Climbing routes have grades—ratings of difficulty. Grades act as a guide to get you on climbs that suit your climbing ability. While I’m not suggesting that a climb listed as 5.12c could feel like a 5.9 to you, grades are subjective.

As I talked about in last week’s post on Strengths, we all know that different people are good at different things; we all have our own little bag of tricks that we carry around. Because of this it can be difficult to come to a consensus about how difficult a climb actually is. You can ask 10 different people what they think, and while that will give you a general idea, you still won’t know how hard it will be for you. To answer that question, you’ll have to get on it. Maybe the route suits your style. Maybe it’s your kryptonite. You just don’t know until you try.

Because of my long reach, what’s easy for me can be impossible for shorter people, and sometimes vice versa. If a move requires a 6-foot wingspan and you’re only 5′ 2″, the way you have to do the move may be way harder, or even impossible. Then again, there are often intermediate holds (slightly smaller/worse holds in between larger holds), and maybe those intermediates are perfect for you.

You might think another climber’s way is harder because you can’t do it, but maybe it’s easier for them, or it’s the only way they can do it. At that point, no one can say which way is harder, they’re just different. Even though we are on the exact same route and use most of the same holds, we may end up doing it so differently that it looks like a different route altogether.

This is where the challenge comes in when grading routes. While the “official” grade is the result of some consensus, it doesn’t really matter what the grade is, or what other people think.

You’re the one that has to haul your ass up the route—no one else is going to do it for you. And how you do it and how hard that feels is a personal matter.

In the post on Beta, I mentioned that we often fight over which way is “right.” There are great debates over beta: “No way man, my way is better.” And we argue over these things, not just in climbing, but in every aspect of life.

But it’s all subjective. It’s based on your perspective, your strengths, the things you bring to the table and how you are able to employ those strengths to get through your projects and challenges. Sure, your way is easier for you, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it is going to be easier for everyone.

As you go through your week, consider that people may see projects or challenges very differently than you do. Maybe they see a way of doing something that is counterintuitive for you. Maybe their way is easier for them, or maybe the hard part for you isn’t even a challenge for them. We don’t know what a project is like for someone else. What we do know—and should respect—is that difficulty is subjective.