Curveballs

Five life lessons from a close call with an errant boulder.

by Jeremy Hanks

On Saturday night June 13, 2009, I found myself lying in the Nephi emergency room all hopped up on morphine with a seriously deficient right leg (what I’d find out later to be a broken fibula, a torn ACL and a severely damaged calf muscle). What happened?

Blame it on Mt. Rainier. Ten days before a first attempt of my life’s list goal to climb Rainier, our group embarked on our final training trip — an overnight climb of Mt. Nebo. That afternoon, I was standing in a snow gully when, with little warning, a car tire-sized boulder traveling at high speed hit my right leg from behind. A six-hour epic mountain rescue later delivered me to the aforementioned Nephi E.R. (See the full rescue report with photos and video at http://bit.ly/curveballs.)

Here are five things that I’ve learned in the last four months while trying to recover and get back to normal:

Falling off is the easy part

Climbing back on the horse takes way more energy than falling off. To switch metaphors, think of a 100-car freight train, and how much energy it takes to get it loaded and up to 60 mph. Picture it derailing catastrophically. Think of the energy now required to fix that train. I had worked really hard to get ready for Mt. Rainier — training, education, trip logistics. It’s a tiny fraction of what I’ve done since and still have yet to do if I want to climb Mt. Rainier next June. It can be extremely difficult, discouraging and downright disheartening to rebuild all of your lost momentum. Stay positive, be patient, be persistent and you’ll get there.

Pain is your friend

Ken Chlouber, the former Colorado representative who also directed that state’s famed Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon, once said, “Make friends with pain and you will never be alone.” For my physical therapy and exercises, I channeled that idea. Figurative pain is no different. Things worth doing are going to be painful — especially change. Ask yourself how much pain you’re dealing with in your life or at work, and if it’s not much, find some more.

Let challenges motivate you

It’s only a matter of time before you get hit by a curveball. Be driven and motivated by people and situations that say “you can’t do that.” It’s a mindset that can be learned and practiced. The easiest way is to manufacture a change that disrupts the status quo and then react to the chaos that follows.

‘What if?’ changes nothing

“What if we’d left camp five minutes earlier that morning?” “What if we’d turned down a different route?” This mental game focuses on things that seem controllable, but ultimately it’s focused on the past, not the future. It’s draining. It’s defeating. Those “what ifs,” well, they didn’t happen. What did did. Focus on what you control in the future and ignore the rest.

Refocus on your true priorities

When I was sitting in that snow gully busted up and bleeding and wondering if and how my friends would get me to help, I can tell you I wasn’t thinking at all about Doba or employees or metrics or anything that normally consumes most of my energy. I was thinking I was going to be in trouble with my wife. But in all seriousness, that’s where your mind goes: family and friends. I know it’s cliche, but it took a near miss to help me reevaluate where I spend my time and what’s truly important to me. Before this year is over, spend some time on what really matters.

Battle scars

The crazy thing? If I could choose (assuming I get mostly back to normal) I’d probably let the rock hit me again. It’s life’s figurative and literal curveballs and battle scars that teach us and add richness to our lives. Thanks for letting me share, and I hope you’ll be inspired to reflect on your life and business.

Jeremy Hanks is an entrepreneur and founder of Doba and GearTrade. You can follow Jeremy by subscribing to his Adventures in Entrepreneurship blog at www.jeremyhanks.com. When he’s not spending time with his highest priorities (aka wife and kids), he’s plotting his triumphant return to Mt. Nebo to exact revenge on a large boulder.