EP 135: Alice Hafer — How to Train Your Mind Muscle, Tips for Staying Motivated, and Box Jumps for Power

Alice Hafer is a climber, writer, and coach who specializes in mind power training. We talked about climbing her first 5.14s, her experiences with depression and anxiety and how she changed her own mind through mental training, finding an identity outside of climbing, tips for staying motivated, focusing on effort over outcomes, and using box jumps to train for climbing power.

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Show Notes:  

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/alice-hafer

Nuggets:

0:05:35 – Perfectionism in writing and interviewing

0:09:30 – What Alice learned from her friend Brad Gobright

0:13:05 – Using second-tier routes to stretch our comfort zone

0:14:07 – “Fear is a signal that you are becoming a better climber.”

0:16:45 – Getting covid twice in three weeks

0:18:03 – Setting boundaries for ourselves, and reaching our higher selves

0:20:27 – What expectations are

0:21:05 – Patron question from Ryan: Can you share a favorite story about Brad Gobright?

0:26:51 – Alice’s climbing journey, getting sick after her trip to Madagascar, her dad’s stroke, and carrying emotional weight

0:34:23 – How her relationship with climbing has evolved, and seeing Brad’s passion for climbing

0:37:00 – Pro climbers aren’t always sending, and passion and motivation

0:39:42 – How Jonathan Siegrist stays psyched, thinking smaller within our constraints, and pivoting

0:45:34 – Living in the UK, and being most comfortable with what you spend the most time doing

0:49:33 – “Who am I outside of climbing?”

0:52:31 – Finding a new identity, and Alice’s experience with depression

0:58:35 – Detaching your identity from whatever you are dealing with, and changing your thought and behavior patterns

1:02:42 – Examining the three biggest beliefs you have about yourself, and valuing the climbing experience

1:05:18 – Neuroplasticity, and rewriting our self-beliefs

1:12:12 – Focusing on process over outcome

1:15:55 – Climbing matters

1:18:15 – Exposing yourself to new ideas, and saying “stop” to negative thoughts

1:22:07 – “I have plenty of time.”

1:23:55 – Setting clear and small goals, letting go of perfectionism, and giving ourselves permission to fail

1:36:06 – Awareness, pausing, and intervening

1:41:18 – Struggling with belonging, finding supportive friends, and putting your best effort forward

1:46:03 – The