Trails zigzag up steep mountains for a reason. Straight up is how people end up turning back.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
Switchbacks are engineering, not caution. A slope you can keep walking beats a slope you can attack for eleven minutes, and the straight line up the face is where people run out of legs and turn back. Zigzagging covers more ground and is the only version that actually gets anyone to the top.
Cut your plan down to a gradient you could hold on a bad day. Twenty minutes daily beats three hours once, because the three hour version is the one you abandon in week two. Pick the pace you could keep in the rain.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Where would a winding route get you further up?
MORE IN PATIENCE & TIMING
- Fast-forward through the slow parts of a movie and the ending won’t make you cry. The slow parts were the setup.
- Walking at your grandma’s pace is a gift you give her and, if you pay attention, a gift she gives you.
- Some opportunities come back around. Some don’t. Patience means knowing which is which before you pass.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.