No Easy Holds

Climbing has a way of teaching you truths you don’t want to hear. Like this one: there are no easy holds. Some look good until you grab them and realize they’re useless. Some are sharp enough to cut your fingers. And the ones that feel solid? They usually demand more reach than you thought you had.

Turns out, work and life aren’t much different. If you’re waiting for the easy hold, the perfect opportunity, the seamless path — you’ll be waiting forever.

The Work Myth

In two decades of working in tech, I’ve yet to find a role, project, or deal that came without sharp edges. There’s always a missing requirement, a client with shifting expectations, or a deadline that makes you question your sanity.

Early in my career, I thought if I worked hard enough, I’d eventually reach some mythical level where the work would get easy. Spoiler: it never does. The problems just get bigger, the stakes higher. The holds never soften. You just get stronger.

The Climb Reality

On the wall, “easy” holds are an illusion. That jug at the top? It’s only easy if you can get to it. The crimp on the overhang? Feels impossible until you train enough to trust it.

Same with progress. The route doesn’t change for you. You change for the route. You train, you adapt, and you keep falling until one day you don’t. That’s the deal.

The Family Version

Family life is no smoother. Twenty years of marriage, two teenagers, and two dogs mean there’s always some hold that looks stable but shifts when you grab it. Schedules collide, moods flare, unexpected costs pop up. No jug, no rest stance. Just figuring it out as you go.

And that’s not failure — that’s the climb. Marriage isn’t “easy” once you’ve been at it long enough. Parenting doesn’t suddenly balance itself out when the kids get older. You just get better at reading the route and adjusting your grip.

The Discipline

Here’s the truth: you don’t get stronger by chasing easy holds. You get stronger by committing to the hard ones. By training your grip when you’d rather rest. By leaning into the scary moves instead of waiting for the route to magically flatten out.

The same discipline that fuels my climbing is what fuels me at work and at home. No excuses, no shortcuts. Just the willingness to grab the hard holds, even when they hurt.

Closing Thought

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from climbing, work, and family, it’s this: nothing worth keeping is ever handed to you. There are no easy holds.

And honestly? That’s the point.

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