Being "outcome independent", i.e. free from anxiety about the outcome is probably the greatest hurdle for learning and achievement I see commonly among climbers and people in general. A safe, guaranteed outcome is no achievement at all and keeps you from learning and growing. You have to be arrogant enough to keep trying but also humble enough to take in the lessons of each attempt. A bit of humor and self-deprecation is a powerful tonic as well. Thanks for the insight Dave, it is so great to see an elite-level athlete address these deeper topics.
Dave, I find your honesty and ability to talk about things such as your upbringing and schooling and how difficult these times were very refreshing and quite humbling. Thanks for the very insightful video.
4:40 That simple photo must be one of the greatest climbing photos in history. So much in context. Such a great composition, so valuable aesthetics. Trully worths 1000 words.
I think the experience of your youth is a very common one in the climbing world and perhaps one of the best aspects of climbing. It's a sport that rewards the gangly, the cerebral and the humble. So many of us didn't quite fit into team sports (particularly the rough and tumble ones) but found our physical confidence on the rock. I think that this has lead to climbing becoming a really beautiful and inclusive activity. Every gym I go to you can find people of every age, gender, race and orientation all having a great time trying to figure out what series of hand and foot holds will get us to the top of this bit of plastic. The thought of shunning someone for being a bit different doesn't really enter our thinking because the majority of us have been on the receiving end at some point in our lives. So let your freak flag fly and keep climbing weird! To your point about fear of failure, my mantra is a quote I first heard from a video of Leo Houlding trying The FA of The Prophet. "If it was easy, it wouldn't be hard"
That's great advice for facing the world in general. Its not easy but adopting a mind set that recognises that failure is just part of the process towards success, that's a powerful psychological tool for facing life's challenges. I need to start thinking in this way.
your videos have been helping me deal with serious depression and anxiety over the last few months. your calm and honest view of life is really inspiring - thanks for all your hard work
Whew... this is vulnerable stuff. Thanks for sharing this side of your life Dave. I can absolutely relate - I was also the picked-on kid until my 20's, terrible at all sports (except skiing/biking), but being so used to failing gave me an advantage as well because I just became comfortable with failure.
I typically proclaim before a redpoint burn (to the crag or anybody nearby) "It's now or next time!". If I'm really close to sending, I go with "It's REALLY now or next time!".
Hi dave, you should definetly give this series a name and label each episode accordingly. It will just help new viewers grab one of your epsiodes and then offer a clear incentive to watch the rest of them. Will also help with your current subs keep an eye on this series.
Interesting vlog. We were climbing in the wall yesterday next to a (non climbing) father belaying his teenager and just before the teenager started a climb the father kept repeating that the rope could fail, the belay device could fail, telling the teenager that falling off below a certain clip was dangerous. Clearly the parent was anxious but the teenager was leading 6b. We didn’t say anything but it was so hard to hear the father instilling fear into a teenager who was clearly a keen climber. I hope the teenager finds climbing partners his/her own age that instils confidence. I don’t think the parent knew he was installing doubt and fear.
Beautiful video, Dave. Resonated with my childhood. At a certain point I did “pick myself,” but am still having to re-learn that lesson. I, too, have struggled with depression and am grateful that you’ve addressed that as well. Thanks for your openness and kindness toward your community and indeed, the world. May you climb long and hard and easy for many years. God bless.
This definitely clued me into why some failure hurts and some failure feels part of a process. I guess if you really expected to succeed in the end the failure just seems part of a process but if you lack belief in your goal it just stings. I guess it really all comes down to belief.
I'm probably on the opposite side of you, the fear of failing is something I feel, and is something that probably doesn't allow me to try really hard at my limit, not only in climbing stuff. Failing when you don't give 100% is much easier.. But it's a pity :) I'm working on that, and you are a big inspiration, thank you!
WOW such an amazing feeling of being able to listen to you opening yourself truly about this topic, a very deep and personal aspect of your life influencing your climbing performance. So grateful for your sharing Dave. Will definetly listen to you some more in the future!
