Earlier this year, Vivian Rigney, a college friend of mine, summited Mount Everest, surely the realization of a lifelong dream. And no doubt one of the riskiest things anyone could ever do! In fact, by climbing the world’s tallest mountain, my buddy became only the third Irish person to scale the highest peak on all seven continents.

Vivian has always been highly motivated. I remember one group project we did together while studying for our MBAs in Paris where he was able to land an interview with the head of Nokia France for a project we were doing. Score!

When not wielding his ice axe and crampons, Vivian is the President of Inside Us, an executive coaching firm he founded in 2007. Based in New York City, Vivian is coaching senior level executives at Fortune 500 companies all over the world.

I have other friends that have taken the entrepreneurial plunge as well. Ron Braatz, a high school buddy with a real knack for all things tech, is rocking it at Liftoff deploying Microsoft Cloud Solutions to a variety of local companies. Branding and graphics diva Jill Spaeth is doing her thing at Citizen Creative helping clients communicate messages and tell stories.

My point? Be inspired by Vivian, Ron and Jill. You can do anything you want in life. You control your own destiny. Set some lofty goals and go after them!