How will you climb your wall?
“Just reach up with your hand and your foot will follow.”
A newbie rock climber, I was a little nervous about the last part of our adventure.
We were in Costa Rica, and signed up for a ziplining experience. It started as you’d expect…being attached to the zipline with a harness, flying through the jungle. The views were amazing, and the whole experience was thrilling.
But the last part. That was different.
We were expected to rock climb up a wall to get back to basecamp. The wall was covered with artificial holds - the kind you’d see at a climbing gym.
No one in my group had done something like this.
“You’ll do fine”, our guides told us.
And you know what, they were right!
In this case, our experience wasn’t like what you’d get in a rock climbing gym. Sure, we were harnessed in, with a guide as our belayer.
But what made the experience different was our guide helped pull us up!
We did find the holds with our hands and feet, but we didn’t need to push up ourselves at all, and in some cases we were pulled up so fast we couldn’t even grab the holds.
Is there anything in your life that guarantees your success like this?
In the case of my Costa Rican rock climbing experience, our guides, through their approach to belaying, effectively guaranteed our success.
While this may be more extreme assistance than we usually want, this same principle can be applied to any of our own personal or professional goals.
A mentor of mine once told me that the most important part of his job was to create systems to guarantee the team’s success - or sometimes prevent our failure.
Whether we’re leading others or leading ourselves, it’s interesting to think about what it looks like to put systems in place to guarantee our success. Sometimes it’s little things - doing a daily stand up supports transparency and accountability and a no junk food in the house rule reduces mindless snacking. Sometimes it’s bigger things - corporate incentive structures that drive behavior choices or selling your car to create a nest egg for your new home.
As you think about the goals and aspirations you have in your life right now, consider these tips to help build systems to ensure your success:
Rules
When we have guardrails around our decisions, it becomes much easier to do the thing that aligns what we’re hoping to achieve.
Have a goal around spending more time with your family? Perhaps rules around when to stop working, turn off technology, or how often you travel will ensure your success. Maybe you want to write a novel this year. Rules around how often and how long you write every day could provide the structure you need to get it done.Accountability
Sharing our goals and progress with others is a great motivator. When we know someone else is going to have visibility into our progress, we’re often more likely to do the work we need to in order to move forward.
Is your work riding on the success of a big project? Sending out a weekly drumbeat update may help you ensure progress is made every week. Want to run that marathon this year? Joining a running club, with others who will see how far and how fast you run, may be the key.Help
Asking for, and receiving, help from those who have been on the journey and/or are positioned to provide the support we need to be successful, can help ensure our success.
Has someone in your network tackled a project similar to the one on your plate this quarter? Perhaps reaching out and learning what worked and didn’t work for them will help you build the right activities into your project plan. Looking to tackle the impostor syndrome that’s keeping you from stepping up in ways you know you want to? Working with a coach may be the key to unlocking your potential.
Many of us are looking at the new year and setting goals or intentions, both personally and professionally. If this applies to you, consider what systems you can put in place to help guarantee your success. Perhaps it’s building in rules to keep you on track, developing an accountability system, or asking for the help we need to achieve your goals.
What are you doing to guarantee your success?
As you think about what you need in your life to ensure you’re achieving your goals, have you thought about how coaching would support your success?
When you’re ready, book your free strategy session and let’s dig in.
How will you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
January 9, 2025
About the author:
Christina Von Stroh is a leadership coach who helps her clients become wildly successful by applying iterative software development practices to achieve their dreams. Want to work with Christina to help you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
Book your free strategy session.
