What We Can Learn From The Philippine Women’s Everest Team

Tagaytay City, January 2008.
It’s that time of the year again when companies hold their kick-off meetings and national sales conferences. Beyond drinking the kool-aid, however, these events are excellent opportunities to realign your goals with those of the company’s. We recently invited the Philippine Women’s Everest Team as motivational speakers in our national conference. The comparison between mountain-climbing and achieving one’s goals is nothing new but the points highlighted by the team have never been clearer to me until now.

1. Train hard. Prepare yourself – physically, mentally, spiritually. Pursuing an ambitious goal means that you’ll be dealing with unfamiliar conditions. The Women’s Team were the first all female team from the ASEAN region. They were all from the tropics and yet were able to conquer icy terrain.
2. Put up your basecamp. Having the right support group is winning half of the battle. Surround yourself with people who will support you and motivate you to success.
3. Acclimatize yourself. Ascending without proper acclimatization may result in pulmonary edema. Your lungs fill with fluid and you literally drown. In the pursuit of your goal, watch your pace and take care not to burn yourself out.
4. Listen to your guide. Get help from someone who knows the terrain more than you do. They know the pitfalls and the dangers that lurk behind each of the terrain’s feature. Seek the help of a mentor.

It’s not the mountain that we conquer but ourselves
- Sir Edmund Hillary

5. Check your progress. Periodically check where you are in relation to the goals you set for yourself. Look for the flaws in your execution and adjust accordingly.
6. It’s not over yet even if you reach the top. Going down, according to mountaineers, is even harder. This is where accidents can happen because of mental lapses and the natural tendency to relax after one reaches the top. Use your success to further toughen yourself mentally and to fuel yourself to even more achievements.
7. Find a deeper reason. According to Noelle Wenceslao, one of the team members, conquering Everest is just climbing on top of a big rock. What gave value to the journey was the outpouring of support, the bonds they formed, the love they experienced and the national pride it gave them when they finally succeeded.

Here’s to a successful 2008 everyone!