As many of you know, my daughter and I spent the night out a year ago December when I got lost and stuck on my snowmobile. I have been asked to talk about it as a life altering experience on the thought that it would give our clients a better understanding of my personality. On reflection, I can’t say it really was a life altering experience, surprisingly.

I got lost and stuck through my own mistakes for which I have no one to blame but myself. Eventually we were found by Summit County Search and Rescue after being out for sixteen hours, in four degree weather. So in the end I have to thank them.

The period in between is what I have been asked to talk about. As I said I didn’t find it a life altering experience. There was simply never any question in my mind that we were going to make it out. I never lost that conviction, and perhaps that’s the greatest comment I can make. I simply did not quit, and that is very reflective of my personality. Sometimes it’s not the wisest course of action, as sometimes I fail to mitigate my losses or walk away from a problem when I should. But in general it has worked well through the course of my life. Perhaps that attitude began before I can remember. My greatest focus on it is during my Peace Corps years when I experienced the worst loneliness
in my life, living half way around the world by myself in a community where very few spoke English. But again I was committed I would not fail, and I did not, in fact receiving an award as an outstanding Peace Corps volunteer. But the point isn’t to blow my horn, but to make the point that I guess my major reflection on the night was it was consistent with my sense that I was going to make it, that my daughter was going to make it, and that it was really an adventure, which is what it turned out to be.

Neither of us ended up worse for wear, no one lost any fingers or toes, and I got to practice some survival skills that I had read about. I didn’t have all my safety gear, which was my mistake, but I had enough of the right gear, that we made it through the night with little problem. God also cooperated because it didn’t snow.

So how does this apply to my professional life? To some degree, each of you who deal with me will have to reach that conclusion yourself. From my perspective I unfortunately had to handle a case that lasted twelve years. Fortunately I never gave up and we were ultimately able to prevail. In a trial you can find yourself in a situation where a judge is repeatedly ruling against you on various objections, but you have to have to the perseverance to get back up yet again and make an objection. If you don’t, you may well have defeated your own case on appeal, for your failure to make an objection.

I know that I tend to apply my sports experiences to my professional life, so hopefully I will be better prepared in both situations in the future. I know I now carry all my safety gear,
all the time.

By Ted Bendelow