Very interesting to learn from you! What you're describing is exactly whay Angela Duckworth writes about in her book "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance"
Really appreciated the openness in this video. As well as outcome expectancy, I find that too much attention allocation to the outcome full-stop can be a bad thing, whether the expectation is to succeed or fail. A 'process' focus - identifying the smallest controllable variable and focusing attention on that has been shown to be much more effective in generating positive outcomes - reduced anxiety associated with failure and better skill execution - a more constructive use of energy. Coming from an endurance background here but I've found 'process' to be v effective in countering outcome anxiety and thought it might have some carryover! Once again, great video!
Your school years sound a lot like mine. Seems there's a lot of us that fled to the outdoors as a result. Did you ever make progress with the book you mentioned in this video? That sounds like a book I'd buy.
Dave, thank you for being open and sharing these experiences and lessons. I found this video very valuable and it has improved my mindset around climbing. Thank you.
David, Your an inspirational character. I'm an alcoholic. I climbed 7c+ and E6,in the 90s. How do I stop drinking. I climbed 7b this year but can not get back to where I was. Any advise. I drunk 7 pints and a bottle of rum last night. I should of got out today but the crags in Yorkshire are so busy it puts me off. I'm two bottles of wine in now.
I'm the same way, I've never had a fear of failing to do anything physical. I also didn't really come into training and fitness until I was in my teens, so I guess maybe there's some similarity there. I was the skinny nerd who trained myself into becoming a not so skinny nerd on my own. Not being into team sports made me used to thinking logically about failing. Instead I have a huge fear of falling that is sticking around despite taking hundreds of falls. So I have that going for me. Which is nice.
Well, were there any dry holds on the project?? :o Nice video and story. It's much harder to apply this to onsighting though - yes, other rock remains, other routes remain, but THAT particular route doesn't remain if you fail to onsight it, and often for pushing yourself on varied and specific UK trad (as opposed to some homogenous limestone sport), those single routes can be pretty special and hard to shrug off the anxiety for...
Sure but that anxiety does not serve you. So even if it is a special route, it is better to act as if it is not, to an extent. No it was soaking and I went home and went on my board.
Great video, thank you! Did you get hurt on the Kaluza Klein fall? (Leg/rope or is that just the perspective?) Did you do more sport climbing/bouldering or trad climbing at the start of your career and do you think the prevalance of trad in the UK helped you with the mental game of climbing from the start?
My leg caught in the rope and landed on my back, but thanks to my quick belayer it was just on the rope stretch so I was fine. I have done all types of climbing for my whole adult life. BTW, I noticed that you left a comment on my Game Changers video recently. I went to reply, but couldn't find it. Did you delete it?
@@climbermacleod No, I did not delete any of my comments in that thread. If you sort the comments by new, you can see my comment about the game changers debate with Joe Rogan if that is the comment you are talking about. I left other comments, for example in the thread from Simon Reichel and Susan Jacobson. You can all find them if you sort the comments by new. (they are not far down the thread.) I have to say I learned a lot about veganism/health/environment/livestock the last days, so thank you for that and you also changed my perspective slightly. I realized that a vegan world is not really possible (yet) if we are talking about the sustainability of food security in a growing/climate change world, since not all livestock land is arable. I still don't agree with your anti-vegansim/dismissal of it as "the worst diet" because you CAN be healthy with a well planned plant based diet (in this case vegan diet). I mean not every animal product user is healthy just because they eat animal products and they can also have deficiencies if they don't balance their diet. (western diet/no sport/no sun/etc.) Sure, it's a bit harder with a vegan diet to stay healthy and there is a lot of bad information out there but come on, in richer countries it's not a problem if you supplement some things and diet well, so maybe you can open your heart a bit more for your vegan fans out there. (I went vegan as a protest against the cruel practices in factory farming.) Thanks for your answer btw, means a lot! LEGEND! edit: th-cam.com/video/36GgVHtl9dU/w-d-xo.html (Video - Special Report on Climate Change and Land) & th-cam.com/video/4fR1tQv0MZQ/w-d-xo.html (Video - Special Report on the Ocean and Cryopshere in a Changing Climate) www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/11/20/1910935116 [Assessing the sustainability of post-Green Revolution cereals in India]
