Lessons from the World’s Highest Peaks: The Power of Focus on the Next Step

Nirmal (Nimsdai) Purja from Nepal climbed all 14 of the world’s highest peaks — in just 7 months.
Before him, only one man had achieved the same, but it took him 16 years.

For those less familiar — preparing to summit just one peak usually takes three to four months.

Beyond his extraordinary physical and mental strength, what drove him was a powerful message he wanted to send to his people — that they are not invisible.

It hurt him that the media mostly highlights the achievements of Western climbers, while in reality, none of them could reach the summit without the help of Sherpas — people from Tibet, whose real names are rarely mentioned.
Instead, they are all reduced to one label — “Sherpa.”

Nims wanted to show the world who the truly capable people in mountaineering are — by name.

Along with serious preparation for such an achievement, there is also that invisible support “from above” — from God, or however one chooses to call this beautiful force that flows through all of us.

When you choose a path knowing there is no turning back — and on a steep climb you realize that immediately — you always achieve more than you believed was possible.

Nims called his project “POSSIBLE”, and while watching the documentary on Netflix, I had the feeling that even the name itself gave him additional strength.

It made me think — maybe all of us should give such names to our own small and big projects:
⭐ POSSIBLE
⭐ EASY
⭐ SIMPLE

The story reminded me of my first via ferrata experience in the Dolomites, Italy (photo attached). I was 45 — with no prior training, no real awareness of what was ahead or how long it would last.

Four hours of climbing along a rocky mountain face — using both hands and feet, through sections where the rock is vertical like a wall, and sometimes you have no idea where to hold on or where to place your foot.

And you never know how much longer it will take. The top is not visible, and every moment feels like a fight for survival — because it’s steep and at a high altitude (the climb was around 900 meters).

Your focus must be only on the next step.

If I had known what it would look like, I would have never dared to try — and I certainly wouldn’t have succeeded without good guides.

That’s when I learned — we don’t need to know what awaits us in life.

Often, we wouldn’t be able to handle that information; it wouldn’t help us — it would only stop us.

Just like in the mountains, we should:
⭐ rely on ourselves
⭐ focus on each individual step
⭐ wisely choose good guides when we realize we don’t know something

And perhaps we should call this entire beautiful life one project:
⭐ IT IS POSSIBLE ⭐

October, 2025.