Love It or Leave It

Do you really want this or do you just like the idea of it?

When we really and truly want something, we find a way to make it happen. You see so many climbers reach incredible levels of strength and skill using all different methods. One thing that they have in common is the desire to improve.

When we struggle to make something happen, the first thing we normally blame is ourselves for not having enough discipline. If only we could knuckle down and focus then we’d be successful. What if that’s not the problem? What if you’re spending time chasing something you don’t really want? 

Photo by Rowland Chen

Many climbers will have breakthrough moments later in their careers when they decide to shift their focus. Maybe they kept chasing sport climbing for years longer than it held their interest, and a move to bouldering renewed that initial flame of excitement that climbing gave them. For some people, they find that they would rather climb inside an extra day or two a week instead of outside. They always felt like they were rock climbers so they had to climb on rock as much as possible. Now though, they value having more time in their life for other things and those shorter gym sessions allow them to have that balance. By leaning into that feeling, they now bring more energy and dedication to those gym sessions than they did to trying to squeeze in a day at the crag around an already busy schedule. That extra motivation in the gym helps them to push themselves harder, and now when they do go outside to climb they are sending harder than before. 

If you want to find success, it’s important that you make sure that the thing you are chasing is something you actually care about. If your starting point is genuine then success will come more naturally.