The Pebble You’ve Learned To Live With

We can all do big things.
Big things you can’t even imagine—until you do.

This past Christmas, my son climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Six days.
Nearly 20,000 feet where oxygen is scarce.
Four miles straight up.
The equivalent of 14 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.

He told me it was the hardest thing he’s ever done—and the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen.

A view from the climb

His climb reminded me of another Kilimanjaro story.

In 1997, Martha Stewart climbed the same mountain. Somewhere between the altitude and the exhaustion, she stopped focusing on how hard the climb was and started reimagining buying her company back from Time Inc. who had published her magazine for less than two years.

From that mountain, she boldly expanded the frame of what was possible. She set a future vision -- not just a magazine but an ecosystem of media and merchandising.

When I heard the plan, I thought it was impossible, crazy.

Resilient leaders don't listen to naysayers or the doubters.

What keeps us from climbing our own mountains?

It’s not the mountain that’s too big to climb.
It’s the tiny, constant irritations that steals our attention from it.

It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.

-- Muhammad Ali

Pebbles are sneaky.

They’re small enough to ignore at first—until every step hurts.

High achievers are especially good at climbing mountains.
We train for them.
We expect them.
We even enjoy the challenge.

What we’re less practiced at is pausing long enough to take off the shoe.

To name what’s rubbing.
To admit what’s no longer working.
To acknowledge where we’re settling.
To stop normalizing discomfort just because we can tolerate it.

To give yourself permission to go for it. 'Just Do It.'

Remember, when it adversity hits, it's an invitation for you. A reminder that:

Adversity is the event. Adversity is the circumstance.

Resilience is deciding how you’re going to move through it.
Resilience is asking better questions—and being brave enough to answer them.

Ask yourself:

What’s the pebble you’ve learned to live with—but don’t have to anymore?

Remove that, and the mountain may feel far more climbable than you ever imagined.

Then ask:

What mountain are you excited to climb?