Climbing the Summit to Peak Performance
Recently, a friend of mine recommended that I check out the documentary Free Solo. The documentary follows Alex Honnold, a rock climber who is known for his free solo rock climbing. Free solo is when a climb is performed without a rope. It is, for lack of a better word, dangerous. The documentary centers around him scaling El Capitan in Yosemite Park, which is a 3,200-foot ascent. Honnold set the record for the highest free solo assent when he scaled El Cap. I strongly recommend checking out the documentary as well as his TED talk. There was an extraordinary amount of similarities that I noticed between Honnold’s outlook/climbs and working toward peak performance as a musician. In addition, there are many qualities that are life skills that I feel are worth pointing out:
Honnold free solo climbed the Half Dome at Yosemite (2000 ft) and described himself as being unsatisfied with the climb. He did not really prepare himself for the climb and had a spot where he felt greatly unprepared. He described himself as lucky. He was unfulfilled because he did not want to be lucky. He wanted to be great. I feel that the best performers in their craft feel the same way. They want to achieve an extremely successful level of performance rather than getting lucky at times.
Honnold did not jump straight forward to El Cap. He worked his way up to it. He spent the time investing in his craft, learning, and becoming one of the best at his craft. Over nearly eight years, he climbed the summit around 50 times with a rope studying every aspect of the accent, practicing difficult sections, choreographing how he would get through challenges, mapping out his plan, and visualized in great detail how he would achieve success. Musicians do this with challenging aspects of our music. We first go through the piece, identify challenges, break them down, work on how to develop them and the techniques needed, and work them to where we can achieve a higher level of performance.
He consistently related his rope climbs to his free solo climb. He treated his practice runs as performance runs, much like a musician should.
He had to overcome the obstacles of fear, strength, and injury. Yet, he never gave up. Even when he first attempted the climb, and he bailed because it did not feel right, he never gave up on the idea. It was an identification of him knowing his limits and was not ready. He kept working forward. That is a mentality that can push people to great levels of achievement.
He took what he loves most and made a career out of it. He followed his passion.
Instead of hiding fear, Honnold worked to expand his comfort zone. He did so by working through his challenges so much that he became comfortable with them. They were no longer challenges to him. As a musician, we do the same with our challenges. We work through them in order to achieve at a high level.
His mother taught him “good enough isn’t” and “almost doesn’t count.” He was raised to never accept anything less than the very best. It’s a mentality, the strive for perfection, performance, and excellence.
Honnold believes that most people in life are complacent with being cozy and happy with what they have. He believes that greatness is achieved by not being complacent. Top musicians live with the mentality that comfort is the enemy of progress. We are constantly pushing for that next level and achievement. How can we perform better? What is the next step? What work do we have to put in?
Honnard feels a performance difference when other people are watching or filming. He feels that added pressure. Others also worry that he might try something riskier because others are watching. Musicians, athletes, and others feel this too. We have to learn to perform with this pressure, and prepare for this kind of performance.
He believes that the free solo lifestyle is close to warrior culture. It is about giving your life to something, doing it no matter the cost, following your path, and pursuing excellence. Many musicians and people can relate to this idea. Instantly, I thought of many aspects of Japanese culture. There is a mentality of never doing anything halfway. In the music world, we see many phenomenal Japanese bands, orchestras, and choirs. There is a connection between the history of the warrior/Samurai and their culture of today.
While being a musician is not as life-threatening as scaling a Summit, it is incredible to think about the similarities. We all strive for high performance and perfection. We all have to have a strong mental capacity, know our limits, expand our comfort zone, and set ourselves up for success through practice. The key is that the work is put in to achieve at a high level and create success. There is no substitute for hard work.
