Pressure Points 4 Better

Welcome to Pressure Points – my fortnightly look back at the last episode of my Better Under Pressure podcast. Here I share my reflections and a few ideas to take away that can enable us all to be… better under pressure.

In this episode, I’m talking to Tendi Sherpa - who has been guiding people to the summit of Everest and down again now for 18 years. After initially training to be a Buddhist monk, he started work as a porter for treks around Nepal aged just 13, carrying around 43 kg for up to 15 hours a day for over 3 weeks at a time – and wearing flip-flops while he did.

A year later, he climbed his first mountain in the Himalayas alongside his father, also a sherpa, and got his first chance to climb Everest aged only 19. In 2004, by the age of 20, Tendi summited Everest for the first time – an experience that secured what he calls his “dream to become a professional mountain climber and guide”.

Over the last 18 years, he has summited several mountains in the Himalayas, and Mount Everest specifically, 14 times – including doing it twice in one week! He was in the middle of an Everest expedition when the 2014 avalanche killed 16 sherpas, including several of his friends, and in 2015 when an earthquake halted that one.

He has now summited mountains on 5 continents and is constantly raising money through the Tendi Sherpa Foundation to bring education to the people of his village. I met him on a trek in 2018 to raise funds so they could build a village school.

In our conversation he discusses,

• How resilience was nurtured in him from the age of 5,
• Why his Buddhist education supports him on the mountain
• And why he will happily turn back and start again

Here are some key takeaways from our chat for you to have a play with.

1. “Take a long breath and realise where I am”

‘I anticipate that there will be stress, that there will be pressure, but then I relax. I give time to myself to relax because this is so important.’

Tendi had a huge impact on me when we trekked with him and his team in Nepal. I remember being astonished by how he described pressure and how he related to it. I had never come across anyone who looked at pressure that way – with such humility.

I was struck again in our conversation by the vocabulary he used to describe the pressure of summiting Everest. He called it a ‘journey’ and an ‘adventure’ and told us, ‘you just have to be excited to do it’. Those words were remarkably simple and positive.

What can we draw from this in the daily pressures that we face?

One part that jumped out for me was him saying, ‘When you let your mind race, your mind is going to go so far away and so deep. It will go deep and you will never realise where you are and who you are.’

Whether on the mountain or at work, having ways to quieten our minds is an essential part of becoming better under pressure - to interrupt the ‘racing mind’ otherwise our urges and instincts can take over. (add in picture of Dog and Reptile brains?) For Tendi, this could put his and others’ lives at risk.

The practice he values and emphasises in these moments is one of connecting to who we are. For Tendi, this is a deep and meaningful practice. One that reminds him that he has a choice as to how he responds, despite any pressure the mountain throws his way. It was inspiring to witness his calmness on the mountain and to hear him again in our conversation, reiterating what sounds so simple, yet can be so tough to do when we’re under pressure: to remind ourselves of ‘where we are and who we are’ - to become fully present to the actual moment.

Tendi reminds us of the benefit of having a pressure practice that we practise daily so it can kick in automatically when we need it.

Ask yourself:

• What energising, positive words could I use to describe it?
• What practice do I have that helps me to remain more present in pressure moments?

2. “ Be excited for the next step”

‘We should be excited even if it’s going to be stressful or difficult tomorrow. We should always get very excited for the next step.’

What I find so powerful about this conversation, is the way Tendi describes - in such a simple and light way - the resources that we all have, but often ignore because we allow the pressure and tension to become, as he so beautifully puts it, ‘greater than us’.

There is that word “excited” again: and from someone who risks his life on a regular basis. What I’m taking from this is a profound reminder of how resourceful we actually are as humans, if we can only stick to a few basic principles:

Stop to appreciate everything we have in our lives. And make it a daily practice because, when we do, we reduce the negative impact of pressure and instead see it as something we can grow from.

Have a powerful metaphor that supports you through passages of pressure. For Tendi, it’s the mountain with its various colours and heights. What could be your powerful metaphor?

Learn to police our mind. Be aware of where our mind is going. I find the question ‘Where is my mind going?’ much more useful than ‘What is my mind doing?’ It gives us a sense of control and direction and, with that, an ability to pull it back into our control.

Take a pause – which might also mean literally turning back. ‘Turning back’ is a decision and means we can start up again the next day, and with renewed energy.

And keep moving ahead. If there is no benefit from stopping to think about the pressure, then let it go and keep going ahead.

Ask yourself:

• Which principle from that list deserves my attention the most to unleash more of my resources?

In each episode, I ask my guest to pick two things they do to perform well under pressure that they would pay forward to anyone listening.

Here are Tendi’s "Pay Forwards":

Tendi shared two clear and bald statements to this question so I'm going to let them speak for themselves.

3. “Be with yourself”

AND

4. “Enjoy every single thing that comes in your life’

Ask yourself:

• How do you spend time being with YOU?
• How might I experiment with the idea of perspective when I’m next under pressure?

Next week I’ll be talking to Sebastian Bates. Sebastian is the Founder of The Warrior Academy, an award-winning global Martial Arts organisation responsible for developing the character of 25,000 children across 3 continents. He also has a personal story of extraordinary resilience.

Hope you enjoyed this and please share it with others!