Why the Climb is the hardest (and most important) part of growth
A view of Sunset Peak from the half-way point of the hike
Lately, I’ve been in a really reflective period of my life. I’m thinking a lot about the goals I’ve set, the challenges I’ve faced, and how I’ve navigated fear, perfectionism, and discomfort along the way. Recording this podcast episode of “From Stuck to Started” (and writing this blog post) felt like a natural way to capture those reflections and share them with you.
I wanted to explore what growth mindset really looks like in practice, how asking for help plays a role, and what it means to give yourself credit for the effort—not just the outcome. Hiking, of all things, became a perfect metaphor for these ideas, and I’m excited to share the story and the lessons it taught me.
Not all Growth Looks the Same
I’ve done a fair amount of hiking—mostly in New England, but also out West in places like Utah, Colorado, and California. And I’ve noticed a big difference between the two.
In New England, the trails are:
Straight up
Full of rock scrambles
Often covered by trees with no view until the summit
In contrast, hiking out West usually means:
More gradual switchbacks
Open trails with views along the way
A more enjoyable (but still challenging) experience, at least for me!
And honestly, that difference reminds me of goal setting. Sometimes goals feel like a New England hike—steep, sweaty, and discouraging because you can’t see how far you’ve come or how far you still have left to go.
Other times, working towards goals feels more like those Western switchbacks; you can see progress, pace yourself, and take in small wins along the way.
Working on both types of goals can get you to the top, but the experience is completely different.
The Hike That Taught Me About Growth Mindset
Several years ago, I hiked Sunset Peak in Utah with my sister and a friend. It started off easy and beautiful—Aspen trees, gentle trails, perfect weather. But then we reached a clearing and saw a steep, rocky mountain ahead. My first thought was, “There’s no way I can do that.”
My sister and I hiking the switch backs one step at a time up Sunset Peak
That thought—I can’t do this—was my limiting belief. But I kept going, slowly, one step at a time.
Here’s what I had to remind myself of on that mountain:
Growth mindset is about embracing challenge even when it’s uncomfortable.
You can give yourself credit for the process, not just the outcome.
One step at a time truly works, especially when the end feels far away.
By the time we reached the summit—sweaty, exhausted, sunburned—the view was breathtaking. It was a powerful reminder that hard, uncomfortable effort can lead to incredible reward.
This is exactly what I help my clients with - setting achievable goals and a plan to take them one step at a time. Before they know it, they’re enjoying their spectacular mountain views.
View from the top of Sunset Peak
Reflecting on Your Own Goals
I shared this story as an invitation for you to pause and reflect.
Ask yourself:
What’s something you’ve done that you didn’t think was possible?
What’s something you want to give yourself credit for?
What are small steps you can take that bring you closer to the summit?
It doesn’t need to be a huge achievement. Sometimes the smallest steps are the hardest ones to take. But those moments are proof of your growth mindset in action.
One Year of Podcasting and Being “Seen Trying”
This episode also marks one year of From Stuck to Started. When I launched the podcast, I was terrified to be seen trying.
I have this piece of art in my office—a cartoon frog stretching with the caption, “I’m not afraid to be seen trying.” It’s cute, but it’s also a good reminder of growth mindset.
“I’m Not Afraid to Be Seen Trying” Artist: Sarah Nilson
I’ve spent a lot of my life afraid to be seen trying. I wanted to feel confident and ready before I put myself out there. But starting this podcast taught me:
You don’t have to wait until you feel ready.
Progress happens through action, not perfection.
Growth mindset means giving yourself permission to learn publicly.
Just like hiking Sunset Peak, I didn’t know where I’d end up when I started. I wasn’t sure what challenges would pop up along the way. I had limiting beliefs about whether or not I could do it. But I took it one step, one action at a time, and before I knew it, I had been podcasting for a full year.
A Few Final Reflections
I’ve grown so much as a person, a business owner, and a podcaster over the last year - in ways I would never have imagined.
If you’ve ever felt afraid to start, afraid to be seen trying, or worried that you’re not “doing it right,” I want you to remember:
Trying is the first step to doing.
Discomfort is part of the process.
Asking for help is hard—and worth it.
Podcasting has been one of the most vulnerable and rewarding things I’ve done, and I’m so grateful for everyone who’s listened, shared, or reached out.
Here’s to more growth, more trying, and more trails ahead—one step at a time.
-
Sarah (00:01)
Today's episode of From Stuck to Started is gonna be a little different. I'm sharing some personal reflections from my own life and my business about growth mindset, asking for help, and navigating perfectionism, fear, and discomfort. I'm gonna share a story about hiking from my real life, but it's also a very fitting metaphor on so many levels. You'll also hear me talk about what I've learned in my one year of podcasting.
And you'll hear me do some deep reflection through very winding stories, but I promise they connect. And I hope you'll leave today's episode with some reflections of your own as you think about your goals, the path you've been on, and the path you'd like to be on next.
