The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

spirit if we feel slighted. If we have not currently attained our goals, that is fine. We should not, however, interpret that to mean we have received less than our “entitlement.” The warrior rejects the very concept of entitlement. Entitlement thinking is passive. It sets us up to wait. If we feel we are entitled, we are less inclined to make a strenuous effort to achieve an outcome. Entitlement thinking also implies that we have more wisdom than we actually do. Do we really know what outcome would be most beneficial in the long run? Would we ever learn anything if we always received the outcome we thought we deserved? Personally, when I think about what I’ve learned in life, I am grateful not only for the comfort, but the setbacks and challenges that have made me who I am.
    Even though we’ve been discussing philosophy at length, the Rock Warrior’s Way is not about building up an edifice of abstract ideas. It is about developing a practical frame of mind that works for improving performance. The essential point I’m making is that if we lapse into a receiving mentality, as might be our habit in life, then performance suffers. We become passive and separated from the real situation. We focus on things we don’t have or that don’t even exist. The traps may be obvious when we consider the lure of shiny cars, diet drinks, or lottery tickets. However, the mentality spills over into our climbing and affects the way we think about the strength in our arms, the holds we use, or the gear we’d like to place.
    Things we don’t have can’t help us solve the challenge before us. Thoughts of unlimited forearm strength, bigger holds, or an extra protection bolt can only cloud reality, drain away attention, and make our progress more difficult. Instead of regretting what we don’t have, we can focus our attention on feeling grateful for what we do have. This makes us feel empowered. If we are glad to have this tiny edge on which to place a toe, glad for that cam ten feet below us, glad, even, that the rock in front of us is demanding rather than easy, then we feel rich. Feeling rich, we are ready to give—to give our best. This frame of mind wields power.
    Expectation
    It’s important to go into a climbing challenge with confidence. Overconfidence, however, shows a misunderstanding of, and disrespect for, the challenge. You are involved in a subtle dance with expectations. With rigid expectations about how you will perform, you don’t leave room for the process to unfold or for learning to take place. With no expectations, you may not hold yourself to the highest standard. It’s too tempting to take the easy way out if the climbing becomes uncomfortably strenuous. The key is to place your expectations not on a specific outcome, but on an attitude of possibility, effort, and learning.
    Expect that it is possible to do a climb, not that you will. When you expect to get up a climb, you’re engaged in a form of entitlement thinking. It is one thing to feel you are capable of doing a climb—that’s helpful. It’s another thing entirely to assume your ability guarantees a certain outcome. The moment you have the thought, “I expect to make it up this climb,” you project yourself into the future when the effort is over. This drains attention from the effort itself, reducing your effectiveness. Your effort is what’s important. It is your act of giving. Without giving, learning or growth is not possible. The exercise becomes rote and motivation drops. As you enter a climbing challenge, make sure you expect to make an effort.
    If you give yourself fully to the challenge, you can expect to learn something. Embrace that expectation. A learning expectation keeps motivation high because you will receive what you want from each step of the process, regardless of how hard the route is or how far you make it. With an expectation of learning you’re focused on gathering new information. Your attention stays focused in the moment, increasing your effectiveness.
    Routes near your limit offer the greatest opportunity for learning, but they become recipes for frustration if you have a results-based expectation. You expect to be able to climb them, having climbed this level before, yet this expectation drains critical attention. Since routes at your limit require all of your attention, skill, decisiveness, and commitment, anything less than 100-percent attention will likely cause a fall and frustration when your