Neely Quinn: How to Deal with Perfectionism and our Inner Critic as Climbers (and Humans)

Aug 20, 2025

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Mindset coach Neely Quinn explores:

Pros and cons of being a perfectionist as a climber
How to embrace perfectionism (and keep it from ruining our climbing experience)
How to quantify the amount of "suffering" we are willing to go through to improve as climbers
Examining my "failed" spring season
Why it's important to celebrate the little things
The three questions to ask oneself after every climbing session
Is too much humility doing us a disservice?
Why we fixate on the one thing that went wrong
Determining whether climbing is a fun outlet or a source of stress
Process over progress and what that really looks like
Why we often send when we least expect to
A practical drill for overcoming fear of falling

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Here are some AI generated show notes (hopefully the robots got it right):

00:41 Guest Introduction: Neely Quinn from Training Beta 01:13 The Perfectionism Email and Personal Struggles 02:17 Community Questions and Performance Hacks 05:01 Host's Climbing Journey and Reflections 05:59 Diving into Perfectionism with Neely Quinn 21:37 Exploring the Roots of Perfectionism 29:00 Tools and Strategies for Overcoming Perfectionism 39:47 Validating Emotions and Positive Reflection 43:40 Balancing Pride and Shame in Climbing 44:54 The Evolutionary Basis of Negative Bias 45:41 Reflecting on Gratitude and Success 47:06 The Inner Coach: Self-Talk and Motivation 48:54 Therapy and Climbing: A Surprising Connection 49:40 Dealing with Regression in Climbing Performance 52:58 Setting Realistic Expectations and Goals 57:04 Embracing Process Over Outcome 59:27 Practical Process Goals for Climbers 01:04:46 Overcoming Fear and Building Confidence 01:13:10 Final Thoughts and Listener Questions 01:18:37 Conclusion and Bonus Content

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Book a session with Neely: https://www.neelyquinncoaching.com/climbing

The Struggle is carbon-neutral in partnership with The Honnold Foundation, whose mission is to promote solar energy for a more equitable world.

This show is produced and hosted by Ryan Devlin, and edited by Glen Walker. The Struggle is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a diverse group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.

The struggle makes us stronger! I hope your training and climbing are going great.

And now here are some buzzwords to help the almighty algorithm get this show in front of people who love to climb: rock climbing, rock climber, climbing, climber, bouldering, sport climbing, gym climbing, how to rock climb, donuts are amazing. Okay, whew, that’s done. But hey, if you’re a human that’s actually reading this, and if you love this show (and love to climb) would you think about sharing this episode with a climber friend of yours? And shout it out on your socials? I’ll send you a sticker for doing it. Just shoot me a message on IG – thanks so much!