No one succeeds on talent alone. Success is based on consistently doing what you need to do, with exceptional focus and resolve, in order to achieve your goals.
That’s why successful people in all fields take concrete steps to increase their determination and willpower.
They learn to persevere. They learn to grind. They find ways to keep going, day after day, doing the things they need to do to achieve the success they seek.
And then some people, like Jim and Ted Baird, take the process to incredible lengths — and achieve incredible things.
Jim and Ted make up one of seven two-person teams on season 4 of Alone, which premieres June 15th at 10 p.m. on History. Each team is given ten survival tools to share and then separated and dropped miles apart on Vancouver Island.
They then have to find their partner and survive as long as they can by building their own shelters and foraging for their own food. And they really are alone. Each team is given camera gear to self-document their experiences. No camera crews or producers are hiding behind the nearest tree.
Why do something so difficult and risky? For one thing, the winners receive $500,000.
But when I spoke with Jim and Ted, I learned they had bigger reasons to take on a challenge this extreme. Testing themselves has been a lifelong pursuit — just as it should be, in some manner, for all of us.
$500,000 is a lot of money, but still: Why do this?
The timing was perfect for us. It’s like we spent a lifetime building up to something like this. Growing up in our family’s cabin, our parents sparked our interest in plants and animals and nature. We lived off the land and pretended we were alone… and as we got older, that snowballed into doing extreme expeditions and spending weeks at a time in incredibly remote areas.
I understand the nature of your question. You’re right: We do choose to put ourselves in incredibly dangerous situations. And even though Jim had just spent 36 days alone becoming the first person to cross the Ungava peninsula in northern Saskatchewan… we decided this was too big a challenge for us to miss out on.
The day before you embark, on this or any other expedition, has to be a complete dread-fest.
We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, especially the time of year they put us out there. It’s fun but it’s definitely a different kind of fun… and the harder a trip is, the longer it takes to be considered fun after it’s over. (Laughs.)
We basically plan for the worst and hope for the best. We need a wide variety of skills but we’re not always putting them into practice. A lot of our trips are sustenance oriented, requiring us to be creative and “bush crafty” in order to improve and fix broken gear… inherently it’s not an easy decision to make when you know what you’re up against, but there was something inside us that wanted to know, “Can we do this?”
That’s why we do these things. That’s something we always wonder, and here’s an opportunity to really test that.
A lot of thinking does go into it. Doing something like this is serious… but at the end of the day, it’s something we really wanted to do. It’s fun to jump off a cliff, especially once it’s over. (Laughs.)
How do you deal with the mental and emotional challenges? Like most hard things, the physical challenge is tough, but the mental challenge is tougher.
The mental highs and lows are very challenging. Whatever you’re doing physically is real-time; you know what to expect. The mental highs and lows come in waves, sometimes unexpectedly — and the crashes can be really tough to deal with.
A mental crash can also be physically exhausting unless you work to control your emotions. Outwardly I may be cursing a lot, but in the back of my mind I’m telling myself, “You can do this,” and giving myself little pick-me-ups to control the situation. Or you can let it out and not bottle it up.
The real answer is that dealing with the mental aspect is a survival skill you can’t learn from a book. The most important skill you can develop is the ability to endure being freaking miserable, and that comes with experience.
That’s the best answer. You just have to experience little doses, and more little doses, and over time you build up your tolerance. You learn to hang in there because you’ve proven to yourself that you can hang in there.
No matter how many times you’ve done this, knowing you’re going into a situation where your emotions will swing to such an extreme degree can’t be easy, though.
It is hard — but it’s part of the excitement. You don’t know what will happen and how you will respond, and that’s exciting.
A good definition of “adventure” is when the outcome of a planned trip starts to look like it’s not going to turn out the way you planned. That moment — when you realize your plan has to change — is really the adventure.
We plan for the worst, but there are still things outside of our control that will happen… and that’s a big part of the feeling of freedom that you get from being out there.
In a way you’re saying you welcome the adversity because it gives you something to overcome.
It’s incredibly rewarding to overcome adversity in tough situations. Many people want to see what’s around the next corner…. and if you aren’t the kind of person who does that, then you’re probably interested in what the person who does do that has to say about the experience.
If something is easy then everyone would do it, and then you wouldn’t get the satisfaction that comes from pushing yourself to the limit.
We did one trip in Labrador, Canada that was 200 miles north of the nearest road. We were in one of those places where the only access is by float plane. If something goes wrong, no one’s coming to help you.
Doing things like that builds a tremendous amount of confidence. Doing little things like that are beneficial for everyone. It’s awesome getting out there and bonding with nature. Baby steps are fun; it’s rewarding just to find yourself a mile or so off the beaten path, alone or with a friend in the outdoors.
How do you deal with the solitude?
I’ve spent 36 days alone in the Arctic. I did a whitewater trip in Ontario and spent 19 days alone. It’s not that hard, but the one thing I missed was laughing around a campfire.
If you don’t have a goal, it’s much harder.
Going alone is a good thing, though, because you learn to like yourself — and when you learn to like yourself, you don’t feel so alone. Also, doing a lot of video and filming on trips, getting really comfortable with the camera, is like having a conversation. It’s almost like someone is there.
Still, there are definitely moments when things slow down and you realize you’re alone and it kinda sucks or you wish you had someone to share the experience with… but that’s part of the mental challenge. You have to realize your body getting physically exhausted by the mental stress you’re creating for yourself by feeling alone or sad or anxious. All the stuff you worry about, your body reacts to.
So a big part of the mental challenge is maintaining a positive mindset, even if you don’t believe it in the moment. (Laughs.)
Your mind is really powerful. Learn to spend time alone, learn to like yourself… it’s amazing how that can help you in a variety of stressful situations.
A major outcome of overcoming a huge challenge has to be the confidence you gain — and how that confidence affects other areas of your life.
What happens is that it spills over into all other areas of your life. You carry a bit more confidence when you’ve done something big.
When we’re growing up, we’re told to think nothing is impossible… but now it’s something we actually believe. Even if something bad happens, everything will be fine. You can figure out a way. You can persevere.
You can even excel.
Doing something really hard lets you see what life is like on a deeper level. Doing something really hard lets you learn about yourself.
Doing something hard also puts everyday things that might concern you into perspective. You realize how minor those things are… because hey, at least you still have food. (Laughs.)
If we’re flying in a plane, looking down at the mountains, some people see a forbidding, isolated landscape. We see a place we could disappear into and feel at home.
That’s a really cool feeling.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.