I am super lucky to have found a discipline that I enjoy. It’s easy for me to show up and train, put in the time, and have a routine, because I love the process of dogging.

Let’s quickly contrast that with a process I don’t enjoy: home projects. I couldn’t care less about this process. In fact, as with other with things I don’t particularly enjoy, I view the process as taking away moments of my life that I could have otherwise enjoyed doing something else. When doing home projects I need extrinsic motivation, things outside of myself to get me going. I look forward to the end, to receiving the results. But I want the benefits and rewards without having to put in all the work.

Running is another process I don’t enjoy. Every time I take up running I stop after two weeks because I find it boring and painful. I occasionally try it because I want the results (the aerobic fitness and endurance), but forget how much I hate the process.

I’ve found from numerous home projects and several failed attempts at becoming runner that it is so much easier it is to show up and put in the time when you love the process, when you view your activity as play, rather than work. And there is nothing wrong with choosing work (or workouts) that you enjoy.

I don’t get paid to climb, and yet I have worked harder at it than anything else in my life (except maybe my marriage — another intrinsically rewarding process).

The process of climbing is inherently rewarding to me. I do it because I enjoy the activity for its own sake, not for the secondary ways that it might benefit me.

The process is never over. I am never done. As soon as I complete one project, there is always another project, and another.

When I have this realization with home projects, the unending list of projects fills me with soul-crushing dread, not excitement.

With climbing, I’m like a kid on Christmas morning. I am filled with joy and wonder when I think about how many projects and problems I get to play on.

I used to really get worked up and frustrated when I didn’t send a route. But that’s not right. That’s asking for external reinforcement for something I inherently enjoy doing. When I get out of alignment, and start thinking like that, I have to remind myself that I don’t have to go climbing, this isn’t some job that I hate. I get to go climbing. I’m freaking psyched every time I get on the wall. I’m beaming the whole time I’m up there, like a kid at Disneyland. I get to go play.

Who cares if I send or not. Sending hard routes is a byproduct of the process of dogging. It will happen eventually, just give it time. Keep showing up and putting in the work. It’s not about the results anyway, it’s about loving the process.