I want to want to...

July 29, 2012 1:17 AM

What motivates you to start a new activity?

So, in my case, the activity is climbing, but feel free to substitute an activity of your choice.

I've always wanted to learn to learn how to climb, so a few days ago I went to an indoor climbing gym. I'm just not really sure I liked it. When I think about it, there were two things that make me trepidatious about going back. I wasn't really very good at it and I've been sore for three days in places I've never been sore before. Not really things I'm terribly eager to repeat, but presumably they will go away with time.

I still think it would be fun if I were good at it, and I also want to be a Person Who Climbs, but I don't know how to get from where I am (this isn't fun) to where I want to be (I'm good at this and it doesn't hurt, so now it's fun!). How do you find motivation to try new things when you don't HAVE to and there's not immediate gratification?

posted by Weeping_angel to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (13 answers total)

I went climbing the first time by accident: one of my co-workers said "I'm going to climb walls". By phrasing it that way she got my attention. So I went, and I had fun (expecting to be sore and having that expectation exceeded as well). The whole thing reached me because when you're climbing you get to do all kinds of things your parents warned you never to do.

You're not supposed to be good at something the first time you try it. The point is that the activity interests you for itself. Maybe you'd scale back from climbs that are difficult for you to climbs that are less difficult, or going from pumpy routes to technical, balance-y ones or vice versa, and find in those something that inspires you.
posted by jet_silver at 1:49 AM on July 29, 2012

Curiosity is a big driver for me. What is involved in learning this new skill, what new places will I go see, reading about the new activity, and so forth. Also I'm a bit of a data nerd, so finding ways to track progress and graphing them is a reward in itself for me.

I recently got back into bike riding for more than just grocery shopping and other short errand-running trips. Going to see new places that I'd never been was the motivating factor in actually getting out the door at first, then I bought a Cateye bike computer, and I've been storing my distance and average speed in a little spreadsheet where I can see my distance biked tick up little by little.

On the soreness part: you can take the whole "pain is weakness leaving the body" mentality, which helps a bit. ;) Personally I am a bulk purchaser of epsom salts. They're pretty cheap if you buy generic drugstore quart sized bags.

So for climbing I would do some research into areas around you where you could do a short climb and concentrate on getting some skills so that you could go out there with some friends. Bring a camera, document this cool new place you went, and relax and enjoy.
posted by lyra4 at 3:33 AM on July 29, 2012

Best answer: I've never been one to try my hand at new skills; I've always just stuck to what I'm naturally good at. In the past few months my boyfriend started hanging out with his uncle who is the president of a pool league, and so he started playing pool with him a lot.

For the first month or two I never played, I just watched. After a while I got bored of that shit so I picked up a cue and started playing. I was pretty bad at first and got extremely frustrated/angry/bitchy when I missed shots. But he kept playing and playing and playing so I did too, else I sit there on my ass and do nothing. After just a month or so of playing, now I love it, he's most likely buying me my own cue soon as a present and with a few months more practice I'm gonna start hustling the shit out of people =P

So my advice would be, find an activity that someone close to you loves, and spend time with them mainly when they're doing that activity. That might not be so helpful in your situation, sine you already have an activity in mind, but I'd say try and find a friend who loves climbing, or find a climbing gym that you love and try and make friends with a trainer or a frequent patron. Having a buddy will help you immensely.
posted by kansakwens at 3:59 AM on July 29, 2012

P.S. I was going to say if you happen to be in Toronto an amazingly nice friend of mine is a climbing instructor; but as you are in Phoenix, that doesn't help you much :(
posted by kansakwens at 4:01 AM on July 29, 2012

Climbing is great because it is easy to notice improvement, and it happens quickly. That said, it will probably take a lifetime to master. A YouTube search for "climbing technique" yields some good results.

Also, Tumblr is inspirational. Do a tag search on #climbing or #bouldering.
posted by backwards guitar at 4:41 AM on July 29, 2012

With all things in life that are in your best interest to do, yet seem unpleasant or tiresome: action comes before motivation. It's good that you already went once, I would try going at least a few times over the next couple weeks and then deciding if it's something you want to continue with.
posted by whalebreath at 6:02 AM on July 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

The best thing I learned in my 30s was that I could enjoy things I'm bad at. My 40s, that I could actually get better at them over time.

I don't think once is an indication. I look at being sore as a good thing - good exercise and it goes away in a couple of times.

I would do it four or five times before giving up. If by time three, you just DREAD it - stop going.

Of all my hobbies, I just hated pottery. Loved teacher, loved the center. Hated it. I pushed through the whole four classes, never going back. But glass flameworking, not that great at it but still love doing it.