@@chillpurr275 Ok I'll have a search. Well I hope we can fight on the same side with respect to cruel farming practice. In my mind, the ultimate in animal cruelty is tilling and ploughing. It kills almost everything. The irony regarding opening my heart to vegans is that it is precisely because I have concern that I have felt its necessary to speak up on the issue. I have seen not only the scientific data but personally witnessed so many vegans slowly destroy their physical and mental health on the diet. There are exceptions, sure. But its the general idea that meat is bad for you that I object to being promoted since there is no evidence to support it and it clearly ends up in considerable harm for so many. The paper on the Indian food supply is interesting as a nice example of how the food industry and policy makers tie themselves in knots to avoid animal foods. Just improving the veterinary care to the level of the USA (where livestock contribute 3.9% of GHGs) would slash the GHGs in livestock farming in India. Mixing up the grain supply might provide more Iron. But it is not heme iron and it will not go far in solving the horrendous malnutrition in the Indian population. Moreover, many scientists attribute the Haber-Bosch process of using fossil fuels to fertilise mass grain production to have played a major role in causing population explosion in the first place. Trying to solve the downstream consequences by applying more of the cause is not a good strategy.
Regarding hard climbs: considering you send your 9a-s after a few months of training (or even 14 years) why don't you set yourself a 9a+ or even 9b project, as Jorg Verhoeven is doing ('Project 9b')? Is it the lack of ready availability (I don't know if Scotland has got a 9a+ or 9b)?
Its a good question with a few parts to the answer. First, My lifetime goal was to climb 8c. I thought I would maybe never manage it but did in my mid twenties. So I am already well past my super high goals. With that said, of course I never would just settle for any one level and always looking to improve. But for such high goals its important to consider your strengths and weaknesses. I've always been a very heavy climber and so struggle with endurance routes. So I thought Font 8C would be a comparable and perhaps more realistic goal than 9a+. And so I focused a bit more on boulders until I climbed 8C. But finally, yes we have a tiny amount of sport climbing compared to many other countries. There are only two 9as in Scotland (I have done both) and no 9a+ and so its hard to find any never mind one that suits you. Nevertheless. I'm sure one day I will have this as my goal.
@@climbermacleod Well, congrats on over-achieving then, long may it continue. A few things: 1) there's a line of thinking saying people get better at endurance as they age (in running for instance). If it is true (I have neither data nor idea), could it also apply to climbing? 2) then what about 8C+? 3) And last, surely there must be a few short 9a+, or even 9b? 4) last last, how about opening a nice little 9a+ or b for yourself in the glens?
Irrefutable logic about hard routes meaning that failure is part of the process. World class climbers in Sheffield are currently failing to try certain local projects that are clearly desperate but definitely possible.
Being "outcome independent", i.e. free from anxiety about the outcome is probably the greatest hurdle for learning and achievement I see commonly among climbers and people in general. A safe, guaranteed outcome is no achievement at all and keeps you from learning and growing. You have to be arrogant enough to keep trying but also humble enough to take in the lessons of each attempt. A bit of humor and self-deprecation is a powerful tonic as well.
Thanks for the insight Dave, it is so great to see an elite-level athlete address these deeper topics.
This is the video EVERYBODY needs to watch, whether they climb or not.
Dave, I find your honesty and ability to talk about things such as your upbringing and schooling and how difficult these times were very refreshing and quite humbling. Thanks for the very insightful video.
4:40 That simple photo must be one of the greatest climbing photos in history. So much in context. Such a great composition, so valuable aesthetics. Trully worths 1000 words.
"I pick me" and "Failure is temporary," an incredibly powerful ethos. Nice one Dave!
Love the openness. Encouraged to improve physically and mentally.
You are a national treasure Dave. Thanks for your continued wisdom and sincerity!
I think the experience of your youth is a very common one in the climbing world and perhaps one of the best aspects of climbing.
