LITMIR.BIZ

       “You’ve gotta know yourself to grow yourself.” —Stephen S. Hall

      You have now figured out what your identity is and what your superpowers are to help you deal with failure, and you have planned for failure and scheduled your super-simple habits into your day. This is looking more like a process or a system than a plan, which is great, because it is more flexible and dynamic than a plan, just like life itself.

       What Are Your Values?

      Mercedes: Some of my values as an athlete are to show up, be on time, give 100 percent, be a good teammate, work toward mastery, and eat well. If I go against my values, I tend not to feel like I’m in the flow, and I can feel like an impostor. When this happens I review my values again, which helps me get back on track. Your values can be deeply hidden within the things that you want.

       Creating Identity- and Value-Aligned Goals

      Mercedes: This section is adapted from my previous book, Simple Strength.

      Choose a goal that matters. This is your outcome goal, so make sure it is achievable. Be realistic. Overall, goals should be meaningful, and should inspire you each day. Here are some examples:

      •Climb at the V6 grade in 12 months.

      •Climb El Capitan in the fall.

      •Hike the Pacific Crest Trail next year.

      •Do a muscle-up.

      Break each goal down into its most basic parts. Climbing at V6 requires better recovery, improved technique, an optimal strength-tobody-weight ratio, power, grip strength, mental training, and so on. With the parts identified, move on to step 3 from the earlier Creating Habits section.

      Use the 1 percent better rule. Choose process goals that will help you become 1 percent better each day to reach your end goal. For example, right now I lack recovery methods and training structure. But looking at my calendar, I see that I can easily train at the gym for two hours twice a week and climb outside on the weekends. I can build my recovery methods (protein shakes, eating five servings of vegetables, etc.) into what I eat and into my sleep ritual each day.

       Process Goals

      The cliché “it’s the journey, not the destination” couldn’t be more pertinent for mountain athletes. The nature of outdoor sports requires working around weather and environmental conditions. Or whether you are healthy enough or have trained enough to complete an endurance activity. In reality, you can’t control the end result. You can only continue to push forward, learn, apply, take risks, and keep the end goal in your sights.

      Prepare for failure (in a good way). It is inevitable that you will run into roadblocks, which is why it is part of creating new habits. The most important thing is not to punish yourself for it. Failures will happen, and each one brings you a step closer to success—but only if you plan for failure by acknowledging it and moving on. Use your superpowers here. Some examples:

      •If I miss a workout day, I can do a 30-minute grip strength session at home.

      •In three weeks I am going on vacation. I will make sure to take my greens supplement with me to get my daily vegetables in, and will take my traveling hangboard and schedule 10 minutes of finger strength each day while traveling.