But giving up after one try because it was difficult is going to keep your comfort zone very very small.
posted by crankyrogalsky at 6:05 AM on July 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

I learned to swim last year with the goal of doing a triathlon this year (finished first one last week!). I signed up for lessons at the local rec center and was just TERRIBLE at it. But, everyone was nice to me, I kept going to the pool and I kept my goal in mind all the time. I am not going to be the fastest or the best but I wanted to be able to swim gracefully and comfortably. It took a couple months to get the mechanics down.

I don't have a problem doing physical activities I am not good at. I try things for fun, to be outside, to learn new skills and maybe spend time with friends. I compete with myself and take joy in my accomplishments and try very hard to not compare myself to anyone else. Heck, I live someplace where Olympic athletes are common so comparing my abilities to other people would be a depressing and self-defeating activity. I have some friends who get competitive and that takes the fun out of things for me. Just run your own race or climb your own route or whatever motivates you to have fun and push yourself!

As for soreness, the first time I swam I used muscles I didn't know I had! That soreness stopped pretty quickly. Climbing is an excellent workout! Give your body a chance to get stronger. Don't stop doing something you might enjoy because it wasn't easy the first time. You might miss out on a really awesome experience.
posted by rachums at 6:17 AM on July 29, 2012

Things you're good at are more fun. You get good at things with practice and coaching. See if they have group classes; you might be less self-conscious with another beginner, and, for me, things are fun when shared.
posted by theora55 at 6:55 AM on July 29, 2012

Best answer: In running races you often see people with this on their shirts:

DL > DNF > DNS

Dead Last is greater than Did Not Finish is greater than Did Not Start.

I absolutely believe that. If I'm the last finisher of a marathon, I'm still a marathoner. I don't need to be the best (or even good!) to be proud of my personal accomplishment.

Get started. Get climbing. You're a Person Who Climbs now.
posted by 26.2 at 1:08 PM on July 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

What motivates me to start something new is generally a combination of boredom and (a slight addiction to) the incredible thrill of freedom and possibility--a sense that the sky is the limit!--that I get whenever I start a new activity, especially something I've never tried before.

What keeps me going when things get difficult (e.g. when it turns out that I'm not a natural at [whatever]; during the mundane, tedious, or routine bits that all activities have) is finding a community of others doing the activity at different levels (so I don't feel like a total n00b), watching and talking to people skilled at the activity (for inspiration), meditating a whole lot on shuhari, and trying to enjoy each part of the transformation from novice to intermediate to (eventually and hopefully) expert.

It's like knitting a scarf or building a DIY shed or cleaning really tarnished brass candlesticks. There's something really satisfying and amazing (and boring and backbreaking, too) to watch the process unfold. Like watching a garden go from seeds to sprouts to bushels of produce on your table in the course of a season.
posted by skye.dancer at 1:18 PM on July 29, 2012

As a not very good climber who has been climbing (indoors and out) for about three years, I have to admit that the first few times I went climbing, I was terrified and sore for days. I am generally afraid of heights so as you could imagine, I had a panic attack at about 10 feet off the ground, even though I was tied in and belayed by a very competent belayer. Needless to say, I kept going back and the soreness went away and the panic attacks (eventually) went away. The reason you were sore in places that you did not expect is because climbing uses muscle groups that no other sports utilize, so the more you do it, the better you will feel. I would suggest going back at least another couple times and see if you like it after 4-5 times. The thing that kept me coming back over and over was actually climbing outside, because it's much less of hauling yourself up the wall and much more of needing to figure out a problem with your body.

You might also try considering why you want to be "a person who climbs". Is it because you enjoy being outside and want to try something very difficult and rewarding? Is it because it seems that it's something all the cool people are doing? For me, a person who is very afraid of heights and not super strong, the rewards were much greater than the downsides, and I just can't seem to shake this sport. Feel free to memail me if you have any specific questions about getting into it as a woman, it is very much a boys club. I would also suggest going back to the gym and finding out if they have a women specific class where you can meet other women at your same level, having a friend at the same level as me in climbing has helped my moral and made me a better climber in terms of technique and pushing myself. It's hard to get excited when the other people you climb with are way beyond your ability that you can't even fathom the climbs they do. I know that was especially difficult for me in the beginning, watching my beau climb things that I could barely wrap my head around.
posted by ruhroh at 2:48 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm motivated by perfectionism. When I wanted to be A Person Who Knits, I taught myself and started small with little hats and things. Now I can knit lace and Fair Isle. I kept going because I know from experience that the satisfaction of becoming a Person Who Does X Very Well is very rewarding. This personality flaw (being a perfectionist) pushes me to reach the pinnacle of my ability in whatever I attempt. Luckily for me, most of the things I'm interested in are things I can always improve on, so it keeps me busy.
posted by xyzzy at 10:17 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]