Are Rock Climbers More Successful In Business?
You might think that rock climbers are more successful in business, “That’s an odd question”. Sure, I agree. But even if you’re not a rock climber, please don’t go away because there is a point worth sharing here.
Transcript
I have an odd question for you. Are rock climbers more successful in business than other people?
You might think that is an odd question. I agree! But even if you are not a rock climber, please don’t go away because there’s a point here.
But first I want to share a quick story. One might say that as a teenager I was moderately athletic – not too awful, but certainly not great. Rock climbing intrigued me because it requires four different things. It requires
- Strength
- Endurance
- Strategy
- Psychology
When you’re hanging in there on that wall with a whole bunch of air underneath your bottom, you’ve got to keep it together and say to yourself, “You can do this.!”
It strikes me that the same thing is happening in business. Yes, there are times when we need to be strong and get through a hard time while dealing with a difficult situation.
At the same time, business is not usually a sprint. It is a marathon, and that means endurance.
What about psychology? Oh boy. Well, it’s all about mindset. How do we deal with things? What opportunities do we see? What do we pursue? What do we procrastinate about? The list goes on and on.
Finally, strategy is also very important. In rock climbing, you look at a natural rock. I like natural rock way better than climbing in a rock climbing gym with color-coded grips. Climbing on natural rock means you have to see the grips. You have to see the holds. You have to form a sequence in your mind. In what sequence are you going to grab them or stand on them? How are you going to step up?
By the way, in rock climbing, generally, you want to step up, not pull yourself up. Sometimes you have to, but you want to step up as often as you can because your leg muscles are much stronger than your arm muscles. That points to the principle of keeping it as easy as possible. Some people call that easology.
If you are constantly pulling yourself up, your arms are going to get tired, and eventually, you might fall off. Not good. Now you have a rope to catch you.
In summary, rock climbing and business both require strength, endurance, psychology, and strategy. Have I gathered some statistics on whether rock climbers apply those four skill areas in business and hence are more successful than others? No, I have not. But I think the analogy is worth thinking about nonetheless.
To repeat the four things are, strength, endurance, psychology, and strategy. The order of what you need most changes over time, but generally, they’re always in play.
I’m Curious
What are you getting out of this analogy? Please share it with me.