It's a sport that rewards the gangly, the cerebral and the humble. So many of us didn't quite fit into team sports (particularly the rough and tumble ones) but found our physical confidence on the rock. I think that this has lead to climbing becoming a really beautiful and inclusive activity. Every gym I go to you can find people of every age, gender, race and orientation all having a great time trying to figure out what series of hand and foot holds will get us to the top of this bit of plastic. The thought of shunning someone for being a bit different doesn't really enter our thinking because the majority of us have been on the receiving end at some point in our lives.
So let your freak flag fly and keep climbing weird!
To your point about fear of failure, my mantra is a quote I first heard from a video of Leo Houlding trying The FA of The Prophet.
"If it was easy, it wouldn't be hard"
Well said! 👏
That's great advice for facing the world in general. Its not easy but adopting a mind set that recognises that failure is just part of the process towards success, that's a powerful psychological tool for facing life's challenges. I need to start thinking in this way.
your videos have been helping me deal with serious depression and anxiety over the last few months. your calm and honest view of life is really inspiring - thanks for all your hard work
Incredible story and a master storyteller Dave. Inspirational stuff, many thanks!
Play this film in every school!
Without a doubt you explain these things better than anyone else in the climbing community.
I'm only seeing this 2.5 years after you posted it, but great message Dave -- a timeless message, really -- well done.
awesome video Dave, you're spoiling us with all these great uploads.
Whew... this is vulnerable stuff. Thanks for sharing this side of your life Dave. I can absolutely relate - I was also the picked-on kid until my 20's, terrible at all sports (except skiing/biking), but being so used to failing gave me an advantage as well because I just became comfortable with failure.
Cracking video Dave, can't believe this is the first of me noticing this one.
I typically proclaim before a redpoint burn (to the crag or anybody nearby) "It's now or next time!".
If I'm really close to sending, I go with "It's REALLY now or next time!".
I did not expect so honest, so deep and so open history. A true therapy!
Hi dave, you should definetly give this series a name and label each episode accordingly. It will just help new viewers grab one of your epsiodes and then offer a clear incentive to watch the rest of them. Will also help with your current subs keep an eye on this series.
Interesting vlog. We were climbing in the wall yesterday next to a (non climbing) father belaying his teenager and just before the teenager started a climb the father kept repeating that the rope could fail, the belay device could fail, telling the teenager that falling off below a certain clip was dangerous. Clearly the parent was anxious but the teenager was leading 6b. We didn’t say anything but it was so hard to hear the father instilling fear into a teenager who was clearly a keen climber. I hope the teenager finds climbing partners his/her own age that instils confidence. I don’t think the parent knew he was installing doubt and fear.
You are an inspiration to us all.
Keep sending it!
Beautiful video, Dave. Resonated with my childhood. At a certain point I did “pick myself,” but am still having to re-learn that lesson. I, too, have struggled with depression and am grateful that you’ve addressed that as well. Thanks for your openness and kindness toward your community and indeed, the world. May you climb long and hard and easy for many years. God bless.
Dave, you give climbing a new human level by just being human. Thanx for sharing , thanx for being there
This definitely clued me into why some failure hurts and some failure feels part of a process. I guess if you really expected to succeed in the end the failure just seems part of a process but if you lack belief in your goal it just stings. I guess it really all comes down to belief.
Yet another great insight. So open and honest. I find your videos really insightful and helpful. Keep them going.
Needed to hear this
I'm probably on the opposite side of you, the fear of failing is something I feel, and is something that probably doesn't allow me to try really hard at my limit, not only in climbing stuff. Failing when you don't give 100% is much easier.. But it's a pity :) I'm working on that, and you are a big inspiration, thank you!
Great video and advice!
WOW such an amazing feeling of being able to listen to you opening yourself truly about this topic, a very deep and personal aspect of your life influencing your climbing performance. So grateful for your sharing Dave. Will definetly listen to you some more in the future!
Love your videos, i think you're channel is going places!
great post, Dave! Your humility is admirable. Happy Tuesday!
