Latest / From Chad / Climbing #1127

Transcript

Climbing #1127 · From Chad

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  Nothing fails like success. There's a story behind that.
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  This is your daily message from Chad #1127 to upgrade your
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  mental game today by telling yourself a better story.
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  Because the most important story you hear is the story you tell
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  yourself. This message is specially
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  dedicated to Chris Barclay. Here's the upgrade.
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  You think reaching the goal means you're done, but upgraded
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  thinking knows the summit is only halfway.
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  Here's the story. Dave Montesanti is an eye doctor
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  from Buffalo, NY. On April 20th, 2026, he ran the
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  Boston Marathon in under 4 hours.
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  Less than a week later, he was on a plane to Nepal to climb
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  Mount Everest. He didn't plan the timing.
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  He qualified for Boston about the same time.
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  The Everestrip was already set. Trainers told him to pick 1.
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  He refused. He trained for both at once,
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  running 10 KS during the week and sleeping in a hypoxic tent
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  to get his body ready for thin air.
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  The total expedition took approximately 4 weeks, most of
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  it in the dark, climbing at night to avoid avalanches.
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  The final stage took 22 hours to reach the summit.
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  He stood on top of the world at 7:49 AM on May 22nd.
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  He called it the hardest physical challenge of his life.
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  Then the dangerous part came. The mountain doesn't kill most
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  climbers on the way up, it kills them on the way down. 80% of the
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  climbers who die on Mount Everest die on the descent.
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  On the ascent, fear keeps you sharp.
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  Every step is deliberate. Then you summit.
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  The goal is achieved, the adrenaline drains out, your
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  guard drops and exhaustion, thin air and complacency do the rest.
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  Dave still had 7 hours of climbing below him, 7 hours
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  where the celebration had to wait.
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  He treated the descent like the climb, because it was.
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  This isn't just about mountains. Companies are never more, more
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  vulnerable than at the height of their success.
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  Careers collapse right after the big win, their promotion, the
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  championship, the sale, the summit.
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  Success quietly removes the fear that made you careful.
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  Andy Grove, the legendary CEO of Intel, put it this way.
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  Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure.
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  Only the paranoid survive. The better story to tell
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  yourself is the summit is halfway.
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  If you sleep on a whim, you'll wake up with a loss.
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  Whatever you just achieved, don't camp on it.
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  Climb down with the same care you climbed up, then find the
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  next mountain. Dave already has two more of the
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  Seven Summits and a marathon in every state.
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  Tell me a story of finishing strong to from
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  chad.smith@gmail.com. It really helps others find
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  these messages. When you comment, like or
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  subscribe or follow, send someone a text and ask them
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  what's your next mountain? You can download my book, The
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  Most Powerful Story in the World, for free by going to from
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  chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
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  and hundreds of others are always available at
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  www.fromchadcom.