Results Take Time To Measure

Do you know when the first successful climb to the summit of Mount Everest happened?

During a thirty-two year period, between 1921 and 1953, there were numerous attempts with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay eventually reaching the summit using oxygen tanks. A successful climb without using oxygen took another twenty-five years; in 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler summited the tallest mountain on earth powered by only their lungs.

The goal to summit Mount Everest took a total of fifty-seven years to accomplish. (Thirty-two for Hillary/Norgay is still a long time.) But climbers chipped away at it little by little almost every year during that time.

Results take time to measure.

You’re climbing your own Mount Everest. Undoing years of your old lifestyle is not going to be done in a week or a month or even just a year. It will take decades. Believe your new lifestyle is your permanent new way of living. You want to live a great life in your golden years, and so you’ll keep climbing because you know when you look back at your progress when you’re older, you’ll be able to see how far you’ve actually traveled.

You act out what you believe. If you judge your progress over the course of a few consistent steps you’re not going to see much change. If you aren’t seeing “results” in a short timeframe, you may question your beliefs. Is lifting weights making my muscles stronger? Is it worth it to prepare and eat healthier foods? Should I stick to my bedtime? Instead, you have to measure results of consistent effort over an appropriate time frame.

By the way, the answer to all those questions in the last paragraph is YES!

A companion or mentor makes the journey easier - easier for you to continue to believe you’re on the path to your goals. You’re making changes in your life for you, and your companion or mentor is doing the same for their life, but together you take the loneliness of the journey away. You can talk about the times when your decisions don’t match the outcomes you value, and realize it’s ok and that you should keep trying. Even if you don’t speak, they’re silently going through the same process as you; they struggle with the same aches, temptations, and frustrations. They’re there to say, “You can do it!” And they really mean it!

By the way, you CAN do it!

You also can’t expect results without consistent, daily action. That would be like one of my kids returning empty handed after asking them to go get something while my hands are busy (probably with another kid). They come back and say, “I didn’t see it.” It’s because they didn’t look for it. They went to the spot they thought it should be and declared it lost in the Bermuda Triangle of our house. They did something, but the ultimate result was ineffective - they didn’t return with the asked for item. Consistency brings us to the goals we set.

Consistency is incredibly important, but at the same time, nothing to stress over.

Yes, you should attempt to be consistent in exercising your body. No, you do not need punishment or double exercise the day after a skipped routine.

Yes, you should attempt to consistently eat healthy options. No, you don’t need to fast the day after eating cake and ice cream.

Yes, you should attempt to be social (to cultivate care for others). No, you don’t need to consider yourself a social failure when you take time to peacefully recharge, instead of engaging in smalltalk at your child’s soccer practice (although you might want to cultivate those relationships other days).

One step off, one step back on the path. Five steps off, it still only takes one step to be back on the path. Course correct without backtracking.

Here’s the point. You’re working toward a goal of living a great life. A life that allows you to physically heal from sickness, maintain mobility, think clearly, and care for others. The way that you will measure that is over a lifetime of steps, so make them point toward your goal.

Climb your mountain,
Brian