When it's been a long day of climbing, and I feel like I can't go any farther, I concentrate on the next three feet. And then the next three feet; and then the next three feet. Pretty soon, I'm at the top.
Interpretation
Focus on small, manageable steps to achieve your goals.
This quote by Royal Robbins emphasizes the importance of breaking down challenges into smaller, achievable tasks. When faced with overwhelming obstacles, concentrating on incremental progress rather than the entire journey can facilitate eventual success and lead one to their ultimate destination.
In practice
During a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
My ambition was to become the best climber and I never did. I think that goal was a wrong goal. A better one is to put more emphasis on enjoyment and on getting a rounded experience and on things like friendship, rather than on sheer achievement.
The terrible thing about free soloing difficult routes that are within one's capacity, is the chance that faced with ultimate danger and need for ultimate self-control, one's nerve might fail and cause an error. That's irony of it - that fear could short-circiut skill, that one would die as a direcy result of being afraid to die.
Let your joy be in your journey, not in some distant goal.
I look at it as a challenge, ... I'm not going to put too much added pressure on myself. I want to play in the NHL, and after that [happens], I can worry about things beyond that.
Enthusiasm is contagious, and the person who has it, under control, is generally welcome in any group of people.
Most bodybuilders only have a hazy notion of what they want to look like. They do not say, 'I am going to be a winner.' The negative impulses around the gym can be incredible. I would hear bodybuilders complaining, 'Oh,no! Not another set!' That destroyed them. I have always believed that if you're training for nothing, you're wasting your effort!
If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.
I tell people, 'I was born in a little house at the dead end of a dirt road that had no name and no number, and you can go anywhere from nowhere.'
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.