This past weekend I had the great opportunity to go rock climbing in Mammoth with the Magee family. We did it as a small group so it was just four of us and the guide. At this point the guide had no clue what our physical abilities were, yet I would venture to say that by the time he finished explaining the basics and going over the safety guidelines, he knew it was gonna be pretty smooth sailing. The guide knew this based on a single factor: our ability to listen. We gave him our complete and undivided attention. We kept our question for the end and did not interrupt him once. In other words, we were coachable. And it has nothing to do with physical ability. Being coachable is a choice. Our guide didn’t know that Scott can dead hang for over a minute thirty and row a 2K under 8 minutes. It didn’t matter.
If you are dropping into a Crossfit gym while traveling, or going rock climbing, being coachable is paramount. Not all gyms will do things the way we do it. It matters not if it is a great coach or a mediocre one, giving someone your full attention is a matter of respect. Even if the coach is giving information you know to be wrong, let it go and just worry about being the perfect athlete. As a personal rule, I will never, ever, interfere unless a matter of safety arises.
“You can be shaped, or you can be broken. There is not much in between. Try to learn. Be coachable. Try to learn from everybody, especially those who fail. This is hard. ... How promising you are as a Student of the Game is a function of what you can pay attention to without running away.”
David Foster Wallace
