E220: Climbing Your Mountain with Chris Waddell

Today’s guest is inspiring the heck out of people to do something bigger and greater than themselves! In this episode, Erick Cabral speaks with Chris Waddell, a 13-time Paralympic medalist and World Champion in Winter and Summer Sports.

Honored by The Dalai Lama in 2005 as the Unsung Hero of Compassion, Chris is the first nearly unassisted paraplegic to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, as documented in the 1 Revolution documentary that won a ton of film festival awards.

Some of Chris’ career highlights include being the first ambassador for the International Paralympic Committee, founder of One Revolution Foundation, Paralympic Hall of Famer, and People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.” Chris has won the most medals of any male monoskier in Paralympic history.

Get ready to be inspired by this great legend!

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

• Chris’s introduction to the sports world and his love for skiing
• Lessons from skiing and reclaiming his passion for the sport
• Replicating your strategy in other areas of your life
• How he managed to rise above his accident
• The Mount Kilimanjaro experience
• Giving people the opportunity to stare
• Climbing your mountain and celebrating your difficulties
• About One Revolution

Episode Highlights:

[18:39] The Power of Strategy

Being able to create your strategy and replicate it, plays an active role in your path to success. Once you’ve figured out where you want to go, you can then apply that strategy in whatever area of your life, whether in school, your business, your family, and your relationships.

[25:23] Honoring Your Unsung Heroes

In the sports world, the definition of a hero is a person who succeeds against the odds. People who have had to face the greatest adversity are the ones with the greatest stories to tell. They’re the unsung heroes that you want to learn from – and they come from different areas of your life. They can be your parents, your mentors, your friends, or even that person who waits at your table who has been working two jobs to make ends meet. Unfortunately, sometimes, we tend to lose sight of this in our everyday lives.

[09:36] Climbing Your Mountain

Climbing a mountain is representative of our struggles as human beings. Oftentimes, too, we think once we get to the top of the mountain, then it’s finished. In that case, you will no longer be growing and changing. But the top of every mountain is just the bottom of the next mountain. It's difficult and your mountain may look different each day. But you have to celebrate the difficulty because the greatest joy is in learning something new and growing in a way you had never imagined.

Resources Mentioned:

https://chriswaddellinc.com/

One Revolution Foundation

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/ChrisWaddellSpeaking

Instagram: @chris_waddell_living_it

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