Listen for the Locks

I was reminded last week of a useful decision making analogy from the world of mountain climbing. They imagine the climb as a long corridor with a series of doors closing the corridor off and leading off to the side. Listen for the sound of doors locking behind you is the advice. Each time a door locks, there are less options, and if doors lock across the corridor, you may not have the option to turn back.

In mountaineering a door might be elevated avalanche risk, severe weather, or an injury. Enough doors lock and your ability to make it to the summit and survive the descent gets less and less likely.

The flip side is, that when enough doors close, you have no choice but to fully commit. That can be a very useful and motivating place to be.

The risk is that we get so focussed on the end point of whatever we are working on, that we go right by a locking door, without giving it any thought. Especially if we are busily lurching from task to task!

Pause and consider what doors might be locking behind you. Is that a good thing?