Would You do the Castle Rock Stair Climb?
Most interesting to me is your first response. Not the one that you say but the first thing that pops in your head.
Something like?
“Oh Hell no!”
“Wow, that looks steep!”
“I wonder if I can do that?”
“That would be a challenge!”
That first inner response tells you how you are wired. More specifically I am looking at how entrenched you are in your comfort zone. People generally think of their comfort zone as being, well comfortable but often times it isn’t. It is a prison. Your comfort zone allows you to exist, although it may not really be comfortable at all. You know you need to change and a part of you wants to…but you just can’t seem to ever do it.
You become comfortable being uncomfortable.
So who is most likely to think ” Oh hell no?”.
I would bet you don’t work out regularly, don’t want to work out or you have a fear of working out. All very different things. The immediate reaction is an aggressive “No”. You don’t trust their body and you don’t want to go through the pain of the climb. This is something I find extremely interesting because a couple things are happening with your brain.
The reason I am looking at what your immediate response is because I want to know how you think at a primal emotional level. The is what neuroscientists call the Chimp or Monkey brain. It comes from the part of the brain responsible for fight or flight, strong emotions and immediate reactions to a threat.
A strong perceived threat equals a strong response.
But if you have never attempted the Castle Rock Stairs, do you really have an idea if it is hard or not?
After all, I could have taken this picture lying on my back to distort the height of the stairs.
What if everyone in the picture doing the steps were over sixty years old?
What if your friends that are in worse shape than you did it last weekend?
So the first part of the reaction comes from the primitive, emotional mind and it is doing this to protect you. The second part comes from the part of the brain that creates habits. You probably didn’t have to spend time evaluating the picture to determine you weren’t going to do the challenge. In other words, your emotional brain has created a habit for you to say no. The brain does this to save energy. You can’t stop and think about everything you do in life. It would be exhausting and would take a tremendous amount of brain energy. By creating habits, you can automate many parts of your life like driving, brushing your teeth etc…
In this case, saying no to potentially uncomfortable challenges is an ingrained habit. You don’t think, you just respond.
Obviously you can have good habits or bad habits. Do you know anybody who speaks before they think and they always end up saying things that are either stupid or inappropriate?
Usually they will say, “It just came out”. That is a habit.
The good news is that you can re-frame the situation buy just taking a second before answering. By taking this time you have a chance to change the habit.
“Wow, that looks steep!”
This is a much more hopeful response. You aren’t in but you also haven’t ruled it out yet. Clients that have an automatic repulsion to things outside of their comfort zone are very hard to coach. But the person that takes a second to consider this is more apt to try it.
You are now taking a second and starting to analyze the situation. It can go either way. “Okay, I will give it a try” or “Nah, too steep”.
Whichever decision you have come to, at least you have involved the logical or human part of your brain.
“I wonder if I can do that?”
This is the person I love to coach. You are open to possibilities and have gotten to a point where the risk and reward balance is favorable. Your human brain can now supply a list of reasons why you can do the steps.
“Just take your time”.
” You can take breaks”.
“All you have to do is keep moving”.
“You just have to do it one time.”
” I bet the view is amazing from the top!”
“That would be a challenge!”
You are locked and loaded. No doubt this has stirred your curiosity and you have enough confidence to give it a try. You have the ability to bypass your monkey brain that wants to stop you from trying anything that could hurt you.
In fact, you probably have a history or habit or taking these challenges head on. You don’t need a pep talk. If I am right, you are like me and thinking, “I bet I can do it five times”.
What is the point of this?
I wanted to showcase how different people can perceive the same situation. The Castle Rock Stair Climb is 200 steps. The reality is that kids, adults and seniors can do it. It is hard but very doable. Yet the people that need to do it the most, will talk themselves out of it.
Remember the saying, “The Rich get Richer”?
In fitness, the fit get more fit because we have geared our minds to open to challenges and we have embraced discomfort. There is no easy way to get in shape. You can spend the rest of your life and a good chunk of your savings chasing this dream. Reality is that people that make lasting change do it in their mind first, then follow through with their bodies.
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