performance vs. satisfaction

Last week I brought up the distinction between performance and satisfaction in our climbing: how it's possible to have a good performance day but still feel unsatisfied.. or end up having a great day with friends even if you didn't climb your hardest.

Success doesn't have to be so black and white: send or no send. In fact if that were the case, it would be almost impossible to stay motivated because of so much "failure".

This came up in my conversation with Coach Jeremy Fein where he broke this idea down further into performance vs. learning vs. satisfaction.

There are multiple ways to "get something" from your session other than climbing your hardest or sending.

The more important question for figuring out if you had a good day is:  did I move the needle forward today?

Moving the needle forward could be:

-sure, performing well or sending

-but also, learning something new - about a specific climb or my climbing in general

-enjoying my session so that I'm motivated to continue my practice

In this case, there are three different ways I could have a good day. If I tick one of these, that's moving the needle forward in my book.

And really, there's only one way I can have a bad day: if I tick none of these. If I feel so unsatisfied that I let my frustration take over and block my ability to either learn or perform. If my dissatisfaction makes me want to give up entirely.

So when thinking about performance vs. learning vs. satisfaction - what do you think, if anything, is holding you back from feeling successful?