Saturday, July 13, 2013

Better Climbing: Change, Part II

Be mercilessly merciful. That is the attitude to take with yourself when it comes to changing. You can debate about what tactics to employ for any given behavioral goal, but once you have made the decision, then follow through in a singular, committed and laser-like, focused manner.

There is no "try" there is only "do".

I do not think that at the point of commitment it makes any sense to make incremental steps towards your goal. I believe that success depends on seeing this as a black and white issue.

A common bad habit with climbers is foot placement. A inefficient behavior is one of placing your foot in a sloppy manner, imprecisely, not keeping your eyes on the foothold until the foot is engaged, pumping it a couple of times to see if it will hold, etc. This basic deficiency must be overcome if you want to make any further progress in climbing. So, how? The next time you put your foot on a hold, do it with precision, exactness and trust. Easy, right? and yes I know I'm a genius at teaching climbing and you can send me your payments via my soon to come pay-pal account.

But, really the trick to this is to stop kidding yourself into thinking that you have to "try and be better with your feet". Put your fucking foot on the next foothold with concentration and precision! There are no marks for this - it's "pass / fail". Stop being nice to yourself and say, "well, I'm trying", or "I almost got it now". That is all a bunch of politically correct self-delussional talk that's just a bunch of crap. You have this one chance to place your foot properly: you can either fuck it up and make it harder to do the next time, or you can do it right - right now!

This, by the way, is the hard part of mastery and why in climbing that people are content to say, "I just climb to relax", or "I don't care about the grade, I just want to have fun". It is easy to ignore that feeling deep down that you are not really performing to your best and utilizing what you were given to the best of your powers.

Self-Awarness Exercise: Answer The Questions
  1. In what context do non-productive or self-sabotaging behaviors come forth?
  2. Why do you repeat the behavior?
  3. What are you holding onto that gives you the sense of short-term comfort?
  4. Why are you avoiding the confrontation of changing?
  5. Why does the old habit / behavior have power over you?
  6. Does the bad habit or behavior supply something that feeds your ego?
  7. What is the excuse for not changing or embracing the new productive behavior?
Tactics For Change
  • Plan counter strategies & remain flexible: have a day-to-day, moment-to-moment awareness
  • Get rid of bad stuff: negative outside influences, people, situations, food, drink, etc., etc., that lead you down the path of self-sabotaging behavior and giving in to inner weakness - yes, this does sound harsh but you are responsible for the control of your physical, mental and emotional environment
  • The people you climb with mater immensely: you want partners that are following the same path as you - you absorb so much consciously and subconsciously from who you climb with; make sure what you absorb is productive!
  • Focus particularly on changing the imputes that initiates a routine that now longer is productive, or leads you down the path to an old bad habit - if you are aware of how the chain of events start, then you can break it
  • Publicize your new behavior and changes
  • Do it together: engage in the process of changing with like-minded partners and utilize their help
The rewards of going through these processes time and time again are that you increase your personal power. Each time you confront a non-productive behavior is a challenge that you will enter into with less apprehension as each habit is confronted and dealt with. Before you know it anything seems possible as you begin to play in the realm of personal power.

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