We all have friends who climb Mount Everest – or at least go camping or hiking nearly every weekend – and find their stories inspiring.
And from time to time, hearing that, we look back on our own lives and find them lacking.
“How come I don’t have more of that?”
It doesn’t need to come from a place of envy.
The climbing or hiking is impressive in its own right, but equally impressive is the dedication to setting goals and seeing them through.
When it comes to our personal lives, many of us settle. We run out of steam after making sure all other objectives are met, and we don’t know how to create more steam.
We might also say, “well, I can’t hike Mount Everest, so I’ll just sit here on the couch a while longer.” Or the equivalent, whatever that is for you.
(And, as an aside, some of us also are quietly climbing our own personal Mount Everests and not recognizing it as such.)
The good news is that if you are ready for a change, you can start today to create and meet your own challenges, building up as you go.
I’m not telling you anything you don’t know by saying that.
I’m telling you something you do know, but you haven’t really felt it down deep where change happens.
You haven’t been spurred into action.
While it doesn’t make sense to try to run a marathon six weeks from now (for example) if you are rather sedentary, you could build up to one mile, three miles, five miles….
And you don’t need any Instagrammable bragging rights, unless that’s your motivation. Not if the main goal is to challenge yourself.
Let me explain with a simple example.
In my case, I’m very motivated seeing new places, while the idea of running or walking on a treadmill for an extended period of time sounds about as boring as I could imagine.
Yet I can’t always be traveling (nor do I want to, when I stop to really consider it). So I’ve made my peace with that but am also tapping into the undeniable strength of that motivating factor.
So…
The treadmill may be the most convenient and efficient way to get more steps into my workdays. In fact, it may be my best option given other constraints (decisions and needs) in my life right now. But it will only be palatable if I can trick my brain into overcoming the monotony.
Actually, you know what? It’s not a “trick.” My brain knows exactly what I’m doing. I’m not tricking my brain, even if sometimes I think of it that way.
Whether it’s a virtual walk in Taipei or a foreign language film while I’m walking, I’m giving my brain the extra dopamine it needs to finish out a highly desired but repetitive task.
In reference to my analogy above, I’m essentially creating more steam to power the engine, even when I may feel I’ve run out.
I’ve even done a couple of “5Ks” that way, directly on the treadmill, in one case while virtually walking through the US, Argentina, France, Taiwan and other places via a program on the treadmills at my local YMCA.
As you can extrapolate from the photos above and below, the program simulates the experience of visiting places all over the world.
Basically, I’m working with something that’s a strong motivator for me, rather than trying to convince myself that I should have different motivators.
That’s a key point. Work with your strengths. Work toward something you love so you can also get what else you want. Because anything worth doing is bound to have the boring bits that you just need to get through.
This is especially important for ADHD brains, by the way, and I’ve had this conversation with a number of my clients and friends. ADHD can make boring and repetitive tasks absolutely suffocating, and the only solution is create a situation where you associate fun and/or joy with something that you wouldn’t otherwise want to do.
As I said above, doing 5Ks on a treadmill is not overly impressive to anyone. It will never compete with climbing Mount Everest or running marathons.
But it works for me, and it’s something I will actually do.
Over the long term, it’s also something that will make a meaningful difference in my life.
It may even be the missing link to help keep me fit enough to keep traveling well into my 70s and 80s, another crucial goal I have (that’s hard to quantify and work toward directly, and therefore hard to execute) as I see my own parents age.
Back to my original question(s):
How do you challenge yourself in your personal life?
What do you wish you had more of?
What do you absolutely need but keep avoiding?
What’s the worst that could happen, and what’s likely to happen, if you don’t make a change?
What are your top motivators?
How can you employ them to get yourself through the difficult parts of achieving a larger goal?
Your personal challenge doesn’t need to be super creative, inspired or impressive. It just needs to help you feel good about the choices you are making (in the one life you have to live) and keep you moving toward where you want to go next.
This article was originally published in Issue #82 of the Segal Coaching Newsletter, on June 22, 2026.
© Anne Marie Segal 2026. All rights reserved.
Segal Coaching LLC 