I am in a very reflective period of my life right now. Not only because this is my one year mark of podcasting, which I am celebrating for myself. Thank you so much for being part of this podcast community. Whether you've been with me for one episode or the whole 49 that I've released, I am so appreciative of you and your support and
truly for listening and being here. So thank you so, much. So today I wanted to lean into the reflecting that I've been doing and share it with you today because I think there's lots of gems that we can pull out of the seemingly unrelated, but I promise they're related stories that I'm gonna share today. So I am a hiker. I like hiking every once in a while. I'm not one of the like extreme, you know,
doing it every weekend or have a bucket list of hikes or anything like that. But I grew up in New England. I live in New Hampshire. And I like to go out in the fall and spring and the shoulder seasons for hiking when we have our most tolerable weather. But I've also been very fortunate to do some hiking out west in Utah, Colorado, California, Wyoming. I love hiking out west.
And there is a stark difference between hiking in New England and hiking out west. And if you've hiked in one or both, this will really resonate with you. If you're not a hiker, no worries. I will paint the picture for you. So when you hike in New England, the trails are, the trails are tough. They are straight up.
I know our mountains are smaller than the mountains out west in terms of elevation and vertical gain and all of that, but they are tough trails. They are straight up straight trails. There are rock scrambles. There's really no break in hiking straight up. Like you're basically hiking straight up out here in New England. And there's also not a lot of view.
until you really get to the summit. Obviously that differs trail to trail. There are some like unicorn trails in New England that I've experienced where you like get glimpses of a view, but for the most part, the hiking that I've done in New England, you are in the woods hiking straight up and it's tough. And then out West...
I don't know who designed your trails out there, but they were thoughtful. And out West, you have way more switchbacks, which is if you're not a hiker, basically a zigzag, a gradual increase zigzag where you hike to the right, then you turn and you hike to the left and you're making a gradual increase up the mountain. Obviously there are still steep parts and challenging parts and there are lots of really tough hikes out West, but
maybe I'll ruffle feathers with this statement, but I'll just say hiking out west is more enjoyable for me because you have these switchbacks, the trails are more open, and you typically have more views of the surrounding area, like outlooks, the whole way up. It's not just the summit. And this is, I'm sure,
There are exceptions to this, obviously, but this is a general statement of what I've experienced hiking in New England versus hiking out West in the United States. And I feel like this is a good analogy for goals. So sometimes you can see the finish line and see the challenges that are coming your way and pace yourself like out West. And sometimes you're working on your goals feels like trudging up a hill, tripping on rocks, getting
getting eaten by mosquitoes and drenched in sweat because of the humidity, not knowing what's ahead or hiking in New England. If you can't tell, I prefer hiking out West. But when I do hike in New England, I do get the benefit and the joy of being on the trail and seeing the view at the top. But I went on a hike in October.
during the foliage this year in New England and it was gorgeous. Like it was beautiful the whole way up seeing the colorful leaves and being in nature it was a trail where luckily like nobody else was on it which is very rare in New England in the fall because of all the foliage folk who want to come and look at all of our leaves. But it was this magical experience but it was really tough. Like I was huffing and puffing and it was a workout.
where I didn't get to really see the view, the full view, until after an hour of hiking. It was a relatively short hike, but still quite the effort. But out West, I did this hike, it was many years ago now, but it still sticks out to me. It was a hike in Utah and I was visiting my brother who lives there.
And I asked, I was with my sister and one of our very close friends. And so we asked my brother and his friends for a hiking recommendation and they threw out a few different options. You they were talking about amongst themselves like, what about this? No, what about this? And one of his friends was like, the girls should do sunset peak. And there was a muttering amongst the friends. They were like, ooh, I don't know. That's a pretty big hike. Like it's pretty good vertical gain.
and the friend was like, no, you can do it. You girls can do it. And so we were like, all right, we're going to go do sunset peak based on this recommendation and not a lot of other research. and so this trail was the beginning was like all of these beautiful quaking Aspen. It was a really gradual start, you know, confidence boost happening like, wow, this is gorgeous. Start getting some elevation gain. There's that.
the switchbacks where you're going back and forth, you know, and starting to feel a little bit more exertion of energy and effort. And we came out to this really beautiful set of ponds. And I thought we must be getting close to the end because we had done quite a bit of hiking. We were at this beautiful view, but I knew there was gonna be obviously a peak, it's in the name. And so we get to these ponds and we're like, all right, which way now? You know, there were a bunch of different trails that went out.
And my sister pointed up to this beautiful, steep, tall, big peak in the distance. And she said, I think that's where we're going. And it was a totally bald trail, meaning it was gravelly rocks, no trees. And you could see the switchbacks going all the way up. And my brain was like, there is absolutely no way that is the trail that we're going up. I can't do that.
That was the limiting belief that immediately popped into my brain. I can't do that. That looks hard. That looks uncomfortable. There was a fear of like, what if I literally can't? And obviously with hiking, it's like a legit safety concern to be like, can I physically do that? But I knew that I could push myself. I knew that I could go at a pace that would work for me. I knew I had the support and encouragement and acceptance of my slow hiking pace from my sister and our friend.
