The Climb vs. The View: Is Your Effort Paying Off?
You’re putting in the hours. Emails, launches, content, client work. Every day feels like another uphill push with uncertainty waiting on the other side.
So here’s a question that you need to ask yourself:
Are you actually getting closer to your summit… or just burning energy on the climb?
When Effort Doesn’t Equal Progress
Hard work feels productive. But if you never pause to look up, you risk missing the point of the climb.
Then suddenly the warning signs begin to show:
You’re producing content, but your engagement isn’t moving.
You’re booking sales calls, but conversions stay flat.
You’re investing in tools, but your team is still overwhelmed.
The danger? Confusing motion with momentum.
Is it Motion or Momentum?
Think of motion as the activity and effort you’re emitting while momentum is the actual progress and results you can see. A team can be busy and show a lot of motion without creating meaningful, forward progress. Momentum is created when that motion has clear direction. That clarity leads to a compounding effect of sustained progress.
Imagine two hikers:
Hiker A scrambles up every side trail they see. They’re constantly moving, exhausted by sunset… but they never actually reach a view.
Hiker B picks one clear path, checks the map at each trail marker, and steadily climbs. They may take fewer steps, but every single one moves them closer to the summit.
By the end of the day, Hiker A has a sore back and a full Fitbit log. Hiker B has the view.
The ROI Checkpoint
Every trail has markers. In business, your “markers” are results. Before pushing forward, stop and ask:
What’s the view from here?
What’s actually changed since last month — revenue, leads, time saved, impact?
Am I climbing the right face?
Are your current efforts aligned with the summit you picked — or are you scaling a side wall that leads nowhere?
Does the payoff match the push?
If a task drains 10 hours, what’s the return? Visibility? Sales? Confidence? If the view doesn’t justify the grind, it’s time to reroute.
Trail Marker Exercise: The 80/20 Viewpoint
Not all effort is created equal. Some actions move the needle a little. A few actions move it a lot.
That’s the idea behind the “80/20 rule” — 20% of your efforts often create 80% of your results.
Grab a piece of paper and split it down the middle.
On the left, list everything you’ve done this month.
On the right, note the actual results tied to each effort.
Circle the few items where small actions created big outcomes. That’s your 20%.
The rest? They might still matter — but maybe not this quarter. Don’t climb every ridge at once.
The Real Win
The climb will always be hard. That’s business.
But when you balance effort with outcomes, you stop grinding blindly and start climbing strategically.
👉 This week, don’t just put your head down and hustle. Look up. Check the view. And make sure the summit you’re chasing is worth the climb.