English mountaineer George Mallory was once asked by a New York Times reporter why he was attempting to climb Mt. Everest for the third time; he replied, “Because it’s there.” 1 Mallory participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions in the 1920s. Although Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine perished on their attempt to summit Everest, they persisted and gave it their best shot. In a 1923 New York Times interview before his third attempt at reaching the summit of Everest, Mallory made the following observation about the conquest:
“Everest is the highest mountain in the world and no person has reached its summit. Its existence is a challenge. The answer is instinctive, a part, I suppose, of humans’ desire to conquer the universe.” 1
Whether it is summiting a mountain, running a sub-3 hours marathon, running your enterprise, or achieving your wildest dream. Achieving anything worthwhile requires taking the first step and baby steps to achieve it. As the ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca once quipped, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” Most of the things we consider to be impossible are mainly a result of our mindset and our inability to try. It is not about the marathon run, starting the business or reaching the summit of the mountain, it is more more about what you will become in the process of your attempt.