How do you create a good climbing mindset?

Climbing is a pretty mental sport, and I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to make a good climbing mindset. I find myself doubting my abilities and comparing people to others which is pretty unhealthy… Does anyone have any tips on how to help with that? And it’s not a huge problem but I would like to grow my confidence and I feel like a better mindset would help particularly with climbing 

Nynxwrote:

Climbing is a pretty mental sport, and I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to make a good climbing mindset. I find myself doubting my abilities and comparing people to others which is pretty unhealthy… Does anyone have any tips on how to help with that? And it’s not a huge problem but I would like to grow my confidence and I feel like a better mindset would help particularly with climbing 

What have you tried so far?

Mostly just the positive thinking and dont compare yourself to others. It’s helped a bit but I’m wondering what else I could do 

Climb harder and become an egotistical maniac. Problem solved

Nynxwrote:

Climbing is a pretty mental sport, and I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to make a good climbing mindset. I find myself doubting my abilities and comparing people to others which is pretty unhealthy… Does anyone have any tips on how to help with that? And it’s not a huge problem but I would like to grow my confidence and I feel like a better mindset would help particularly with climbing 

This goes way beyond just climbing. Meditate.

Namaste

Focus on climbing beautifully- if you focus on this you don’t focus on fear or other distractions. Be totally in the moment and try and climb as smoothly and efficiently as possible 

Climb more.  Ignore any talk about grades, "climbing hard," "good style," red point, pink point, turquoise point, and pretty much 99% of anything you might read on the internet (except this, of course!), and just have fun.  I climb because I enjoy it - full stop.  It's freakin' fun!  I also have a very healthy safety margin built in, which makes it more fun for me. It doesn't sound like you've decided to climb for a living, so... be safe, and have fun!

i'd second the climb more notion - my best climbing mindset comes when i'm climbing a lot.  things get easier and flow nicely for the grade, everything from movement to thought processes become more dialed and smooth.  the background noise/stress/fear/etc. all get blunted quite a bit.  

The Rock Warrior's Way

Also take stock of who you climb with - are their motivations and mindsets aligned with where you want to be? 

Thank you!!! There is a lot of good advice here 

Big Redwrote:

Also take stock of who you climb with - are their motivations and mindsets aligned with where you want to be? 

Underrated comment. The vibes my partner gives off affect me much more than I originally thought. I had a  fearful partner for a long time and it held back my progress quite a bit.

weed?

The question is too vague, and too big, you really should examine much smaller aspects of your attitude, and set small goals, to work intentionally on just a couple of things you can identify.

For example, you say you want to improve confidence. What does that mean? Is it leading a route without rehearsing on toprope? Is it trying a harder climb? Is it approaching a new partner and asking to climb with them? Is it being the one in charge of planning the weekend trip, choosing crags to go to?  What do you think is holding you back? Fear? Fear if what? When people say they have fear of falling, for example, there are so many things wrapped up in that:

-fear of the free-fall sensation in the out of your stomach

-fear of getting hurt

-fear of losing control 

-fear of failure

-fear of embarrassment 

-fear of appearing weak to people who are watching

-fear that your friends/partners would think less of you  

They aren’t all the same thing, and how you approach them is somewhat different. Practice falls can’t help you with all of the above, but they can help with some things. If you can identify the biggest components for you, that’s a start.

Is there a climbing partner/friend who knows you well, and whom you can ask to be brutally honest with you, without sparing your feelings?  Can you ask THEM to name three things that, in their view, are holding you back the most? Can you accept those things as something you should work on, if they don’t line up with what YOU think?

Are you sure you really want things you say you want, and are you sure you want them for the right reasons? All too often I see people say that they want something (and they honestly believe that those are the things they want), but they aren’t REALLY willing to put in the work to get those things, because they want them in an abstract way. 

“i want to climb better” to a lot of people means “I wish I were climbing stronger”, but it DOESN’T mean “I’m willing to do whatever it takes, even things I don’t want to do, and don’t like to do, for as long as I need to, in order to see improvement”. A simple example: a guy who constantly complains that he has no endurance, and that is why he isn’t going to try a harder route outside, because there’s no point, without endurance… and then he goes back to running laps on autobelay, and up/down/up climbing, even though he’s been running laps on autobelay and up/down/up climbing for 10+ years, and it has never worked to get him the endurance he says he needs to climb harder outside… because (surprise!) he doesn’t actually need endurance, anyone who had spent any time with him knows that he needs some power, better lead head, and a lot more outside mileage. But… he doesn’t like bouldering, he doesn’t want to go outside too often, and when he does go outside, he doesn’t try hard. So he keeps doing the things he likes doing, not the things that he needs doing, and he keeps saying that he wants to get better… but his actions show that he wants to “get better”, but only if it can somehow happen when he just keeps doing the things he likes doing. And—- sorry, it’s never going to happen.

Ask yourself if this is you in some way. Do you default to doing the same things you’ve been already doing, because you are comfortable doing those things? There is nothing wrong with staying in your comfort zone. A lot of people say they want to get better because it’s a sort of default thing, you are supposed to want it… or maybe they are afraid that they would fall behind their friends who are getting better, and their friends wouldn’t want to climb with them anymore… But you can have fun just climbing. You don’t have to train, work on anything in particular, or get better. 

I miss the pre-social-media days, it was easier then.

In the 2000s I was in a very opaque bubble. Top roping a 5.7 was wondrous. Redpointing 5.12 was elite, and there were no bouldering gyms so "bouldering" meant going out with that one guy who had a pad (we only ever had 1 pad)  to try and climb dirty V5s with zero beta and a print guidebook with no photos, let alone beta videos. We literally never saw any other parties so there was noone to compare to.

I say... focus on the rock. And the environment. Let aesthetics and art, not numbers and acheivements, inspire your climbing.

Try to go out into the world blind like a babe. Don't even look at the name or the grade, climb what looks cool and interesting. 

Before parkour-style comp problems, we used to actually go out to the city at night and do real parkour - if you really need a reset, I recommend this, go and randomly climb things in the urban environment.

microdose psychedelics

Reflect on why you climb and what you want to get out of it.  

I climb to have a good time and/or make memories with friends. I don't need to impress my friends, and they don't need to impress me. Make climbing a team sport, where the success of one partner is the success of the other.  Recognize that failure and adversity can foster strong bonds and fond memories. When you share that kind of experience with another person, you don't need affirmation from anyone else.

Something else that has improved my mindset has been embracing mediocrity (i.e., becoming a trad dad).  I would be content plateauing at 5.8 or 5.9 trad, because it still feels so adventurous and there are more classic routes up to those grades than I could ever dream of climbing in my lifetime. "Success" and "Improvement" can mean so much more than simply progressing through grades and getting clean sends.  It can mean dialing in your systems.  It can mean learning a new niche skill.  It can even mean simply making it back safely.

Focus on the rock! Like others said climb smooth and concentrate on climbing effortlessly.  Don’t worry about numbers…climb for fun and to be out in nature. We pray before climbing as well.