Wow thanks Dave for talking about such personal stuff. It's awesome to see such openness on display ! Keep being awesome
Very interesting to learn from you! What you're describing is exactly whay Angela Duckworth writes about in her book "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance"
Great video, Dave. Thank you for this.
these videos mean so much to me!
loads of love from Vienna
Thank you, for sharing your insights.
I'm really enjoying watching these great videos!
Dave another great insight into how you see the world and your learning and your willingness to share with others. Thank you.
this is a great video, Dave. Very personal and down to Earth. I appreciate your honesty. Learned a lot.
So so so so so good
Great, I hope you had a good session.
Really appreciated the openness in this video.
As well as outcome expectancy, I find that too much attention allocation to the outcome full-stop can be a bad thing, whether the expectation is to succeed or fail. A 'process' focus - identifying the smallest controllable variable and focusing attention on that has been shown to be much more effective in generating positive outcomes - reduced anxiety associated with failure and better skill execution - a more constructive use of energy. Coming from an endurance background here but I've found 'process' to be v effective in countering outcome anxiety and thought it might have some carryover!
Once again, great video!
Your school years sound a lot like mine. Seems there's a lot of us that fled to the outdoors as a result. Did you ever make progress with the book you mentioned in this video? That sounds like a book I'd buy.
Dave, thank you for being open and sharing these experiences and lessons. I found this video very valuable and it has improved my mindset around climbing. Thank you.
Thanks
This is such an awesome video!
David, Your an inspirational character. I'm an alcoholic. I climbed 7c+ and E6,in the 90s. How do I stop drinking. I climbed 7b this year but can not get back to where I was. Any advise. I drunk 7 pints and a bottle of rum last night. I should of got out today but the crags in Yorkshire are so busy it puts me off. I'm two bottles of wine in now.
I'm the same way, I've never had a fear of failing to do anything physical. I also didn't really come into training and fitness until I was in my teens, so I guess maybe there's some similarity there. I was the skinny nerd who trained myself into becoming a not so skinny nerd on my own. Not being into team sports made me used to thinking logically about failing.
Instead I have a huge fear of falling that is sticking around despite taking hundreds of falls. So I have that going for me. Which is nice.
Great video Dave :)
A book on the horizon! Can I pre-pre-preorder?
Second this!
Well, were there any dry holds on the project?? :o
Nice video and story. It's much harder to apply this to onsighting though - yes, other rock remains, other routes remain, but THAT particular route doesn't remain if you fail to onsight it, and often for pushing yourself on varied and specific UK trad (as opposed to some homogenous limestone sport), those single routes can be pretty special and hard to shrug off the anxiety for...
Sure but that anxiety does not serve you. So even if it is a special route, it is better to act as if it is not, to an extent. No it was soaking and I went home and went on my board.
For sure. I'm still working on the "be inspired enough to commit" vs "be relaxed enough about the outcome"....after 20 years....
I love you Dave
Great video, thank you! Did you get hurt on the Kaluza Klein fall? (Leg/rope or is that just the perspective?) Did you do more sport climbing/bouldering or trad climbing at the start of your career and do you think the prevalance of trad in the UK helped you with the mental game of climbing from the start?
My leg caught in the rope and landed on my back, but thanks to my quick belayer it was just on the rope stretch so I was fine. I have done all types of climbing for my whole adult life. BTW, I noticed that you left a comment on my Game Changers video recently. I went to reply, but couldn't find it. Did you delete it?
@@climbermacleod No, I did not delete any of my comments in that thread. If you sort the comments by new, you can see my comment about the game changers debate with Joe Rogan if that is the comment you are talking about. I left other comments, for example in the thread from Simon Reichel and Susan Jacobson. You can all find them if you sort the comments by new. (they are not far down the thread.)
