If you stick to the system, of methodically, incrementally stretching your comfort zone, you will likely know when you’re ready for the next micro-challenge. When you contemplate that next stretch goal/task, you’ll find that there’s a mixed sense of (manageable) fear and excitement and belief that you do have the capacity to pull it off.
Today’s (intended) stretch goal (besides all the stress I caused myself when I forgot my climbing gloves) involved one the exits to the route. There are two ways to get back down to the ground at the end of the #3 segment. One method has you climbing down off the rocks, fairly gradually – easy peasy, nothing new and nothing out of my comfort zone. And, then, there is the second option. There is this crazy ladder setup made of 4″x4″ wood post pieces acting as rungs, running straight down two cables, down over the rock face.
The cool thing was, because of all the other things I’d tackled, I was now psyched, no trepidation, to give the ladder a go. The thrill of nudging out your comfort zone, by gradually upping your competence, is addictive – you see such a rapid progression in your abilities, because you’re utilizing a systematic plan for easing your way to greater accomplishments, that you just want to keep tackling newer and bigger challenges!
The approach is self-reinforcing, because you win over and over and over again, each tiny success building on itself, until you find yourself doing things you couldn’t have even BEGUN to imagine just a short while before, when you started your new endeavor!
Read further on: Via Ferrata, Day 3: Snatching Victory
Smarter-Not-Harder U 