Alison Levine made an amazing trek to the top of Mount Everest, a feat most of us cannot even imagine attempting. She recently spoke about the experience, describing extensive preparations she had to make for the climb.
The human body, she explained, cannot tolerate the extremely high altitude and unusual atmospheric conditions of Mount Everest without first undergoing months of preparation. Climbers cannot just grab mountain climbing gear and begin the ascent. Much is needed for the body to achieve readiness.
At the beginning, it takes weeks of climbing just to the first level of the mountain and then retreating to the base camp. Then climbers proceed to the next level and climb back down again. This process continues until the body becomes acclimated and fully prepared for climbing all the way to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain.
These mountain climbing principles have direct application to your financial life. Just as Mount Everest represents an adventure and lofty pursuit for many who have ever engaged in mountain climbing, your financial world also has “Everests” that we envision conquering. It might be a new income level, an investment, a certain amount of savings, or even a business opportunity. Whatever it is, achieving it requires planning, training, preparation and sufficient provision.
Just as in Ms. Levine’s preparations for climbing Mount Everest, sometimes we may financially feel like we are in retreat, having to return to the base camp. But with perseverance, this “going backward” may prove to be the preparation necessary for the successful journey to the top.
Today many people insist on instant success, immediate gratification for their desires. TV, the Internet’s immediacy, and instant communication capacities of social media have caused us to forget that success often requires considerable expenditures of time, energy, resources – and patience.
Too often, we expect to be rewarded within weeks, not years. Yet as we consider the history of business and enterprise, many great achievements came only after many years of effort, trial and error, and failure. Great ideas beyond number have died, falling well short of success because their innovators lacked the determination to stick with them. They were unwilling to advance, then retreat to “base camp,” advance further and then retreat again, until they were fully prepared for the final push toward success.
Many people we talk to have been knocked down. We’re here to tell you that you may be down, but you don’t have to be out. You have just retreated to base camp to prepare for the next climb.
Think of this as financial pruning. What happens when you prune a tree? It comes back stronger. Many people find themselves over-extended. Bought too big of a home when the market was good and now you are in debt. I’ve been there.
The Doug Haldeman Mortgage Team wants to be part of your climb to the top! If you could use advice, reach out to us by email at [email protected] or by phone at (314)472-DOUG (3684).
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