When people think of motivation, they think of a sparkling climber psyched to go to the gym every day who loves hangboarding and endless sessions. They often wish that they too could be so motivated. But the average climber, the everyday climber I prefer to say, arrives to the gym and feels a little bit meh most of the time. You probably have a job you aren’t a pro climber and balancing work and climbing can sometimes be hard. Which is why I have great news for you. Motivation is mostly useless anyway. I’m going to tell you why and what to focus on instead.
Motivation is overrated because motivation is like that fickle friend (like the sun in the Pacific Northwest) it’s great when it arrives and you love it but it tends to be temporary and fluctuates. Relying solely on motivation can lead to inconsistency in effort, performance and feeling good in order to train or improve your climbing. Motivation is not the wonderful magic that arrives and creates good climbers. It’s the other way around.
Focus instead on cultivating discipline, habits, and a resilient mindset to make a more sustainable foundation for achieving long-term goals. Motivation might initiate action when you have that caffeine boost of happiness, but it’s habits and mindset that sustain progress through challenges and setbacks. Stop worrying about being motivated and do these things instead.
Do It For Your Future Self
Motivation is like a spark that ignites action, but it can diminish over time, especially in the face of obstacles or monotony. First start by visualizing yourself in the future: where do you want to be? When you aren’t motivated, see that future climber or person and really feel it in your body. Close your eyes and say to yourself: this is why I’m climbing or training today, to be that person. What would that person do today? I am that person.
*Disclaimer: if you are at a point in your climbing where you are feeling kinda down and you arrive to the gym and when you aren’t motivated you force yourself to train even though you kinda hate it? This is an exception to this suggestion. In that case, I suggest trying to have fun instead. Don’t worry about training or even climbing at all…just try and have a good time, okay?
Discipline (eww)
In climbing mindset work, emphasizing discipline and habits proves more effective than relying on motivation, but discipline is a really gross word. It sounds terrible. Like getting slapped with a ruler or continuing to climb even when your tips are completely split and your biceps are literally tearing. That is not discipline.
Discipline does involve consistent effort, irrespective of momentary motivation levels. But establishing habits, rooted in routine, creates a more reliable path towards progress and can create discipline as a byproduct.
A resilient mindset acknowledges that setbacks are inevitable. Instead of relying on perpetual motivation, someone with a resilient mindset anticipates challenges and low-motivation days and persists with their efforts (climbing, training). This resilience enables sustained progress even when motivation wanes. Discipline is arriving to your session and not even bothering to ask yourself, “Do I want to?” because it’s actually irrelevant. “Am I motivated to do this?” is not a question people with discipline have. I mean, don’t overdo it and push yourself to your breaking point, but hopefully you get what I mean. While motivation has its place, it’s the deeper commitment, discipline, and resilient mindset that truly drive enduring success. Stop asking yourself if you want to. Avoid those thoughts and focus on getting to it instead. (Read on to learn how).
Stop Trying to Be Motivated
Habits serve as a powerful solution to motivation issues by providing a structured and automatic framework for behavior. Unlike motivation, which can be fleeting, habits operate on a more subconscious level. Once ingrained, they become a routine part of daily life, requiring less conscious effort and motivation to execute. Have you ever just gone climbing because you felt like you had to? Or just went to the gym or got outside because something in your body was pulling you to do so? Those are habits. Habits are fantastic and allow us to do things we don’t really want to do in the moment because we are just used to doing them, that we almost have to keep doing them. This is what we are aiming for, forget the gritting your teeth and getting it over with — we want to feel this internal pull, I have to climb today.
How to Create Habits
Consistency is crucial for long-term success. Habits create a sense of normalcy around desired behaviors, making them more sustainable over time. Habits are the pathway, not waxing and waning motivation.
Building habits involves repetition and reinforcement, allowing actions to become second nature. When faced with a lack of motivation, people who have cultivated habits can rely on the ingrained routine to propel them forward. This reliance on habit minimizes the need for constant motivation, as the behavior becomes almost instinctual. In essence, the power of habits lies in their ability to provide a reliable structure that can carry individuals through periods of low motivation, ensuring progress continues steadily, 1% gains.
Steps to Habits
- Make it easy
- Make it smaller if it’s not easy
- Set yourself up to do it with the right environment (#1 suggestion here: BUY a gym membership if you don’t have one)
- Remind yourself who you are/who you are becoming
- Do it at the same time every day/week
- Do it with a friend/partner
- Check it off on a fun sheet with colored pencils
- Reward yourself with something afterward
According to James Clear, the author of “Atomic Habits,” building habits involves focusing on small, incremental changes that compound over time. The key principles include making habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.
Firstly, make the habit obvious by incorporating it into your environment. This could involve placing cues or reminders in your daily surroundings to prompt the behavior. For example, if you want to develop a habit of reading, leave a book on your nightstand.
Secondly, make the habit attractive by associating it with positive feelings. Pair the habit with something enjoyable or rewarding to increase motivation. If exercise is the habit you’re developing, choose activities you genuinely enjoy to make it more enticing.
Thirdly, make the habit easy by breaking it down into small, manageable steps. Start with a task so simple that you can’t say no. Gradually increase the difficulty as the habit becomes more ingrained. For instance, if you want to establish a habit of daily exercise, start with a short, easy routine.
Lastly, make the habit satisfying by celebrating small victories and acknowledging progress. Instant gratification can help reinforce the habit loop. This could involve treating yourself after completing a task or acknowledging your achievements regularly.
It’s time to forget about motivation! Instead make positive behaviors a natural part of your daily life through small, intentional changes that accumulate over time. Build habits which deplete the need for painful discipline and then you will see yourself slowly morphing into the superhero climber you have inside.
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