Whom did you worship when you were young? For a lot of people, the answer to that question will be a professional athlete, a famous musician, a favorite writer, or a movie star. When I was young, my biggest heroes were polar explorers—a little unusual, I admit, though remember I grew up in the snowy wilds of Norway, where names like Fridtjof Nansen and Ralph Høibakk (two of our more accomplished adventurers) were as common as your Derek Jeter and LeBron James.
One of my favorite early explorers was the famous Roald Amundsen, who won the race to the South Pole on December 14, 1911, beating out Robert Falcon Scott by thirty-four days. A great deal has been written about that extraordinary contest and the controversy surrounding it. I have enormous respect for both men, but I do believe Amundsen reached the destination first—and I think he did so because of his superior preparation.
Polar expeditions are extremely complex, with a huge number of deciding factors. Some of them can be managed, or at least anticipated, while other factors are completely beyond human control. Amundsen focused on those he could control. For example, he assembled his team with men who had deep knowledge of the polar region and, at the same time, were highly competent craftsmen and skiers. He used dogs instead of Scott’s doomed horses. Food rations were precisely calculated, and included calorie-rich cocoa rather than Scott’s very British calorie-light tea.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. As the Boy Scouts motto puts it, “Be prepared.” I learned that lesson early on through my childhood obsession with polar exploration. In the military, it was hammered home with such maxims as “The person who is prepared survives” and “Attention to detail brings security.” Preparation was literally the difference between life or death.
The stakes aren’t quite so extreme in the contemporary world, but preparation is still absolutely vital to success. The athletes who perform best in live competition are without exception the ones who know how to get themselves ready in the months, weeks, and minutes leading up to the event. The same goes for business executives, actors, or anyone whose job requires some element of performance (and when you think about it, are there any that don’t?). Winners do whatever they need to do in order to increase their likelihood of success.
To win at Hell Week and use the lessons from it to make meaningful improvements to your life, you need to prepare. That’s what this section of the book is all about. Together, we’re going to make sure that nothing is left to chance. I see people make this mistake all the time. They view preparations as boring or pointless or difficult, and instead they cross their fingers and hope for the best. During Hell Week, you will not rely on hope. You will enter into it knowing that you are going to be successful. That’s because you are going to be prepared.
As I noted in my introduction, you should start getting ready for Hell Week two or three weeks beforehand. This is a crucial period, because it’s during this time that you’ll build up the momentum and motivation needed for a successful outcome. You won’t achieve real and lasting transformation if you don’t know exactly which aspects of your life you’re looking to change. Remember, it’s the small decisions that, when added up, have the greatest impact.
I’ve devised a seven-step process that will help you define your goals for Hell Week and come up with a plan for achieving them. Think of it this way: Hell Week comprises the actual performance situation, akin to the ten-kilometer race in swimming. We all know that when the starting gun sounds, the swimmers have already undertaken most of the work. They’ve trained systematically, grinding away at the details, preparing themselves mentally for what lies ahead, visualizing every aspect of the race, picturing various scenarios in their mind, and deciding how they’ll respond to the different challenges they’ll face along the way. Of course, one of those swimmers will have done all these things more diligently than the rest, and it’s his hand that will touch the wall first.
The following seven-step plan will help you bring that same level of preparedness to Hell Week. Some of the steps are action oriented, while others are more contemplative, requiring you to reflect on your life—its past, present, and future. If you don’t already keep a journal, I strongly urge you to start one for this process. Throughout the book, you’ll see journal entries from my past clients. Like them, you’re going to discover a lot about yourself in the weeks to come. You’ll want to keep a record of the exploration.