A few years ago, I stood underneath a red overhanging cliff near my hometown, Carbondale, Colo. The day was a stunner. Elk chewed on the brown grasses by the river below. A hawk rode the wind. Townsfolk and itinerants, some clothed and some not, loitered in a nearby hot spring. I was tied in, ready to climb. I was attempting to do a route first try, “onsight,” as we call it, which means I didn’t know what I was climbing into. It would have been a hard onsight for me — to onsight hard climbs, you need clarity. No interference. Just as I was about to climb, nerves in my body, which I hadn’t felt yet, said hello. That’s not good for any athlete. Desperate, I painted a coat of confidence on my inner walls of doubt. I visualized myself at the top, celebrating. “You can do this,” I adamantly told myself. “If you believe, success is certain.” It didn’t work. I fell near the top. Defeated, I lowered to the ground and realized — powerfully, and with the clarity I was seeking minutes earlier — that the *desire* to climb the route had kept me from doing it. My self worth was bound at that moment to my success or failure, and that set off a chain reaction: unnatural desire, pressure, performance anxiety, anticipation, a mind enamored with the top but a body struggling below, bad decision-making, irregular movement, distraction, frustration. All in that order, too. On a whim, I told myself that on my next attempt, success or failure was irrelevant. “Make one move at a time. That’s all.” I gave myself a pass from whatever would transpire. Case closed. It worked. I floated to the top with poise, clarity and bewilderment. That moment got me thinking, and then researching. At some point, I framed this experience for myself in terms of simple arithmetic: When I added (determination, grit, self-confidence, desire), I failed. When I took away (the desire for success), my body moved with greater fluidity and naturalness. I improved. I enjoyed it more as well, which, as an athlete of 30 years, I didn’t think was possible. [Subscribe to The Times](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=8WXW7) to read as many articles as you like.