Aspiring to be a good rock climber taught me a valuable lesson: break big problems into small pieces.

Like any challenging skill, I hit a point where I wasn’t improving even though I was training a lot. Up to that point, I had only seen the point of climbing as completing the full route from top to bottom in a single attempt. I’d often find myself stuck on a single move and tire myself out by only trying it from the bottom.

In hindsight, it was the mentality of needing to do it from the bottom that was causing my plateau. In order to progress, I needed a perspective shift. Instead of only looking at the full problem, I started focusing more on individual moves. I’d try the same single move dozens of times, spread across multiple sessions, until I got it. After some time, it felt almost as good to learn a single move as it did to complete a full route.

Suddenly, a whole world of climbing opened up to me. Now, instead of being disappointed that I couldn’t complete a full problem, I found momentum in learning routes one movement at a time. Each time I understood a new movement, I gained a little more confidence to keep going. Years later, I still stick by this approach to break through plateaus and frustrations.

Just like any good tool, this strategy started showing its usefulness in more than just climbing.

Facing a real life problem and not making progress? Break it down!

In the past, applying to jobs would take weeks or months of mental prep. I’d procrastinate and avoid it until the very last minute, and it wouldn’t be my best work.

The most recent applications, however, I broke down into extremely small pieces until I felt the momentum of progress.

First, I wrote down as many small tasks I could think of that altogether lead to a successful job application:

• read job description
• open resume
• brainstorm updates
• revise updates
• format updates
• fill out application
• reach out to references
• write follow up email

This list can be as long or as short as you want. The crucial part for me was that each individual task felt manageable. Order can be sorted out later.

What also helped not seeing the full task to be completed in one sitting. I’d complete a task, revel in the accomplishment, and build on that confidence to tackle the next one.

Small steps in a row create momentum. Big goals are a marathon, not a sprint.

I’ll end with this:

Burnout is one of the biggest obstacles of our time. We have unlimited tasks and things to focus our attention on. One way I’ve been able to keep pushing day after day is by breaking down my most important problems. Sustainability is the goal. I would rather work on something consistently for decades, then work my ass off for a few years, burn out, and never look at it again.