I wanted to take a step back and summarize what I’ve learned so far through this practical test of my theories, and start thinking about next steps, moving forward. For now, it’s pretty much a bullet-point list of what I know, but even creating something new has to be done in incremental baby-steps!
KEY PRINCIPLES:
Make a plan
What do “they” say – “Failure to plan is planning to fail!” The illusive “they” couldn’t be more right! The competence-confidence PLAN underpins rapid and massive success.
Make sure the plan is methodical, first things first
The plan has to lay out a logical progression of subtasks, from easier to progressively harder, and then working through it in a first things first kind of fashion.
Make sure the plan is incremental
The plan has to be executable in an incremental fashion, one step building on the previous.
Making yourself only comfortably uncomfortable, no more
Those incremental steps have to be built to push your comfort zone in a comfortably uncomfortable fashion, which means each step has to be big enough to push out your comfort zone, but small enough to not blow it out completely.
Build repetition into your plan
You have to stick with each step of your plan, repeating each segment, until you’re really comfortable with tackling the next micro-stretch goal of your plan.
Hold as many variables constant as possible
It’s good strategy to limit the number of new variables that you must attend to at any given time. Your brain can only attend to limit number of new stimuli. If you throw too much at it, it can lock you up, stress you out, close you down, and throw you solidly outside of your comfort zone, effectively stopping all progress towards your desired outcome.
Be aware that you will have to adapt on the fly
Know that you’ll need to pare back or bump up your next planned incremental attack as your plan unfolds – if you’re more than 10-20% anxious about your next step, repeat what you’ve done so far, figure out what is causing you stress, find a way to sneak up on that stressor and work your way through it comfortably uncomfortably, until you’re comfortably comfortable, before moving on.
Restart each new training session by taking a running leap
When you come back at a challenge on a new day, it’s good practice to back up a little bit, and review the tasks you’ve practiced before, to build your confidence fresh before you go jumping into something new.
Recognize the cumulative nature of the program and anticipate the accelerated tipping point
It’s necessary to be patient with the program you laid out for yourself, knowing that there will be at a point where your progress, both your competence and confidence, will accumulate, and you will suddenly hit a tipping point where you will skyrocket to fantastically new heights!!
NEXT STEPS:
Thinking ahead to next steps? Once you’ve had the gut-level sense that you can rely on this methodology to stretch your comfort zone, you realize just how endless the possibilities. The question is, “How far do I want to go with this particular pursuit?” Because you realize you possess the keys to the entire, great big, magnificent world!!
For me, I still want to make a couple more passes at the challenging 5th via ferrata segment in Red River Gorge, so that I know, deep down, that I’ve really got that one! And, then, I want to tackle the 6th, and final, segment. After that, I’d like to make one more pass at Nelson Rocks, just to really soak up the experience, now that I’m familiar with it and comfortable with its challenges. Finally, there is a particular via ferrata route that I would like to do, to prove to myself, “You’ve got this, Renee” in the Alps, just outside of Chamonix, France.
Oooh, the fun that lies ahead!!
I did get back up to the Red River Gorge again, 2 months later – read about that experience at Via Ferrata, Day 6: Revisit
Smarter-Not-Harder U 