Climb Your Mount Olympus

There is an old story where a traveler asks Socrates how to get to Mount Olympus and he says, “If you want to get to Mount Olympus, just make sure every step is in that direction.” This simple idea is life-changing advice. Whether you want to lose weight, get a promotion, or learn a new skill, the secret is to ensure every action you take moves you toward your goal. The good news is that we can change our direction at any time to change our results.

To make sure every step is in the right direction, you need to embody the following principles: Desire, Inspiration, Responsibility, Energy, Courage, Talent, Imagination, Optimism, and Grit.

Desire

The first step is to truly know your destination—your Mount Olympus. Taking the time to write down where you want to be in one year or five years can actually increase your happiness. Psychologists call this the "Better Selves exercise." The very act of imagining a great future promotes a sense of well-being. By setting a clear goal with a strong purpose, you put yourself firmly in control of your journey. Thomas Edison embodied this when he carried an unwavering desire to bring electric light to every household, working through thousands of experiments until the light bulb finally worked.

Inspiration

Once you’ve decided on your destination, you need to stay "in spirit," or inspired, to keep going. It helps to have a written plan outlining where you want to go and how you’ll get there. You can also gather resources to keep you inspired for the long journey, whether they are books, podcasts, blogs, or a trusted mentor. Staying inspired for the long haul is key. Michael Jordan stayed inspired by constantly finding new challenges, using criticism as fuel to keep striving for greatness even after winning multiple championships.

Responsibility

If something goes wrong during your journey, you must take full responsibility. This is what leaders do. They never blame anyone or anything else for their situation. By taking complete responsibility for everything that happens, you can take better action and make course corrections as needed. When John F. Kennedy took responsibility for the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, it strengthened his credibility, and he went on to successfully lead the country through the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later.

Energy

Any journey requires a lot of energy. You need to maintain elevated levels of physical, mental, and emotional energy to remain on the path toward your destination. You can achieve this through good sleep, exercise, diet, and positive thoughts. A strong purpose to which you are committed can also provide a deep source of energy. Serena Williams maintained extraordinary energy levels over two decades of competition through rigorous training, recovery discipline, and an unwavering commitment to her craft.

Courage

The courage to begin is what’s needed for any journey. As Winston Churchill famously said, "Success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." He also said, “Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” You can build your courage by getting to know your fears and then taking purposeful action to reduce them. While some fears may never go away, a strong purpose can help you deal with a lot of them. Rosa Parks showed immense courage when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, sparking a movement that changed history.

Talent

The key to reaching your destination is to know your talents. It is crucial that you align your life’s goals with what you are good at. Each of us has a unique talent, and getting to know it is essential. Once you find it, you must keep polishing it and keep it current. Talent is not something most of us are born with; it's something we develop through soul searching, self-analysis, practice, and deep learning. Finding what ignites your passion is paramount, as passion ignites reservoirs of hidden talent. The main obstacles in our path are self-doubt and a lack of patience. Overcoming these, and combining patience with our passions, will help us reach our destination. Lionel Messi’s talent was nurtured through relentless practice and perseverance, eventually making him one of the greatest footballers in history despite early doubts about his size.

Imagination

You need to be creative to navigate the obstacles and opportunities on your journey. You can use a journal to flex your imagination muscles, debriefing daily on what can be improved and recording your thoughts. Ideas often come when you start thinking on paper. Going for a long walk can also spark your creativity. Steve Jobs’ imagination transformed technology by merging design and function, giving us products like the iPhone that reshaped entire industries.

Optimism

Optimism is the key to enjoying your journey. There is no point in reaching a destination if you have depleted all your resources and lack the energy to enjoy the success you’ve created. Being optimistic means you look for the good in every situation and generally maintain a positive outlook. One exercise from the book The How of Happiness is to project your best self five or ten years from now. By imagining yourself living your best life, you can keep that picture in your mind and stay hopeful. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison but held onto his optimism, which not only sustained him but also helped heal a divided nation when he finally became president.

Never Give Up

Science shows that when you have clear goals for all areas of your life—business, physical, financial, social, and a sense of contribution—you feel happier. The best cure for a negative attitude is to have strong goals you are working toward. Review your goals regularly and make course corrections. The key is to have grit, which researcher Angela Duckworth calls the number one quality for success. Grit is only possible when you know clearly what your Mount Olympus is. With a clear final picture in mind, you will overcome temporary setbacks and keep moving forward. One of the best ways to maintain optimism, as proposed by Martin Seligman, is to avoid taking any event personally, assuming it will be permanent, or believing that a single bad event will cause others to go wrong. Thomas Edison’s persistence, which led him to fail thousands of times before inventing the functional light bulb, remains one of the greatest demonstrations of grit in history.

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.