Decisions Release Power
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Much power is wasted through indecision. In order to apply power effectively we must be decisive. Indecision comes from fear of consequences, whether that consequence is falling (situational / physiological) or failing (illusory / psychological).
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To apply power well, decisions must cut off all options except one: climb. If you have situational fears, such as fear of falling, then you still hold an option to down climb and not fall. If you have illusory fears, such as failing in front of your friends, then you still hold an option to stop moving if you feel you’ll fail. These options must be cut off in order to have attention fully committed to climbing. With only one option, decisions release power so you can fully commit it to climbing.
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You can improve your ability to cut off such options by gaining experience. You can gain experience with situational fears, such as falling, by practicing falling. You can gain experience with illusory fear, such as labeling an outcome as a failure, by seeing each outcome as necessary for learning.
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On Gilgamesh I assessed the consequences as being yes-fall zones. I had plenty of falling experience with the type of falls I would be experiencing. I also acknowledged that this would be a long learning process. There would be no failures; each outcome would provide information that I needed for making progress. And, success would be ever present as I learned new subtleties from each effort.
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This Post Has 2 Comments
There are climbs where the only correct decision is to climb and where better outcome is obtained by eliminating thoughts of other options. But there are other decisions needed to be made on other climbs. That’s why they are decisions, because other options not only exist but are the correct ones in some circumstances. It may not be efficient to keep a track of a storm headed your way, but on a long trad climb to an exposed peak it is wise to do so, and to bail a fair amount of time before the lightening strikes. Concentrating only on a single outcome of a thought process as positive eliminates the thought process, but not all locations are yes-fall zones, and not all other thoughts are inappropriate.
Very true Marta. In these series of lessons on power, I’m only looking at all this in a general way, and using a yes fall example, my project Gilgamesh, to frame it. Thanks, Arno