To schedule a complementary exploratory call with Erica, email erica@wholehumancapacity.com.

Someone blew past me on my Mount Washington training stairs, and my brain decided that meant I was failing.

I'm a retired family physician turned life coach, and I've spent years watching high achievers (including myself) lean on comparison as a motivator and then wonder why the next step feels impossible.

Here's what I noticed on those stairs. The moment I assumed the person running past me wasn't feeling any burn, my brain used it as evidence that I was doing something wrong. That assumption is the trap.

Our nervous systems are wired for comfort, so when we stretch into something new, whether that's a mountain hike, a business decision, or a hard conversation with our kids, the discomfort gets read as a signal to stop. I want to walk you through why that happens and the three tactics I've been using to stay in my lane, command my own thinking, and actually enjoy the hard part.

This one applies whether you're training for something physical or stretching into something far less visible.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[1:55] Training for Mount Washington and the default thoughts that show up on the stairs

[5:47] What endurance athletes know about training fatigued and relaxing into discomfort

[9:13] The tricky way comparison convinces you that discomfort means you're doing it wrong

[11:23] Befriending the hard and learning to enjoy the process of being unstoppable

[13:31] Tactic one: put blinders on and stay locked into the step in front of you

[15:21] Tactic two: visualize your endgame using your own personal metrics of success

[17:34] Tactic three: prepare empowered thoughts before discomfort hits

[20:45] Why the grind mindset of comparison stops working once you're past your upper limit

[22:57] The soul-wrenching discomfort of playing small that nobody talks about

Find more from Erica:

The Awakening Tide | Website

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