My coaching client and great friend, Jamie, has just walked to the South Pole.
Even writing that feels extraordinary.
What makes the story more incredible is two thirds of the team didn’t make it.
Not because they were weak.
Not because they lacked commitment.
Not because they did not want it enough.
It was something else.
A couple of days ago, Jamie shared something that blew my mind.
The conditions were brutal. After the first two days, he had a realisation.
It was the middle of the night. He was in his tent, bitterly cold, aching and suffering. Even though he was zipped into a minus-40 sleeping bag and was wearing all his available clothes, he was still freezing. Should he stop?
Then he thought, ‘This can’t get any worse.’
Once he accepted that, something shifted. The suffering couldn’t get any worse. His pain had peaked. The environment stopped surprising him. Mentally, he could stay where he was.
And he made it.
Here’s a belief trap we can fall into.
When we hear stories like this, it is tempting to say, ‘It was mindset.’ Or, ‘It was mental toughness.’ And to be fair, Jamie himself would say that mindset played a huge part. That and his brilliant coach 😉.
But you’re hearing this story from someone who survived.
The adventurers who pulled out have a different story. They hit different physical limits. Their bodies will have responded differently. Exhaustion may have hit harder. Pulling out may have been a wise decision, not a weak one.
They were doing their best.
This matters because we can easily mistake survival for superiority. We assume that because something worked for one person, it should work for everyone.
Being your best is not about lasting the longest in discomfort. It’s not a competition. It’s not a comparison.
Being your best means knowing when to push, knowing when to adapt and knowing when to stop. Sometimes the strongest choice you can make.
Most people are doing their best, or the best they can with the energy, capacity and circumstances they have that day. That’s what I applaud.
But quitting when you haven’t done your best, or even tried, that’s a different story.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
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