I have been coaching a great climber. He has been going through a long rough patch, trying to climb as much as he wants while also finishing a PhD.

It took me a while to help him understand that he should prioritise the thing with a deadline. Climbing will be there for as long as he wants it. The PhD will not wait. But in the background we were also trying to break a plateau he had been sitting on for a while, and that was quietly gnawing at me.

After I finished writing my framework, I reached out to one of the best climbing coaches I know of. I got lucky. He read it, we had a conversation, built some rapport, and I asked if he would be open to some mentorship. He accepted, and I was genuinely glad.

I was still thinking about how to write him an email asking for his thoughts on my climber's plateau when I woke up the next morning to a message that made me stop.

My climber had just sent his first 8a+.

I was ecstatic.

Not only did he break through the plateau, he sent a second one the following week. And his thesis was on track.

It made me sit with something I have been circling for a while, especially now that I am in my own rough patch.

Should you force things through? Or should you let them run their course?

Because I have always been the kind of person who wants to make things happen. Who pushes. Who finds a way. And I am slowly, with age, learning that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop pulling the rope and let it go slack for a moment.

A plant does not grow faster because you pull it upward. You water it, you give it light, you create the right conditions, and then you get out of the way.

Are you forcing things right now? Day in, day out, just because the plan says so? Or are you trusting the process and leaving room for something to fall into place on its own?

I am still learning the difference. But I think that is the point.

Well Done J.!