I have to say I learned a lot about veganism/health/environment/livestock the last days, so thank you for that and you also changed my perspective slightly. I realized that a vegan world is not really possible (yet) if we are talking about the sustainability of food security in a growing/climate change world, since not all livestock land is arable. I still don't agree with your anti-vegansim/dismissal of it as "the worst diet" because you CAN be healthy with a well planned plant based diet (in this case vegan diet). I mean not every animal product user is healthy just because they eat animal products and they can also have deficiencies if they don't balance their diet. (western diet/no sport/no sun/etc.) Sure, it's a bit harder with a vegan diet to stay healthy and there is a lot of bad information out there but come on, in richer countries it's not a problem if you supplement some things and diet well, so maybe you can open your heart a bit more for your vegan fans out there. (I went vegan as a protest against the cruel practices in factory farming.)
Thanks for your answer btw, means a lot! LEGEND!
edit:
th-cam.com/video/36GgVHtl9dU/w-d-xo.html (Video - Special Report on Climate Change and Land) &
th-cam.com/video/4fR1tQv0MZQ/w-d-xo.html (Video - Special Report on the Ocean and Cryopshere in a Changing Climate)
www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/11/20/1910935116 [Assessing the sustainability of post-Green Revolution cereals in India]
@@chillpurr275 Ok I'll have a search. Well I hope we can fight on the same side with respect to cruel farming practice. In my mind, the ultimate in animal cruelty is tilling and ploughing. It kills almost everything. The irony regarding opening my heart to vegans is that it is precisely because I have concern that I have felt its necessary to speak up on the issue. I have seen not only the scientific data but personally witnessed so many vegans slowly destroy their physical and mental health on the diet. There are exceptions, sure. But its the general idea that meat is bad for you that I object to being promoted since there is no evidence to support it and it clearly ends up in considerable harm for so many.
The paper on the Indian food supply is interesting as a nice example of how the food industry and policy makers tie themselves in knots to avoid animal foods. Just improving the veterinary care to the level of the USA (where livestock contribute 3.9% of GHGs) would slash the GHGs in livestock farming in India. Mixing up the grain supply might provide more Iron. But it is not heme iron and it will not go far in solving the horrendous malnutrition in the Indian population. Moreover, many scientists attribute the Haber-Bosch process of using fossil fuels to fertilise mass grain production to have played a major role in causing population explosion in the first place. Trying to solve the downstream consequences by applying more of the cause is not a good strategy.
Regarding hard climbs: considering you send your 9a-s after a few months of training (or even 14 years) why don't you set yourself a 9a+ or even 9b project, as Jorg Verhoeven is doing ('Project 9b')? Is it the lack of ready availability (I don't know if Scotland has got a 9a+ or 9b)?
Its a good question with a few parts to the answer. First, My lifetime goal was to climb 8c. I thought I would maybe never manage it but did in my mid twenties. So I am already well past my super high goals. With that said, of course I never would just settle for any one level and always looking to improve. But for such high goals its important to consider your strengths and weaknesses. I've always been a very heavy climber and so struggle with endurance routes. So I thought Font 8C would be a comparable and perhaps more realistic goal than 9a+. And so I focused a bit more on boulders until I climbed 8C. But finally, yes we have a tiny amount of sport climbing compared to many other countries. There are only two 9as in Scotland (I have done both) and no 9a+ and so its hard to find any never mind one that suits you. Nevertheless. I'm sure one day I will have this as my goal.
@@climbermacleod Well, congrats on over-achieving then, long may it continue. A few things: 1) there's a line of thinking saying people get better at endurance as they age (in running for instance). If it is true (I have neither data nor idea), could it also apply to climbing? 2) then what about 8C+? 3) And last, surely there must be a few short 9a+, or even 9b? 4) last last, how about opening a nice little 9a+ or b for yourself in the glens?
0:24 that's a beta stick. I have the exact same model.
I'm speechless at how fucking amazing this is. School is a jungle and traditional masculinity is pretty much useless beyond school.
Much love.
Dave "The World is Full of Rocks" MacLeod
👍👍👍
It seems a few climbers have a bit similar stories from the childhood, coincidence, probably not.
Irrefutable logic about hard routes meaning that failure is part of the process. World class climbers in Sheffield are currently failing to try certain local projects that are clearly desperate but definitely possible.
Another excellent video, and very much understood as my school years were exactly the same ,explains a lot, thanks for being totally inspiring.