Avoid Getting Stuck in Local Maximums

Hill climbing involves finding the highest hill by aiming up, taking small steps and iterating in each direction until you find a peak. The problem is that this peak might just be a local maximum. There may be bigger hills out there. It is important to zoom out and to see the bigger picture.

The difficult part in this is that we tend to want to stay on the current hill and make short term progress if we know it is upward. It is difficult to take a few steps back to try climbing another hill, even if it is beneficial in the long term. We tend to take the easier route.

However, the risk is worth it, as there is always some unknown or potential that can lead to better outcomes. Exploring different hills gives you a wider variety of experience and skills. You may not even have to climb far down before you can start climbing up the next hill. This will be more common than not as similar hills are usually grouped together.

References

Climbing the wrong hill

Lessons from Year 29