One step at a time: Embracing the Mindset of Perseverance

My family has always liked spending time outdoors and I have been hiking mountains since I can remember. When I was 10 years old, we decided to go up La India Dormida in el Valle de Antón, this mountain takes about 1.5 – 2 hours to summit and my parents were not giving piggyback rides to anyone.

In the first break we took, my dad reminded us something: “You just need to keep walking, one step at a time, without thinking how much is left to go. Block that out of your head and keep moving your feet.” and so we did, eventually reaching the highest point. Easy enough right?

As a kid, this was not easy to do at the moment, but definitely an accepted challenge. I started practicing this mindset every time we went for a hike or a long bike ride or in any other arduous activity and it helped me tremendously in life.

In sports for example, it helped me and my canoeing crew to push ourselves far beyond what we knew and it bore fruits. We would paddle for miles and miles, making every stroke count and demanding from each other our absolute best effort; we learned to block out the pain and focus on one stroke at a time.

In life, remains as a daily mindset to embrace “the grind” and to take in the hard moments that might make you stumble. Sometimes it becomes “one day at a time” or “one project at a time”; but the main concept of it all is to keep moving and pushing forward in everything you do.

Although its easier said than done, my recommendation is to apply this in everything you do. You will get the self doubts like everyone: "Am I good enough? Maybe I should stop… I will never finish this… I am tired… its not worth it" – all of this “self-talking yourself out of it” is normal, but should not be acceptable. Learn to control this voice, by practice; when you hear this voice, you better answer back and resist.

One key factor for success, is to have a team or partner to rely on. The mental effect of having someone by your side, going through the same effort and motivating each other, makes a huge difference in any adventure. At the same time, there are great benefits and room for growth when going solo from time to time; more of this in my Alone post.

In conclusion, when doing something repetitive, not matter how big or small of a task, set your mind in accomplishing small checkpoints and break down the goal in smaller tasks. When confronted with doubt, answer back and be resilient against fear. Practice this in everything you do, both personal and professional life. Find a team or partner to travel with, even if is for accountability.

What has been a hard moment in life to push through? How do you personally manage to keep going when tired?

I really appreciate you reading this!

Jose Feliú