Kilimanjaro ~ The Roof of Africa

One of the things on my bucket list for years has been to try and summit Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa, and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Max, Oksana, Regional Builders Inken Hiller & Francisco Herretes attempted this journey of perseverance with me.

We went with a local company called Kilimanjaro Brothers, founded by George, a Tanzanian who was a former porter on the mountain, and they are one of the companies that treat their porters fairly with a decent wage. The saying : “It takes a village…” was thev truth & the whole team was amazing ~ we had an entourage of 27 ~ 3 guides, a cook, a porter carrying oxygen (just in case), another porter carrying a portable toilet, and 21 porters carrying the food, tents and clothing we needed for the 8 day trek up the Lemosho Route. https://kilimanjarobrothers.com/

We took a dip south to the Barranco valley, then scaled up the side of that cliff you see behind me in the clouds, to the southern face of Kili, through the Alpine Desert and up to the Lava Tower to acclimatize, through this dramatic landscape where the temperature varies from fierce hot sun to sub zero temperatures in the same day, and then onto Barafu Base Camp to prepare for the summit.

After some singing & dancing with our new “family for the climb”, we loaded everything into Land Rovers and drove up to the entrance of the National Park in the pouring rain. The first two days we walked through the rainforest jungle, where we had some great views and pictures of the unique black colobus monkeys playing in the trees as we hiked. Then we headed up the west face of the mountain past the Kibo Crater through the heather and moorelands and crossed the Shira Plateau.

Summit day was the tough one ~ we woke up at 11pm to have a quick coffee and cookies prior to starting the final push to the top at midnight. It was absolutely freezing – I think about minus 20 degrees. I put on as many layers of clothing as I could – I felt like the Michelin Woman waddling out of camp, and we started our “Pole, Pole” pace up the side of the mountain (that is Kiswahili for “slowly, slowly”), scrambling over rocks up a narrow path with headlamps on our heads. It was only 3 miles to the summit, but it was 5,000 feet of altitude, and took us about 7 hours to reach Stella Point, where we had some tea and a chocolate bar, and then another hour past the glaciers and around the crater to the highest point of Kili, Uhuru Peak, at 19,341 feet above sea level.

I think it may have been the toughest thing I have done in my life – not only the frigid cold temperatures with the wind buffeting our tents at night, but the lack of oxygen as we climbed to higher altitudes. Coming down from the summit day, my legs were so shaky, a couple of the porters had to help me – we didn’t get into camp until after 5pm that night, but you can se the smiles on all our faces, knowing we all dug deep inside and found the strength to make it to the Top !

And on the final descent day, Ibi and I decided to jog the last leg to the exit gate, so I dug a little deeper and ran down the last 3 km with him, just to finish off with a bang!

Our guide with Kili Brothers, ” Ibi ” told u s at the beginning there were 3 rules for climbing to be able to make it to the top safely:

1/ Positivity

2/ Transparency

3/ Push Your Limits

Rule #1, Staying Positive, was critical – every time one of us expressed doubts about making it to the top, Ibi would say: What is Rule # 1 ?

And instead of thinking or commenting or believing : “I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it”….we changed our language, mindset and thoughts to :

“When I make it to the Top”…

It’s not much different with anything in life, including your next goal in Surge365.

Instead of thinking or commenting or believing : “I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it”….you need to change your language, mindset and thoughts to :

“When I make it to my $1000 Bonus, $10,000 Bonus, Regional Builder or Director”…

Rule #2, transparency, was that he wanted us to tell him right away if we had a problem or didn’t feel good. When we felt cold or tired or sick or had a headache or pain, he would either recommend drinking more water to hydrate, eating some food, taking an aspirin or altitude sickness pill, encourage us, or refer us to rule # 3 if it was something natural that happened at the level we were at on our climb.

Rule # 2 also applies to your Surge business, because when you think you have a problem or you feel upset, you need to talk to your upline mentor about what is bothering you, and many times you’ll find that they have lived through the same problems and been affected by similar issues on their climb to success, and they can let you know whether you need to do something a little differently, or if you just need to “toughen up”, and focus on Rule #3.

Rule # 3 – Push Your Limits

When you feel you are at the very end of your limit, mentally, physically…

When it is hard and

…You feel you cant take another step

…You don’t think you can go any further

…You are absolutely exhausted and drained

…You feel like quitting because you don’t think you’re going to be able to make it to the top anyways, so why keep punishing yourself

That is when you have to Push Your Limits, and go that extra step – past your comfort zone, past what you think you can do, to accomplish what you set out to do.

Now if you want to change the situation you are currently in – in life, in relationships, in happiness, and in your Surge365 business, you are going to come face to face with Rule #3 – Push Your Limits.

When you feel you are at the very end of your limit, mentally, physically…

When it is hard and

…You feel you can’t find another prospect, or make another phone call

…You don’t think you can go any further, and you hit a dry spell

…You are absolutely exhausted and drained and tired of prospects not seeing how Surge can help them

…You feel like quitting because you don’t think you’re going to be able to make it to the the next level anyways, so why keep punishing yourself

That is when you have to Push Your Limits, and go that extra step – past your comfort zone, past what you think you can do, to accomplish what you initially set out to do.

And if you fail to do this, you will never get yourself to that next level.

Trust me – it is worth it !!!

Think of me climbing Kilimanjaro, and when you feel you can’t do any more in your Surge business, watch this:

Watch Max & Oksana’s video of the trek:

I’m looking forward to seeing you in Cancun in December for the Winter Regional, and in Naples, Florida for our Surge Spring Training 2018 in March.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving, and I’d like you to see how many new prospects you can talk to about Surge this weekend – I used to get invited to at Least 3 Thanksgiving Dinners in a day to maximize my exposures !