I can see that the “climbing the wrong hill” analogy works well for a company investing time and money into something unproductive. Once the money is spent it’s gone; and a company has inertia, meaning it also requires a lot of effort to get back off the wrong hill before it can climb another one.
However I think the analogy has limited value for our lives generally on an individual level. In fact it can be counterproductive. If the hill in front of us seems like a path to improvement we should start climbing it immediately. Part way up we will learn things and may well change direction, and sometimes that path even takes us downhill for a bit, but generally our progress takes us higher. Too many people procrastinate on setting off, worried it’s the wrong hill, or there are better hills elsewhere, and so remain mired in the mud at the bottom indefinitely. A better analogy is that any uphill path generally gets us toward our summit, and that once we get to the top of the hill we can see now, another hill that takes us even higher will usually be revealed.
Hey thanks Mark -- that's a thoughtful point. I definitely agree that for personal growth there can be benefits to charging up the wrong hill. Part of why the analogy struck me as so insightful is because there have been times where I entirely forget there are other hills. I stubbornly trudge forward, not realizing that this one isn't going to take me any higher... Anyway, thanks for the comment!
I can see that the “climbing the wrong hill” analogy works well for a company investing time and money into something unproductive. Once the money is spent it’s gone; and a company has inertia, meaning it also requires a lot of effort to get back off the wrong hill before it can climb another one.
However I think the analogy has limited value for our lives generally on an individual level. In fact it can be counterproductive. If the hill in front of us seems like a path to improvement we should start climbing it immediately. Part way up we will learn things and may well change direction, and sometimes that path even takes us downhill for a bit, but generally our progress takes us higher. Too many people procrastinate on setting off, worried it’s the wrong hill, or there are better hills elsewhere, and so remain mired in the mud at the bottom indefinitely. A better analogy is that any uphill path generally gets us toward our summit, and that once we get to the top of the hill we can see now, another hill that takes us even higher will usually be revealed.
Hey thanks Mark -- that's a thoughtful point. I definitely agree that for personal growth there can be benefits to charging up the wrong hill. Part of why the analogy struck me as so insightful is because there have been times where I entirely forget there are other hills. I stubbornly trudge forward, not realizing that this one isn't going to take me any higher... Anyway, thanks for the comment!