How bad do you want it?

The Edge tests your dedication. Every step closer to The Edge is a testament to how much you want it. How hard will you work to push past the barriers, get through the pain, find a solution to a problem that doesn't appear to have an answer? I've never had to push through extreme physical barriers that leave the hardest of the hard beaten and defeated, but I've taken the measure of a challenge and decided that I was going to beat it.

Deprived of support in our environment and the support of our own bodies, the only thing propping us up was our belief in accomplishing the mission—complete Hell Week. In psychology this belief is called self-efficacy. Even when the mission seems impossible, it is the strength of our belief that makes success possible. The absence of this belief guarantees failure. A strong belief in the mission fuels our ability to focus, put forth effort, and persist. Believing allows us to see the goal (complete Hell Week) and break the goal down into more manageable objectives (one evolution at a time). If the evolution is a boat race, it can be broken down into even smaller objectives such as paddling. Believing allows us to seek out strategies to accomplish the objectives, such as using the larger shoulder muscles to paddle rather than the smaller forearm muscles. Then, when the race is done, move on to the next evolution. Thinking too much about what happened and what is about to happen will wear you down. Live in the moment and take it one step at a time.

I'm leaving PCH. I'm leaving PCH because it's an organization that faces a challenge and finds the quickest way to avoid dealing with it. Challenges are reasons to quit for PCH. For me, a challenge proves that the goal is worth pursuing. If it was easy, somebody else would be doing it already. PCH always follows because they always choose the easiest route. I've been working on a new product for most of the time that I've been with the company. My colleagues and I have faced and overcome numerous technical challenges. The entire enterprise, four years of concentrated effort, could be sunk because the business would rather shelve a project that faces a challenge rather than finding a way to remove the barriers between consumers and a product that works really well. We'll never get ahead until we do the hard work to get in front of other companies. The task is too big. The company is too small. Our leaders don't believe that the organization is up to the task. I guess we just don't want it bad enough. I've had enough.