10 Things I Learned about Climbing in 2024

I've collected notes from podcasts and videos over the past year of climbing and striving to improve. Here are the very best things I've learned:

1. "The ability to adapt a given technique to a variety of situations is a skill.” — Kris Hampton

2. Ultimately your persistence is more important than your innate talent. It's not where you start but how far you travel.

3. Instead of telling yourself not to be scared, reframe it as “getting your butterflies flying in formation” to use the anxiety for good.

4. Pro-climber Matt Fultz says he climbs best when he's most psyched. There's an enormous opportunity in focusing on increasing your stoke over a long period of time.

5. While working one of the hardest sport routes in the world, Excalibur (5.15c / 9b+), Stephano Ghisolfi invited others to try it with him. He explained that it’s much more fun to work on an extremely hard thing with others.

6. There's no guarantee that a positive mindset will carry you to success, but a negative one will certainly make the journey more difficult.

7. Genuine happiness comes from chasing those accomplishments undertaken for their own sake, such as enjoying a climbing session instead of focusing exclusively on the grade you climbed.

8. We can increase our conviction that we will succeed by listening to the success of others. Find others to tell you about their climbs and turn that into fuel.

9. When you surround yourself with others who show persistence and effort, it increases your own self-efficacy and tenacity.

10. Be wary of signing up to a challenge if you aren't truly committed to following through. Control the number of problems that you make into your problems. 

BONUS QUOTE:

“What matters in life is not what happens to you, but what you remember and how you remember it.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez