Dr Shiam Chuttoo

A life model by Dr Shiam Chuttoo. For anyone learning, returning or starting again.

Why a ladder?

Most models of growth are drawn as a staircase. Stairs suggest one direction only: up, step by step, and if you fall you start again at the bottom. Life rarely works that way. Illness, grief, redundancy, caring for family or simply a hard year can take us down a few rungs. What matters is whether we can climb back on.

So I drew a ladder. You can climb it, step down when you need to, rest, and climb again. The ladder is still there.

My Sporting Ladder began as a way to explain how athletes develop, inspired by the work of Istvan Balyi on long-term athlete development. The more I worked with it, the more I asked myself whether it fits life outside sport. Much of it does, so here is the version for everyone.

The six rungs

• 1. Start: say yes and take the first step, however small. Enrol, turn up, open the book.
• 2. Learn: gather the basics and ask questions without embarrassment. Every expert was once a beginner.
• 3. Practise: repeat, with patience. This is the longest rung, and the one most people skip.
• 4. Apply: use the skill in real life, where mistakes count and feedback is honest.
• 5. Master: find your own style and steadiness. Mastery means you can do it well on a bad day.
• 6. Give Back: teach, mentor or simply encourage the person on the rung below you.

A nurse returning to work, a grandparent learning to use a smartphone, a student starting a degree in their fifties, a person rebuilding after loss: each of them climbs these same six rungs.

The two rails

A ladder needs two rails to stand. Mine are resilience and determination. Resilience lets you bend without breaking when you step down. Determination brings you back to the next rung. Lose either rail and the ladder wobbles.

The ladder lets you climb back on

Stepping down is part of the climb. Rest on a lower rung, recover, then climb again. Each return is usually quicker than the first climb, because your hands remember the way.

The late climber

I came back to a sport I loved seriously at sixty-four, after first trying it as a young student nurse in 1988. People sometimes ask whether it is too late to begin something. My answer is simple: the ladder has no age limit on the bottom rung. You may climb more slowly, and you bring something younger climbers lack, a lifetime of patience and perspective.

The five sides of the climber

We climb with the whole of ourselves. I hide five sides of a balanced life inside one word, FUNDAMENTAL:

• FUN, the social side: people who cheer you on, and enjoyment that keeps you coming back.
• FUND, the financial side: what the climb costs, and planning so money does not pull you off.
• FUNDAMENTAL, the physical side: sleep, food, movement and rest.
• MENTAL, the mental side: focus, confidence and kindness in how you speak to yourself.
• AMEN, the spiritual side: faith, values or purpose, whatever gives your climb meaning.

Questions to sit with

• Which rung am I standing on today, in the thing that matters most to me?
• Which rail feels weaker right now, resilience or determination?
• Have I stepped down recently, and what would help me climb back on?
• Which of my five sides needs the most attention this month?
• Who is on the rung below me, and how could I give them a hand?

Where it fits, and where it does not

In fairness to readers, the ladder is a guide for reflection rather than a scientific measure of progress, and people climb at very different speeds. My current pilot study tests the sporting version with bowlers, so the evidence so far comes from sport. Use the ladder as a mirror, and adapt it to your own climb.

Read Part 2: Weather on the Ladder: Storms, Towers and Posters, where I share what eight years as a lineman in Mauritius taught me about climbing safely through life’s storms.

Read more of my reflections and models on my blog, and subscribe to receive each new piece by email: drshiamchuttoo.com/blog

A word of caution. This piece is for education and personal reflection. It is not medical, psychological, financial or legal advice, and it does not replace care from a qualified professional. Please understand any technique before you use it. Anyone who uses these ideas does so by their own choice and is responsible for their own actions. Before starting new physical activity, or if stress or low mood stays with you, talk to your GP or another health professional. In the UK you can call NHS 111, Samaritans free on 116 123, or 999 in an emergency.

© Dr Shiam Chuttoo 2026. Shiam’s Ladder and the Five Sides of the Climber are the original work of Dr Shiam Chuttoo, adapted from his Sporting Ladder, which was inspired by Istvan Balyi’s model of long-term athlete development. Credit: Shiam’s Ladder, created by Dr Shiam Chuttoo. You may share or use this model only with my permission, or with clear credit to me as its author. Contact: shiamduth@outlook.com. Work record: Ref DSC-2026-LADDER-02. Title: The Ladder That Lets You Climb Back On. Created 15 October 2026. All rights reserved.