A simple rule that will transform your relationship to effort
I often hear conflicting advice from climbing trainers and coaches. On the one hand: “You won’t feel great every day, but sometimes you have to get up and train anyway. That’s how you achieve greatness.” On the other hand, “Listen to your body.”
What about those days when my body says I'm exhausted by my training plan says I should do a workout? How do I know when to go hard and when to take it easy?
Here’s a simple rule that will transform your relationship to effort:
Always start.
This is one of the keys to success in climbing and any area of life that requires effort to overcome challenges. By always starting, you eliminate the tendency to give up before the moment when hard things are reliably hardest: the beginning. Let’s look at some examples.
Should I climb or rest?
If you’re deciding whether to stick with a training plan or take a rest day, always start the thing you planned.
There are lots of days when I feel tired or lethargic before climbing or training. I used to hesitate and waste a lot of time wondering if I should work out that day or not. But I noticed something interesting: more often than not if I started the workout I would feel better about 10 minutes in.
The body and brain love stasis, especially if we feel challenged or outside our comfort zone. As a result, our thoughts bias toward comfort. When we’re anticipating something hard - whether a limit workout, a difficult paper, or a vulnerable conversation - it’s easier to say “I’ll do it later.”
When pushing our physical limits, sometimes “later” is the right choice (I could have avoided many months of injury by listening to my body more skillfully). But you have to start before knowing if your hesitation is grounded in wisdom or laziness.
Thus, we come back to the rule: always start the thing you’ve planned.
The body and brain love stasis, especially if we feel challenged or outside our comfort zone. As a result, our thoughts bias toward comfort. When we’re anticipating something hard - whether a limit workout, a difficult paper, or a vulnerable conversation - it’s easier to say “I’ll do it later.”
When in doubt, start the thing you planned to do
I’ve found this same rule - “always start” - is transformative when it comes to other types of effort. My favorite example is writing.
I write pretty often, whether it’s a blog article, workshop plan, thought piece, proposal, or class assignment. I’m pretty good at writing and often get positive feedback on what I write. So how often do you think I look forward to writing? Never!
Before I write my brain has lots of convincing excuses: “I’m tired today. I can do it tomorrow. There are other urgent things. I’m not feeling inspired. I don’t know what to say yet.” The result used to be a lot of hesitation, delay, and dread.
But when I finally sit down to do it, writing usually feels satisfying. Occasionally it even feels easy. Writing is something I enjoy when I’m doing it, but I never want to start
I think this graph captures the general pattern. When facing a challenging experience, we experience the most terribleness at the beginning (including before staring). Over time, the terribleness almost always declines to a manageable level.
Now that I know this pattern I spend less time wondering if I should start and more time doing challenging things. That means more progress, more growth, and more results that matter to me.
How to start when it feels hard
Knowing that hard things feel hardest before doing them is helpful because we can anticipate the inevitable discomfort and begin anyway.
For example, you don’t feel like calling in sick instead of giving that work presentation because giving the presentation is a bad idea. You’re just feeling the normal feelings that come up before doing something outside your comfort zone. It’s the same with writing, doing a hard workout, or having a difficult conversation. It’s best to assess whether something is worth doing after you begin.
But knowing to “always start” is only half the work. Hard things will still feel hard or scary and you’ll still want to avoid them. The key is to make “always starting” a habit. As with all habits, the key is to practice with small, manageable steps and be consistent. Over time it gets easier.
I used to snooze my alarm. When the alarm would go off, starting the day (by getting out of bed) always felt like a worse idea than staying in bed where it’s warm and comfortable. After a few 8-minute snoozes, I’d eventually do the hard thing I’d been putting off and get out of bed. The result wasn’t super satisfying: I still experienced the discomfort of getting up, only now I felt behind from waking up later than planned.
Changing this habit was actually simple. I moved my phone charger across the room. Now when the alarm goes off I jump out of bed immediately because I don’t want to keep disturbing my partner with the noise.
If I realize - after getting up - that sleeping more is still a good idea, I can always set another alarm and get back in bed. But now I make that decision having passed the initial discomfort of starting. Usually, I stay up.
The cost of not starting
The next time you’re deciding whether to do a hard thing or put it off - whether climbing-related or otherwise - try starting. There’s a time to listen to your body in climbing and it’s after you’ve passed the initial discomfort of getting moving.
Over a lifetime or climbing career, this simple rule leads to a lot more challenge and growth. It leads to a lot more saying “yes.”
Many years ago I heard an interview with climbing legend Dean Potter (I don’t remember where, so I’m paraphrasing here). The host was asking how Dean had managed to accomplish so much in his climbing career.
“You know how when you’re camping in the winter and you’re in your warm sleeping bag,” Dean responded, “and you have to go to the bathroom but you don’t want to get out of the sleeping bag because it’s so cold outside? Most people hesitate for a long time and think about whether they should do it. I just get up and pee.”
Written by Remy Franklin | www.remyfranklin.com | @remyfranklin
