The Three Climbs
Stop optimizing for the summit and pick a climb you'd enjoy every day.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Glazer reframes the familiar 'first mountain, second mountain' idea around the climb rather than the mountain. The first climb is the one you were pushed onto — be a doctor, a lawyer — you got good at it and hated every minute, including the top. The second climb you chose and mostly liked, but you were sustained by the belief that the summit would make the whole thing worth it, and then it didn't. The third climb stops being about ascension: you pick a climb you're excited about every day, sweating and working but enjoying the view the whole way, not doing it just to get somewhere. Your values are what tell you which climb to pick — you should be able to rattle them off and say 'these are the things I'd enjoy if I could orient my work around fulfilling them each day.'
Origin
Glazer developed the three climbs after watching high achievers — including friends, podcast guests on Elevate, and himself — hit goal after goal and barely celebrate five minutes before hunting the next one. He credits Arthur Brooks' From Strength to Strength as useful adjacent reading on making these transitions. His own third climb is his five-year goal of helping a million people figure out their core values.
Core principles
- 01It's the climb, not the mountain — the daily process is the thing you actually live in.
- 02The first climb is one you were bullied onto by family or expectation.
- 03The second climb you chose, but you believed the summit would justify the whole ascent.
- 04The third climb reorients from ascension to enjoying the climb itself.
- 05If you can't be happy in the moment or with what you have, it's hard to believe you'll be happy at some arrival moment.
- 06You can make plenty of money and find fulfillment on the third climb — it isn't a downshift.
How to run it
- 1
Diagnose which climb you're on
First climb: someone else picked it and you hated it, top included. Second climb: you chose it, liked most days, but the summit was supposed to pay for everything — and didn't. Third climb: the climb itself is the reward.
Watch out Most people who listen to business podcasts are on the second climb and don't know it.
- 2
Notice the moving goalpost
Observe that satisfaction from chasing keeps arriving smaller than expected. People with a million and people with a hundred million both report 'enough' as 30-40% more than whatever they currently have.
Pro tip If more money were the answer, the people with more would have stopped wanting more. They didn't.
Watch out There are a lot of depressed, successful-looking people who don't know how to turn it off.
- 3
Rattle off your values
You can't pick a third climb without knowing what you value. Name them, then ask what work would fulfill those values on a daily basis.
- 4
Pick a climb, not a summit
Choose work where the process is fun and the daily view is good — hard, sweaty, but enjoyable throughout — rather than a delayed-gratification bet on a destination.
Pro tip It's still great to have goals; the shift is from 'I'm working for this thing' to 'I want to do this thing every day.'
- 5
Set the impact goal that fits the climb
Replace or supplement financial and growth goals with an orientation goal that fulfills your values daily.
In the wild
Having set financial and growth goals for years, Glazer's five-year goal is now to help a million people figure out their core values. He describes the vulnerable conversations during the book launch, where people say 'oh, that's why I do that,' as super rewarding in themselves.
→ An impact-oriented climb where the daily work — the conversations — is the reward, not a means to a summit.
When people with a million dollars and people with a hundred million were asked what would be enough, both groups answered roughly 30-40% more than whatever they currently had.
→ Demonstrates that the summit doesn't exist — the people who reached the higher one still believed more would make them happy.
Common mistakes
Assuming the top will justify the climb
This is the defining error of the second climb. You reach it, and it kind of wasn't worth it — and by then you've spent years on days you tolerated rather than enjoyed.
Barely celebrating before chasing the next goal
Strivers hit a goal, celebrate for five minutes, and immediately start figuring out the next one — which guarantees the satisfaction never accrues.
Reading the third climb as giving up on money
Glazer is explicit that you can make plenty of money and find a lot of fulfillment on the third climb. It's an orientation change, not an ambition cut.
Is it for you?
Best for
Successful people who have hit their goals and found the arrival hollow, and want to reorient work around daily fulfillment without giving up ambition.
Not ideal for
Early-career people who haven't yet climbed anything; the framework is a response to the disappointment of the summit, which you have to reach first.
From the transcript
“I'm not sure it's the mountain as much as the climb.”
“That third climb is where it just stops as much being about the ascension and more about enjoying the climb.”
“If you can't figure out how to be happy in the moment or with what you have, it's hard to believe that you'll be happy…”
“It was always 30 to 40% more than whatever they had.”
From the episode
Robert Glazer: The Proven Decision-Making Framework High Achievers Use to Unlock Fulfillment
Robert Glazer