I would never think that it might be easy for that guy, that he doesn't experience problems or that there is no struggle or pain until he reaches the top of any mountain. The opposite is the truth: yes, he will experience difficulties, he might hurt himself, he will find pain and struggle on his way. But he CAN make it, if he is willing to pay the price for it and take all the challenges he might face on his way there! So I asked "Why not?" Let me tell you that this person really existed. And everybody can only learn from the story of his life - especially those among you, who still have to see first, before they can believe or in other words, those who answered "No" to my introductory question.

As I said, Erik Weihenmayer really exists. When he was 13 years old, he went blind. That was about 24 years ago. Since then, he has become one of the celebrated and accomplished athletes in the world, who climbed the highest mountains of the world, ran marathons and jumped out of planes. In the year 2001, he became the first blind climber who reached the summit of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, and he also is one of less than 100 individuals to climb all of the Seven Summits - the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Remember: he IS blind, does not see anything. So what made him succeed, what made him walk and climb his way up there through snow and ice being blind - while you are still complaining that you cannot get a bigger car, bigger house and make a better living? He had a clear goal and vision in his mind and dared to dream big. The courage to dream big, to reach for nearly impossible goals and determination and perserverance to transform his life into what he wanted and imagined it to be. "Twenty years ago, when I went blind, it was tough to even find the bathroom. Now that I've climbed Mount Everest, well, I guess I've come a long way", Erik said once, and Erik knows that when you dream big, failure is always a possibility, but it is up to everyone to turn this failure into a positive step in the direction of one's life goals, make it only a temporary failure enroute to overall success. In other words: he knows that there can be temporary set-backs but this does not change his vision and for sure, this is never a final defeat.

Definitely, Erik has what makes a high performance person. And what separates high performance people from everybody else is the attitude with which they face life. It all starts with a big dream, a vision and the willingness to pay the price that is necessary to get what you want. There is no accomplishment without risk, nothing you get without giving something else. And understanding that principle and living your life according to that, can already make your life work for you. Add perseverance! Especially if you dream really big, things won't always go that easy and you might have to take a bunch of temporary set-backs until you can ultimately succeed. But you can be sure, you will.

Meanwhile you have learned, that the correct answer to the initial question is "Yes", a blind man CAN climb the Mount Everest. So the question is, what finally keeps you from achieving your goals and realize your vision? For most people it is the pure lack of vision and goals. And even if people have visions and or goals, they are not willing to take the risk, that they might fail in the realization of them. It is by far easier to stay in the little fairy tale town and not risk to get hurt out there in the real world. But all these are only thinking pattern, that can be changed. You have no vision? Go create one! You have no goals? Set them! You are scared of failure? Forget about that and move ahead! Move your brain and do it now! Get used to action and get used to acting as if there were no limits to your abilities, because the truth is that there are no limits: Everything is possible!

To create a vision, a long term picture of your life, you can for example imagine yourself at your 97th birthday. Imagine exactly where you are, who is with you, how the surroundings look like, what you can smell, what you can hear. Allow yourself to dream and fantasize about it and do not limit yourself, everything is allowed because you can imagine everything you want. Do make the picture as exact as you can. Imagine what people say in their speeches, listen exactly to what you want them to have said. Can you see your grandchildren there, a wife, business partners, friends, etc. ? What about stuff you have achieved, do you see yourself in a big house with servants, can you see the various books you have written over the time? Have you been a sportsman all your life, are you still in great shape and are you obviously wealthy? Work on this picture! Paint it as detailled as possible. Make it perfect. Write it down. Edit it. I do it every day. Then take this picture to figure out the important roles you want to play in your life. If you imagine a birthday in the evening of your life, you will be able to figure out specific areas which are very important for your life - now, then and overall. For these areas, set a specific motto, slogan or goal for each. For example, if you are celebrating the above mentioned birthday with business partners, try to imagine conversations with them there to find out, what kind of business you did together and formulate your goal for the business role you play in your life. If you can see pictures of your successes as a sportsman, visualize the finishing pictures of you on the wall crossing the goal lines or being honored with medals.

Set high goals! Look at those goals and the vision you wrote down every day and organize your day, week, month, year accordingly. Erase stuff from your agenda that will never contribute to your goals and start working on your own life every second of it. Thus you are virtually working all the time, but it is the work on the fulfillment of your imagined life: through that, you can really BE yourself as you are progressing towards your own set vision and can fulfill your goals. DO everything you can, give always your best in everything you do and you will HAVE what you always wanted, you can ultimately succeed - what you imagined first, becomes reality. Once you started doing that, you will not only realize that you get what you wanted, but you will also dramatically improve your self esteem, because you are becoming more and more authentic and can like yourself for everything you do. And ultimately, you will be more happy than you have ever imagined to be. About 90% of the people who attempt to climb to the peak of Mount Everest fail. Many die. Doesn't this equal life? The vast majority of people leads a life of quiet desperation, never getting what they want or deserve and many die with 18 and get buried with 73. Start climbing your Mount Everest today, even if your starting parameters are not the best. If a blind guy can climb the real Mount Everest, you will be able to climb yours.

Everything is possible, just do it!

Love,
Heiko

PS: If you want to learn more about Erik, his book, 'Touch the Top of the World' can be bought on his website http://www.touchthetop.com/

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