The Mountain of False Summits

Metaphorical Narrative

On a cold ridge you crest a peak and find another rise hiding behind it, then another. Your altimeter mocks you; the map looks wrong.

The sun keeps moving. The summit keeps moving faster.

Core Insight

False summits come from expanding scope and shifting criteria. The hedonic treadmill and perfection bias nudge the mind to upgrade the goal as soon as it nears completion. Each shift resets motivation and delays reward prediction error—the learning signal that closure occurred.

Defining Definition of Done (DoD) before climbing protects executive functions. When criteria are frozen, effort flows into execution rather than negotiating with the mountain.

Identity Shift Tie-In

Observer Mode plants a summit flag in writing. Sovereignty means honoring the flag: ‘I keep the pact I make with myself.’ Clarity becomes compassion for future you.

Saturday Experiment

1. Choose one project and write a 3–5 line DoD that a neutral observer could verify.
2. Freeze it. New ideas go to a ‘Next Summit’ list—never into the current climb.
3. Complete the climb and celebrate closure, not scope growth.

Sunday Reflection

• How would a narrator depict their habit of moving the peak?
• What single criterion proves the summit was reached for them?
• Where can they trade ‘more’ for ‘done’ without loss of value?