See, in this journey of life, you will end up making decisions that you wish you had not later. Modern philosophers like Jacques Derrida argue that this is the only true way humans learn any better. By making mistakes, we learn what not to do. To put it another way, the old Caribbean adage rings true: “Those who don’t learn, will feel”. These Killer Hills are there as lessons to be learned. You can choose to circumvent them and pick another path or run into one only to later realize how you ended up on this hill, tired and frustrated.
There is one assumption being made here that is key. We assume you have been organizing yourself and have a clear goal, set with milestones and aspirations. We assume that you have the interest and internal fire to propel yourself forward and toward the summit of whatever that end goal is. A compass is no good if you do not have a map and a good sense of direction. You could be standing on a Killer hill right now!
Being discouraged from continuing your path because the experience so far has been grueling and almost unnecessarily taxing. You might feel that the effort you have put in so far is not worth the satisfaction you are getting out of it. How are you supposed to know if this is an Edgehill that will teach you something important about the goal or if you are standing on the cliff of a Killer Hill, trekking a path that does not lead where you expect it to?
The best ways to avoid these Killer Hills is to evade them. Planning, keeping your enthusiasm strictly on yourself, and knowing what your deliverables are will keep you from running up hills that you do not need to. However, you still might end up looking at a valley that you should have been in due to circumstances outside of your control. This is where the virtues of discernment and patience come in.
Both Edge hills and Killer Hills will present themselves as challenges to be faced. Both types of hills are there to keep forming your leadership and giving you useful experiences for your future. The underlying question here is: “Is this hill worth my time and effort?”. If you know the answer to that question in your own life, then I hope you know where your next steps should lead towards.