Doing things the hard way is stunting your growth (try this instead)

Do this to increase your learning speed by 500%.

After a lifetime of hoping to one day stumble in a book that would COMPLETELY change the way I thought about my life…

I finally found it.

But, it’s a movie.

If you’ve never watched The Alpinist,
it’s a movie about Marc Andre LeClerk.

At the peak of his career, LeClerk (25) free solo’d, on sight, Patagonia’s Torre Egger during blizzard season.

(That is, he summited a bigass frozen mountain...except there were no ropes to catch him if he fell. One mistake = death.)

To give you some idea of how insane that is…

Imagine that you’ve been tasked with climbing to the very top of the Empire State Building.

You aren’t allowed to use the interior or the stairs, or an elevator.
You must climb the outside.

You’ve got shoes and stuff…

But no ropes to catch you in case you slip or make a mistake.
You aren’t allowed to practice…

There’s no team to save you, no help coming.
You get no cellphone in case things go wrong.
And it’s the dead of winter.

Part of your route is covered with slippery ice - sheets of frozen waterfalls that could break if you put just a little too much pressure on them.

Part of the route is covered in snow.

In other parts it’s wet and melting.

And once you make it to the top of the Empire State Building…

You discover that there are actually 5 more Empire State Buildings stacked on top of the first.

Each of these will need to be climbed.

If you get to the very top, you aren’t helicoptered down.

It’s up to you to find a way home safely before the next storm hits.

That’s roughly the scope of what we’re discussing here today.

Now of course, people do remarkable things all the time.

But what makes LeClerk so fascinating…is that he seemingly did all of this without strain.

When he climbed, he wasn’t there to push through the limits of human endurance or whatever.

In his words he was there to “cruise around and have a good time”.

So what looks like death defying dark sorcery to everyone else,
Actually just feels like a relatively chill time to him.

What I find fascinating is that his insane level of performance is rooted in this philosophy.

He just consistently cruised around having a good time…and then eventually, he was doing something other world class climbers thought was impossible.

But this is very different from the philosophy that you hear from the “success gurus” out there.

Hustle culture is practically a cult.

Especially among immigrant communities.
“If you work harder and for longer, eventually you’ll be the best.”

But here is Marc Andre LeClerk.

In bold defiance of natural law.

And while there’s no way in hell I’m going to start free soloing…
(I’m certain I would get concussed and die immediately…)

I’m beginning to think it’s possible…
to perform instinctively and naturally at a world class level.

I’m beginning to think that maybe monumental achievement
doesn’t need to be a tireless grind and struggle.

That maybe it could be a smooth, effortless flow.

Maybe it could be…heaven forbid…fun?

So if that’s a real possibility…
I want to become a living proof of concept.

So how do we become effortlessly superhuman?

For the roadmap, I’m going to borrow from Vincent Do.

He talks about challenge as a series of zones.

You can think of green as something you could do easily and consistently.
Red is something that is so scary that trying it feels like you’re about to die.

Which brings us to the value of yellow.

Yellow is the zone of sufficient challenge.
It’s not so easy that you’re bored and disengaged.

And it’s not so challenging that you’re almost too scared to even start.

Yellow is the zone of flow.
And my goal is to start playing in the yellow, until it feels green.

At which point I’ll expand my scope again.

The benefit of flow is that you learn 5x faster.

So in theory…you’re busting through your limitations 5x faster than the guy who’s always trying to hang out in red.

If that’s truly the case…

Then everything we’ve been taught about growth is wrong.
The guy who’s throwing himself into the fire, beyond his means, is actually stunting his growth.

You don’t actually need to wreck yourself to perform at your best.

In fact, the secret might be to calm down a little.
Looking at you, Crossfitters.

Marc Andre is the definitive proof that I needed.
Maybe…it can be done.

Over the next few months I’ll be applying this theory to all areas of my life:

• Growing a coaching business

• Being a better romantic partner

• Learning to produce better content

• And of course rock climbing…

The places where I succeed? I’ll write about them here.
The places where this theory does NOT work? You guessed it. I’ll write about them here.

And if you decide to take on this yellow flow challenge for yourself…
Keep me posted. I want to see what difference 5x learning makes in your life.

And if you got something good from this post, don’t hesitate to let me know by liking, commenting, or subscribing to this Substack. That’s the best way to vote for what kind of content you wanna see from me in the future.

Take care and journey well,
We’ll catch you next time.

-R