7 Steps to the top
When you’re writing a book, if you can get someone truly cool and not just Facebook famous, but truly part of history to contribute or be interviewed, there’s that something extra when the book comes out. One such interview we did for one of my books was with an explorer from Auckland, New Zealand. His name was Sir Edmund Hillary.
When Edmund Hillary was just thirty-two years old, he would climb to the top of Mount Everest, hoist high the British flag, and stand where no one had ever stood before. A year earlier, however, when he tried to achieve such a feat, he failed. When he returned and had a press conference, the people laughed at him. They said, “Edmund, you’ll never climb to the top. Everyone who’s ever tried is either up there dead or came back down in defeat.”
On that particular occasion, however, Edmund brought a large picture of Mount Everest and had it on the wall. He said, “I want you to see how big it is, and I want you to see how tall it is, but I want you to remember that Mount Everest stopped growing a long time ago.” He said, “I haven’t stopped growing yet. I’m going to get larger in my heart and my spirit.” Then he said, “A year from today, I will climb to the top of Mount Everest. I will hoist high that British flag, and I will stand where no one has ever stood before.”
A year later, May 29, 1953, he did just that.
From his story, I took that if you want to do something that has never been done before you have to be willing to go where no one has gone before.
A large study of 17,350 civil servants found that the rate of premature death increased as rank decreased. They discovered that the less your socioeconomic status was, the greater the likelihood of psychological and physical health problems. Before this is written off as poverty, the study also pointed a U.S. study showing that those who make $500,000 a year experience significantly less health issues and live longer than those are still making the substantial sum of $100,000 a year.1
These studies and others like them threaten the notion that, “Money can’t buy happiness.” While certainly, there are many unhealthy and unhappy rich folks; overall the data shows it kind of does. Bad news for those that found comfort in believing that wealthy people were miserable people with chronic bladder infections.
Health and psychology experts explored the rationale behind this issue. After all, civil servants at any level and certainly those making $100K a year have access to healthcare and the knowledge and resources to live a healthy lifestyle. Thus, why the large discrepancy in well-being and longevity?
Ultimately it was determined that a lack of resources or a less respected position in life can “get under the skin.” With more modest money available, working in a role where you feel stuck, or living a life that feels unsatisfactory (Especially when compared to everyone else’s life on FB or IG) your mental and physical state can deteriorate.
The answer to mental and physical health regardless of wealth goes back to Sir Edmund (Who lived 88 abundant years)
- Are you an explorer?
- Do you love what you do?
- Are you looking to conquer new heights?
- Climb or go to where no woman or man has gone before?
- Do you get your sense of self-worth because of your character, purpose, and destiny or by your net-worth? (Self-worth can’t equal net-worth; there are too many people with more money, followers, and fame)
- Is money the only motivator?
- Can you be at peace with what is under your skin and make the right choices anyway for your life and health?
We need to be motivated beyond the money – even to make the money. Sir Edmund told us that he had many, many other dreams and parts of the world he’d hoped to conquer and go where none or very few had ever dared to tread. He told us that the only reason he had not completed all these journeys was that he simply ran out of time and energy, not will or desire.
“Change efforts most often fail when change agents did not create a high enough sense of urgency among enough people to set the stage for making a challenging leap in some new direction.” -Kotter
See you at the top!
Dr. Ben
1. Clay, R. (2001). Wealth secures health. American Psychological Association, 32(9), 78
