What does it take to push past the point where your body screams to stop? Whether it's scaling an 8,000-meter peak, swimming the English Channel, or managing a chronic illness, the ultimate barrier is often not physical, but mental. To uncover the secrets of perseverance, we spoke to six remarkable individuals from diverse fields—a speed mountaineer, a snowboarder, a channel swimmer, a therapist with multiple sclerosis, a Parkinson's advocate, and a scientist-turned-trekker. Each shared the crucial mental shifts that empower them to keep moving when every instinct says to quit.
The Mountaineer's Creed: Prepare to Suffer
Karl Egloff, the Swiss-Ecuadorian mountaineer famous for speed records on peaks like Kilimanjaro and Makalu, believes success is split evenly between physical and mental readiness. For him, mental training begins months before a climb. He visualizes the entire route, anticipating feelings, movements, and challenges, especially in the perilous "death zone." "Mental readiness, to me, means 'being prepared to suffer'," Egloff states. He uses breath work, cold exposure, and exhausting endurance sessions to simulate high-altitude discomfort.
His mindset was tested during a record attempt on Makalu (8,485m). Above 8,000 meters, a white-out storm, plunging temperatures, and fading light made him consider surrender. "I told myself, 'Karl, give it five more minutes, then you decide'," he recalls. After a brief pause to eat and visualize the summit, he pushed ahead with full commitment, reaching the top without supplemental oxygen. "That day, mindset made the difference. It got me up and it got me safely down," Egloff concludes.
Conquering Fear and Redefining Failure
For Gautham D. Kamath, a snowboarder with a fear of heights, progress meant moving through paralyzing fear. During a daunting run from a summit in Gulmarg, he froze on a steep, wall-like slope. With retreat impossible and an avalanche risk present, his instructor yelled for him to move. "I decided, 'This is it! Whatever happens, happens',' Kamath says. He descended in one clean shot, discovering that the mind which immobilized him also held the power to achieve the impossible.
Siddhartha Agarwal, who at 49 became the oldest Indian to solo swim the English Channel in 15 hours and 6 minutes, embraced a different philosophy. Beyond brutal physical training in cold lakes and ice baths, his key was mental. "Training should not be designed for success; it must make room to fail," he asserts. His daily mantra—"It is okay to fail"—taught him that failure, approached correctly, is a powerful teacher that builds resilience against the Channel's cold, currents, and jellyfish.
Action Over Motivation, Acceptance Over Defeat
Rubina Kaur, a therapist, professor, and single mother of three, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in early 2025. Her daily routine includes stomach injections. To overcome the mental hurdle of her limitations, she uses a simple countdown: "5-4-3-2-1 Launch!" "I don't give my brain enough time to think about the task at hand," she explains. Kaur firmly believes that motivation follows action, not precedes it.
N. Hari Prasad has lived with Parkinson's disease for over a decade. His path forward involved clear-eyed acceptance and proactive action. After undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in 2015, he left his job to avoid strain and, with his wife, embarked on awareness road trips. Their first was a 44-day journey from Bengaluru to Bhutan in 2016. He has since completed four trips, held seminars from Ladakh to the UK, and built a 300+ member WhatsApp support community. "The mindset that has carried me forward is acceptance paired with action," Prasad shares, highlighting faith and adaptation as his pillars.
Dr. Sridevi Jade, a retired scientist, chose the challenging Kailash Manasarovar Yatra post-retirement. Facing harsh terrain and altitude on the three-day trek, she prioritized health over ego. When her legs gave out on the second day's 19-kilometre stretch, she pragmatically used a pony for the steep ascent. "Having an ego-free mindset helps in making pragmatic choices," she notes, emphasizing humility and patience as her tools to both finish the trek and appreciate the journey.
These six stories converge on a universal truth: when confronting physical extremes, the mind is the final frontier. Their strategies—visualizing success, accepting suffering, launching into action, and adapting with humility—offer a blueprint for anyone aiming to transcend their perceived limits.
