Coaching in Motion : Resources

Article: Chunk it Down

I fulfilled a long-term goal of climbing Mt Rainier. I had been interested in mountaineering for years but was having difficulty committing to climbing an actual mountain. The thrill, risk and adventure were appealing. However, fear, discomfort and pain, not to mention the possibility of falling into a crevasse kept me rooted to the ground. I signed up for a guided climb with Rainier Mountain Guides and lucked into a last minute spot. It turned out to be one of the peak experiences of my life.

Staring up the towering snowy, white mountain, I could not even imagine climbing to the top. How was I, a small, somewhat in shape, woman who had only seen such things as crampons and ice axes in adventure films, going to get up that gigantic piece of rock? Every cell in my body said “no way!” When I stood at the foot of Mt Rainier, staring at the summit, 14,410 feet up, it seemed impossible to imagine that I could ever climb to the top.

Everyone has her own personal mountain, a challenge that may seem insurmountable. Losing weight, writing that book, starting a business, even cleaning a closet can all seem like daunting tasks when looked at in their entirety.

Give Your Gremlins a Job (or a Vacation)

Looking up through the clouds at the summit of Mt Rainier I could barely hear my teammates voices because my gremlins were yelling so loudly “no WAY can you climb this! You’d better pack up and go home now because there is just no way you are ever going to get to the top of that thing!” My gremlins love to make sure I know of all of the reasons I can’t, shouldn’t or won’t succeed at whatever it is I am trying to do. The trick is to distract them. One way to do this is to send them on a vacation. Preferably with a one way ticket. However, if your gremlins are ingrained with the puritanical work ethic, as mine are, giving them a job might be more appropriate. I suggest something that is time consuming and requires diligence like counting the number of laundry dryer sheets or scrubbing the entire house with a toothbrush.

Chunk it Down

The trick to tackling, what may seem like an insurmountable task, is to “chunk it down”. It would have been impossible for me to climb Mt Rainier in one fell swoop. I would have started out full of energy, bull dozed ahead and then burnt out quickly. Staring up at 14,410 feet of mountain and trying to even comprehend climbing it would have been just too much to process. What I soon learned, from our guides, was that the way to climb the mountain was by breaking it down. First we broke the climb down into two day segments. Then, we broke the climb to the summit into hourly chunks. We would climb steadily for an hour and then take a break. During the climb, I didn’t look up at the summit. I didn’t allow myself to think about how much farther I had to go. I stayed focused on each step, knowing that if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, I would make it until the next break.

Just like I reached the summit by chunking the mountain down, breaking a project down into small sections, makes it manageable to attack.

1) Look at the project as a whole

2) Break it into natural segments (chapters, subjects, chronologically)

3) Now look at each smallest section by itself. This gives you a framework to work with.

Scheduling: The Myth of Time

One of the biggest challenges people face is time management. “Where can I find the time?” seems to be the most common dilemma. We all have so many obligations, tasks and duties pulling us in all directions. Between work, family and household duties, who can find time to get anything done? The trick is in how you use your time. Time to work on your project must be clearly scheduled.

1) Get out your calendar, planner or palm pilot and write down when you plan to work on your project. What time of day works best for you? Morning? Night? Consider when you feel sharpest, most productive, most energetic.

2) Look at the segments you chunked down and decide what you want to work on and when.

3) Make sure you schedule the time you will start and the time you will end. This is very important in order to avoid burnout. Just as I took scheduled breaks on my climb, it is essential to specify when you will begin your work periods and when you will end. Make sure to schedule breaks as well. Decide how long your breaks will be and schedule a start and stop time.

Take the Easy Route

Where to start? Beginning a project can be challenging enough, why make it harder on yourself? When you are feeling stuck or don’t know where to start, go with your instinct. Look at the whole project. What interests you? What’s the most exciting part? What are you pulled towards? Instead of making your work a chore, go with the part that seems most fun or easiest. Chances are what seems most difficult today, will seem more manageable later on. Once you move forward in one section, other sections will become easier to work with.

Reward Yourself

Not only is it important for you to specify rewards to give yourself for all of your hard work, it is essential that you schedule them. Just as you took out your calendar and wrote in specific work times, make sure to plan your reward times. What rewards are most appealing to you? A massage? A weekend away? Your favorite take-out for dinner? An hour of quiet time? (Make sure your rewards are something you really want, not something you should have or something someone else wants you to do. These rewards are for YOU).

It is important that rewards are: 1) Scheduled 2) Something you will look forward to

Get Support

Not only would it have been exhausting, overwhelming and intimidating for me to attempt to climb Mt Rainier alone, my chance of success would have been slim. Aside from safety, what actually helped me get to the top was support from the guides and my teammates. I had been climbing straight up for seven hours, and I knew I was close to the top, but for all I cared, I could have been days away from the summit. All I wanted to do was stop. I sat down on a rock, staring up at the summit, which was hidden from view, and thought, “This is far enough. I thought I wanted to climb to the top of this thing, but I am exhausted.”

My gremlins immediately chimed in (they must have hitched a ride up the mountain when I wasn’t looking) “Yeah, this is far enough. Who needs to get to the top anyway? The view is just fine here. It’s not really going to get any better. Who cares that you’ve been climbing for seven hours just to get this far?” One of the guides gave me the once over and picked up her pack, “Let’s go. You’re going up”. As much as I wanted to shout “No! Let’s just stop right here” I knew that I wanted to reach the top. Knowing that she had faith in me and that she knew I had the ability to reach the top gave me the boost I needed to keep going.

Enlist the support of friends or family, team up with a friend or hire a coach. Whatever you do, enlist someone who you know will support you in your goal of completing your project. When you are about to embark on a particularly difficult piece of work, call your cheerleader. Tell them how much time you plan to spend working on this difficult piece and that you will call them at the end of that time to check in. Let them know that this is a particularly challenging piece and you need their support. This gives you a specific time frame in which to address a difficult piece of work. Enlisting support from someone else takes you out of isolation. You give yourself a great gift when you voice your need for support and allow yourself to receive encouragement. Practically speaking, people move forward more quickly when they get support from others.

After ten hours of climbing, I reached the summit, alongside my six teammates and two guides. My experience of climbing Mt Rainier showed me that almost any overwhelming task is just like climbing a mountain. Whenever I am faced with a challenge, I think about climbing Mt Rainier and remember all of the pieces that helped me to get to the summit.