4 ms·

You don't climb a mountain by thinking about mountains then making a huge epic trek in a couple of leaps. You climb a mountain by taking one step at a time. You

You don't climb a mountain by thinking about mountains then making a huge epic trek in a couple of leaps. You climb a mountain by taking one step at a time. You have to take thousands of steps to reach the top of a mountain. Not every step is going to be perfect, or even pretty. Some will go in the wrong direction and you'll need to backtrack. Some will be missteps that might hurt. But if you keep making a concerted effort to climb the mountain, eventually you'll reach the top. Don't be too hard on yourself - it's important to look back and see how far you've climbed from time to time. The top may not look the way you expected, and you may not feel the way you thought, but you'll have done it. Stop trying to climb a mountain in a single step, and stop trying to climb the mountain flawlessly. Just getting to the top is an achievement these days. You probably don't want to attempt Everest or K2 right after deciding to climb a mountain. Maybe try a few smaller ones, or some hills first.

pacoverdi 7y ago
I like and often use the mountain metaphor myself. Sometimes the path to the top includes some abrupt parts, akin to climbing a vertical wall. These are big efforts that requires long periods of concentration. These are often followed by easy trails with no elevation, or even downward. This can be boilerplate that you can do without even thinking. When you've reached the top, if you realize that the path you followed was not the shortest/easiest/most elegant one, know that your new muscle strength will make it orders of magnitudes easier to go down again and find new shortcuts. Clean up, delete unused parts, simplify, comment/document etc. Finally, you will not even think of it as a mountain but just a small bump :)
- mtreis86 7y ago
  I like it too. Find a local maximum that gives you some space to see around you. Climb a tree, or walk uphill for a good while - maybe a path will be more obvious from up there. In the metaphor, go spend some time learning some hobby for a while, something you enjoy doing but haven't put time into, then re-evaluate. There is no best mountain to climb, just more mountains. Sometimes there is no path where you want to go and you are the one who gets to blaze it. This doesn't have to be huge either, the path gets too worn down in places and new turns need to be added to get around those spots. If you spend too much time looking at your map and compass, you won't end up putting many miles down.
Kinrany 7y ago
Mountain climbing seems like a bad metaphor because you very much do need to prepare in advance for the whole trek. You won't be able to buy food and a radio once you're already stuck in a cave with no equipment. I don't do mountain climbing and could be completely wrong though.
- elbear 7y ago
  Maybe a long trek like the El Camino is a better metaphor. The idea is to look just one step in front of you and not think about the entire distance.
pankajdoharey 7y ago
Pretty good advice i think as long as we backtrack, i specially could relate to it since i love climbing mountains.

pacoverdi 7y ago

I like and often use the mountain metaphor myself. Sometimes the path to the top includes some abrupt parts, akin to climbing a vertical wall. These are big efforts that requires long periods of concentration. These are often followed by easy trails with no elevation, or even downward. This can be boilerplate that you can do without even thinking. When you've reached the top, if you realize that the path you followed was not the shortest/easiest/most elegant one, know that your new muscle strength will make it orders of magnitudes easier to go down again and find new shortcuts. Clean up, delete unused parts, simplify, comment/document etc. Finally, you will not even think of it as a mountain but just a small bump :)

mtreis86 7y ago
I like it too. Find a local maximum that gives you some space to see around you. Climb a tree, or walk uphill for a good while - maybe a path will be more obvious from up there. In the metaphor, go spend some time learning some hobby for a while, something you enjoy doing but haven't put time into, then re-evaluate. There is no best mountain to climb, just more mountains. Sometimes there is no path where you want to go and you are the one who gets to blaze it. This doesn't have to be huge either, the path gets too worn down in places and new turns need to be added to get around those spots. If you spend too much time looking at your map and compass, you won't end up putting many miles down.

Kinrany 7y ago

Mountain climbing seems like a bad metaphor because you very much do need to prepare in advance for the whole trek. You won't be able to buy food and a radio once you're already stuck in a cave with no equipment. I don't do mountain climbing and could be completely wrong though.

elbear 7y ago
Maybe a long trek like the El Camino is a better metaphor. The idea is to look just one step in front of you and not think about the entire distance.

pankajdoharey 7y ago

Pretty good advice i think as long as we backtrack, i specially could relate to it since i love climbing mountains.