A few years ago, I decided to hike Acatenango, a stratovolcano in Guatemala. I’ve always wanted to climb a volcano. I was stoked!
You need to climb 3.976 meters to reach the summit. And you climb with everything on your backpack — clothes, sleeping bag, food, and at least 4 liters of water.
When we arrived, there were a few local boys who would carry your backpack to the base camp for a few dollars if you wanted.
And so we started climbing - the tourists, the guides, and the local boys.
The climb is steep, long, and hard. It takes several hours. And because most of us were not used to hiking or altitude, we made stops often.
I’d chat with others in the group asking how they were feeling. Most weren’t in a bad place:
“I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea.”, or “This is really hard, I wish they told me how hard it would be, I would have never done it”. A few wanted to turn around and go home.
Midway through the climb, I started talking with a local boy who was carrying not one but two backpacks. He had a small portable speaker and was listening to reggaeton and smiling. He was 16 and his name was Helio.
I discovered that whenever he couldn’t get work carrying backpacks to base camp, he was picking avocados with his father.
And so I asked him: “Which one do you prefer?”
“This, I love doing this. I love climbing this volcano.” — he said, without even blinking.
I was surprised, to say the least. This was, after all, a hard climb. Everyone was struggling. Doing it every single day didn’t sound pleasant. So I probed exactly why he preferred this over picking avocados.
“You have to get up really early — like 4 am. And you spend many hours picking avocados. At the end of the day, your entire body hurts. Can’t feel your hands. Your feet hurt. Your back is gone.
This is much better. I get to climb a volcano that I love. Every climb, I learn something new. I see a new path or something I haven’t seen before. Or I learn from the guides. Or from talking to interesting tourists like you. I travel through the words of tourists. They tell me about their hometown, or places they’ve seen. And at the end of the day, I make more money for my family.”
I spent a few minutes in silence pondering the wisdom of this 16-year-old.
I think about this conversation more than I care to admit.
Perspective is everything.
When you focus on the downside — the difficulty of the climb — you get more of the downside. You think "What can wrong?"
When you focus on the upside — the path, learning from other people, getting to the summit — you get more of the upside. You think "What can go right?"
There's always going to be potential downsides in life.
But focusing on them is precisely what prevents you from getting the upside.
"Where attention goes, energy flows."
If you focus on what can go wrong - it probably will.
If you focus on what can go right - it probably will.
So you might as well focus on the upside every time.
P.S.
I'm running a workshop on how to get 2 Hours of Freedom.
Downside: It's $100 and if you don't like it you get your money back.
Upside:
You'll come out of the workshop with
Clarity on what projects & actions you want to pursue
Knowing how to invest your time going forward
A plan to get 2 Hours of Freedom
I'm taking this invite down on the 25th.
For now - it's open.
Go here to lock it in.
Dan