That was the question the BBC interviewer asked five mountain climbers that morning before they began their ascent. And, one by one, they gave her the same answer, said in a different way.
"I'll do my best," said a big burly guy with a heavy black beard.
"I'll give it my best shot," said a tall, wiry man with muscles on his muscles.
"We'll see what happens," said a blond headed poster boy for what a mountain climber ought to look like.
"I'll sure try," said a young, dark headed woman with bright flashing eyes.
And finally the interviewer asked the same question to a short, scrawny, red-headed guy about five and a half feet tall who looked like the runt of the litter. And he told her...
"Yes."
"Excuse me?" she said, surprised.
"Yes. I'll make it."
And at the end of the day, he was the only one who made it to the top. Not because he was the biggest, or the brightest, or the most able...but because he was the only one who said he would.
Not 'maybe' or 'I hope' or 'with any luck' or 'I'll give it my best shot' or 'I'll work hard at it' or 'I'll try!'
All he said was "yes".
Because he knew that to 'try' is to die...because when you leave yourself a way out, you'll always take it when the going gets rough.
Getting what you want isn't all that hard or complex or mysterious. Just decide what you want, commit to it, and then do it. One step at a time. The same way you'd climb any mountain.
Climbing Mount Everest is hardly a walk in the park, but despite the risks about 1,500 people try to reach the summit each year. This year, more than 600 climbers made it to the top, and six people died trying.
While in the past those climbers would have been almost exclusively young and male, the demographics of Everest expeditions are changing, with more women and older men in the mix. Age, not sex, appears to affect who succeeds on Mount Everest.
In study by Raymond B. Huey of the University of Washington, the probability of success declined rapidly for climbers older than 40, with those 60 and older (about 4 percent of climbers in recent years) having only a 13 percent chance of making it to the top.
Climbers 60 and older also had higher death rates--about one in 20 did not make it off the mountain alive. And those sexagenarians who were strong enough to reach the summit often paid for it on the way down. They had a 25 percent chance of dying while descending.
Source: The New York Times
The first Baby Boomer, A New Jersey mother and grandmother turned 61 on New Year's Day, 2007 and she has the distinction of being the very first Baby Boomer.
Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, of Cherry Hill, N.J., was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946. During this era, an American baby was born every eight seconds.
Visit the Blogging Boomer Carnival #36 and join other boomers in taking the rides of their life.
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Hillary Clinton wears them. So does Sarah jessica Parker. Ballet-style flat shoes "have become a basic staple in every chic girl's wardrobe," says Sally Ross, a vice president at New York's Bergdorf Goodman.
