.

When you reach the mountain peak you are rewarded. I had the privilege of getting a view unavailable to those at the foot of the mountain. The view of the scenery was so beautiful; I mourned draining my phone  battery while using the internet and whatsapp before the climb because I so much wanted to capture the view. When you reach the peak of your goals or career, you will always have access to privileges unavailable to those who did not take the uphill climb.

The downhill is exciting because it doesn't require much effort; your body is actually pulled downwards by gravity as you go. When you reach the pinnacle of your dream everything else then begins to just flow through. You will gain momentum and you move effortlessly because you invested your time and energy going up. However descending also had its dangers; if you fail to control the speed with which you descend you will also lose your balance and roll down the mountain only to crash land at the mountain foot or be caught in some trees along your way. The same with your success journey, once you gain success, you should learn to control the rate at which you go. If you go for everything you will either be found caught in the trees or you will crash land at the foot. You have to rationalise your goals and advances; In short you have to learn to manage your success, because success is a force in itself, if you fail to manage it, it will damage you!

The writer is a motivational speaker

He can be contacted on glendhliwayo@gmail.com