Exhausted (but happy) at ALA...Saturday night 1/20/2007

Today is Saturday and after I arrived late last night after the CJCLS dinner, I fell into bed and was fast asleep. I woke at ten to 6 and since I wanted to be back at the conference center by 8 for a motivational speaker, I was up, had the coffee pot on and was in the shower by 6. I am staying with Jeff's cousins in Puyullup which is about an hours drive south of Seattle.

Sue Ershler was the first speaker in the Sunrise speaker series. She is is an author as well as a business person and with her husband, was the first husband and wife team to reach Mt. Everest. husband-wide team to reach the top of Mt. Everest.

Ershler tells the story of her "goal" to climb Mt. Everest and Learn how to achieve goals that seem overwhelming through vision, focus, risk-taking and commitment. Now those of you who know me well know first that one summer I read about 6 or 7 Everest stories AND that I am always up for a motivational "shot in the arm." Sue was an engaging speaker and if I ever thought (in my dreams) that I might want to climb Everest, after hearing her speak I decided that vicariously living isn't so bad after all! Just the thought of crossing the cumba ice fall on 60 eight foot ladders strung together, well, if you know me, it just wouldn't happen. I have a hard enough time getting the Christmas lights up!

I liked the three P words Sue used for her goals: Project, Prepare and Persevere.

Project: establish a clear vision where you are going. Once you have the right vision, it drives all the activity to get there. 100% commitment = 100% productivity Focus on writing your goals to help you project your vision. Burn it into your brain!

Prepare: Break it down into managable tasks...little pieces, step by step. When she started out on the Everest climb, her husband encouraged her by saying that each day we will climb, and at night we will rest. Then we will climb a day, a rest. When the day was hard, they focused on a shorter term goal ans some days, it was as "manageable" as one step, then another step. She commented that when we project and prepare that we are truly "ordinary people who can do extraordinary things." Wow! that sounds like the Shatford Library staff!

Persevere: Push through the pain and the pain won't last...but the satisfaction of moving toward your goals will be there . William Durant (founder of General Motors) said it well:
William Durant: Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you going to do now and do it.

As Sue said, we all have our "seven summit dreams." As Robert Collier said:
You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything you set out to accomplish -- if you will hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.