Introduction

Have you ever wanted to summit one of those massive imposing mountains you might even be lucky enough to see every day out your window, but not know where to even start? Then this is the video for you, because I will be among other things showing you how to quench that little desire in the back of your mind to climb up one of the great mountains and stake your name as a mountaineer, as well as how to build the habits that will be required along the way.

For our first PGP, (careers), PLP project this year we had to dive into the process of habits. We read and studied a self-improvement book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, and then analyzed aspects of it to both learn from and identify with through something called a Atomic Habits Artifact. This artifact was our final product for the project and it could be anything that represents how our identity connects with certain ideas and habits from the book.

The Mountaineering Vlog, and What You Can Learn From It

One of our main focuses was the 4 main steps of making a habit, which is to “make it obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying”. For my artifact I chose to do something abstract and unique, and that is a mountaineering vlog. The easy part for me was creating something that was passionate about and connected with my identity. The harder part was adequately connecting it to the important points I took away from the Atomic Habits book.

The Mountain Vlog

This is why these 4 steps of making a habit were so valuable to me, because they made an effective outline for the setup of my video and how I could show how my habits effectively impacted summiting a mountain. The idea of my video was not to make it an entirely refined, I wanted it to be very uniquely almost ironic video where everything comes together in the end. In the beginning, the “mountain” I am supposed to climb is ironically underwhelming and is nothing but a small hill in Myrtle Park, hence the name “Myrtle Mountain”.

I spend months preparing in the story of my climb and make habits and goals to map out my journey and track my progress and train. I decide to start running to build stamina, cooking better for myself for health, as well as other similar things. I even get an accountability partner, taking an important idea from the book to have someone holding you accountable who can also show you the way, and I brought a friend with me on the hike. I don’t want to spoil the video, so I’ll give the rest of the description below.

The main point behind this video is that the hike gets increasingly more daunting and extreme, but my months of training, eating and nature oriented habits pays off especially when there is an amazing view at the end, tying it all together with the fourth law of building a habit, “Make it satisfying”. I put a lot of work into making this video very personalized and very identifying of myself, while also telling a story and defining our knowledge gathered from James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

 

The criteria and main point of the project was to create some form of meaningful representation of our learning of the book in a creative and defining form. Kind of like a very abstract book report. That’s where I think I went above and beyond, because I think my project goes quite deep into how my habits connect with what I like doing without distracting too much from the goal of the project.

Although the video could definitely be better and more refined, I wanted it to look raw, like many mountaineering vlogs. I think this project is a great example me actually living up to the often unrealistic expectation I set for myself regarding a project or assignment, and my ownership and responsibility taken in order to do so. 

I think my growth in the success behaviour of Agency can gradually increase if I follow through with the work habits and self accountability I showed in this project, and as long as I implement the same work and lifestyle habits I used that helped me excel in this project. Thanks for watching!