Magic Mantra: What made it “click”?

Curious to hear what mantra or mental triggers many of you have had throughout progressing.

For example, my friend told me he thinks “I don’t care what happens or how bad anything hurts I’m not coming off this f$&@!ing rock!” before an attempt. I’ve adopted a bit of this reckless abandon with my more techy approach to moves and have noticed a bit more try-hard unlocked.

For a while I was on a “think light, feel light” kick. Maybe just my mind, but I can remember feeling ridiculously light and floaty for handfuls of sessions.

I also used to “zen out” sitting or standing, then focus solely on maintaining that feeling while climbing. Mixed results. In some cases I’d send ultra smooth, but some problems just require full activation.

Another mindset I developed was to deal with nerves. Instead of sketching on any tall boulder, I’d evaluate my fall distance from comparing my foot position in relation to head-height. I’d look down and tell myself “ you’re only “X” feet above head height” and for some reason my anxieties would tend to dissipate.

Obviously focus can be heavily dictated by the nature of the boulder’s moves while climbing. But I am curious as to what overarching mental states or “mantra” people have found success or broken personal standards with.

What made it “click” for you?

I’ve recently began to understand that I’m going to send things at some point, so it doesn’t matter if it’s today, tomorrow, next year, or in 5 years. Moving out of a scarcity mindset is making climbing more enjoyable for sure. 

I agree that climbing becomes more “free” being in the moment rather than goal chasing. I now look at failing as an opportunity to try some good moves again, and that thought usually raises psyche a bit for me.

I agree with Bryan in moving away from scarcity - I surf quite a bit, so it's taken some conscious effort to move out of the "get on it while it's good or miss out" mentality that you have to have surfing (and I've been doing that for a long time). 

I also relate to your buddy - zen has it's place (again, the surf mindset rears it's ugly head), and I've been having a lot of luck with "just try hard!" 

kind of related but I like to sit under the boulder before I start and do two reps of flexing every muscle in my body as if I were deadlifting. I do this to a mental cue (mine is “core”), and plan to say the same cue (or have a partner tell it to me) during the crux of the boulder. I feel like being able to access that tension beforehand helps doing so during a hard move or sequence

Bob Chosswrote:

Curious to hear what mantra or mental triggers many of you have had throughout progressing.

For example, my friend told me he thinks “I don’t care what happens or how bad anything hurts I’m not coming off this f$&@!ing rock!” before an attempt. I’ve adopted a bit of this reckless abandon with my more techy approach to moves and have noticed a bit more try-hard unlocked.

For a while I was on a “think light, feel light” kick. Maybe just my mind, but I can remember feeling ridiculously light and floaty for handfuls of sessions.

I also used to “zen out” sitting or standing, then focus solely on maintaining that feeling while climbing. Mixed results. In some cases I’d send ultra smooth, but some problems just require full activation.

Another mindset I developed was to deal with nerves. Instead of sketching on any tall boulder, I’d evaluate my fall distance from comparing my foot position in relation to head-height. I’d look down and tell myself “ you’re only “X” feet above head height” and for some reason my anxieties would tend to dissipate.

Obviously focus can be heavily dictated by the nature of the boulder’s moves while climbing. But I am curious as to what overarching mental states or “mantra” people have found success or broken personal standards with.

What made it “click” for you?

Scrub the holds.

Kiss it, or kill it. Fuck it, or fight it....Its all the same

Living with Louie dogs the only way to stay sane. 

But really, my hardest best onsights are when I take the pressure off. Well, let's just get on this and see what happens. No need to send but I'll try hard! When the pressure is off it let's me relax mentally enough to onsight stuff I would spend many tries on. Kind of opposite of what you're thinking, works for me at least!