Personal Best and Limitations

Adam Ondra has possibly 9c as his personal maximal limit. At the same many of us have 8a as our absolute limit even if we would live as a professional climber for ten years. Having spotted, belayed and witnessed many of the best I do think that if I would have had a similar "a muerte" obsession I would immediately climb two or three grades harder onsight. One of the most dedicated climbers I have met, he already 25 years ago followed a strict training and diet regime in order to have a peak in a trip to El Chorro but everything fell apart and he stopped climbing with 6b+ as a personal best. We all want to progress and "No Limit" is a popular quote but it is a fine balance to set a personal goal. Different personalities might progress best and "have most fun" with different mindsets. If your current personal best is 7a, it is probably wise to have slow and steady progress rather than skipping grades and directly start to projecting a 7b+ and then go for 8a. First of all the risk of injuries increases and secondly you will just have a happy personal best moment twice instead of six times.