And I knew it would be hard and uncomfortable, but it would be worth it. And this is growth mindset. It's embracing challenges, it's embracing setback, persisting through setbacks. It's learning from your past experiences, pushing yourself in a safe and sustainable way, focusing on the effort, giving yourself credit for the effort and not necessarily just the outcome, right? If I had waited until
I got to Sunset Peak, spoiler alert, we did get up there. If I had waited until I got all the way to the top of the mountain to be like, I did it, that would have been really hard. Like I gave myself credit for one, waking up early and showing up for the hike, two, hiking many a distance to what I thought was gonna be almost the finish line and then realizing, we still have a long ways to go.
Right? Giving myself credit for taking it literally one step at a time. Like as we got closer to the peak, I was taking one step pausing, one step pausing, which if you've ever hiked and like imagined the toughest hike you've ever done for me at this, at that time, this was that hike. This was the toughest hike I'd ever done. It was hot. We were in open sunlight at that point.
At one point there was a gentleman coming down with his hiking poles and I made the hiker mistake. said, are we getting close? And he said, no. And I was like, oh my gosh, why? Why couldn't you just, you told me like, yes, you're closer than you were 10, 20 minutes ago. But I got to the top, we got to the top exhausted, sweaty, a little bit sunburned, but there was this beautiful 360.
degree view of so many other mountains and it was just amazing. If you are a hiker or if you've been out in nature and you have that like my gosh aha like wonder moment I had that in this in this moment especially after doing such a big hike.
And I ate the best peanut butter and jelly and apple, peanut butter, jelly sandwich and apple of my entire life. If you know, you know, when you get to a peak, you eat your hiking snack. And I have a picture of this summit hanging in my home and I look at it often. And it's a great reminder of the process of working through discomfort towards your goals and focusing on the process and giving yourself credit.
the whole way, not just when you get to the finish line or when you hit that point of what feels like should be the success mark. And this is true. This is a great analogy for any goal, right? So whether it's a New England hiking goal where you can't see the finish line, what's coming, working extra hard or...
the out west hiking switchbacks, views along the way, right? Both of them were still really tough hikes, but different experiences, right? So whether that's maybe a goal that you're thinking about right now or working towards right now or have worked towards in the past related to health, exercise, meal prepping, mindfulness, your mental health, meditation, working with a therapist, personal goals like learning a language, reading, picking up hobbies,
Knitting a scarf, signing up for a pottery class, academic goals, working towards a degree or certification, passing a class, passing in an assignment, professional goals, doing well at work, advancing, getting promotions, or if you're someone who wants to start your own business, you've already done that or you're growing your business, right?
You're working on goals, whether or not you're naming it or not, and not that you have to name it, but I think it's good to kind of look at your growth mindset, look at your head space around your goals. And I want you to just pause right now to reflect on your own life. I know I'm doing some big reflecting in my life, but I wanna create this space for you to reflect. What is something that you've done in the past that you didn't think was possible?
Or what is something that you've taken action on that you want to give yourself credit for? And this can be something that fits into any of those categories of goals I just shared or something else that might come to mind for you. But I want you to really, whether it's right now in this moment, if something pops into your mind or if it's not popping in right now, maybe it's pausing later today or this week and doing some reflecting when you're out on a walk or doing some journaling or talking with
someone, a loved one, but I really want to challenge you to do this type of reflection. What is something that you want to give yourself credit for? What is a challenge that you have worked through? And it does not need to be a certain size or a certain type. It can be, right? It might feel like it was something small, but it was actually really meaningful, impactful, and important. But I want you to have this data point for yourself that you have done hard things. You have
risen to the challenge. You have growth mindset, even if you're like, Sarah, I don't. You do. It's a practice. This type of thinking is a practice. And part of the reason I wanted to share this story on this podcast today is because this one's a special one for me. I'm celebrating one year of podcasting. And I thought about starting this podcast
for a long time before I actually took concrete action on it. It was a someday goal for me. Someday, I want to share what I've learned and what I support people on in a podcast. And this was a terrifying thing for me to start, to be able to put myself out in this way, to be vulnerable.
And I have this piece of art that's hanging in my office. If you're on my email list, I have sent this to you before, but it's an artist that I stumbled upon on Instagram of all places. Her name is Sarah Nielsen. Her Instagram handle is just froggetaboutit because all of her art is an adorable cartoon frog doing something and basically motivational art. And...
The picture is of a frog sitting on the ground, reaching for his toes, or her toes, or their toes, and it's adorable. And the frog can't reach their toes quite yet. And the writing above it says, I'm not afraid to be seen trying. And I have spent a lot of my life afraid to be seen trying.
I've avoided things, I've had the hopes and dreams of doing things, but put them off or worked on them quietly until I felt more confident and ready to share them publicly, even within like friends and family, not just like, you know, to the internet. That's a different thing too. But I've spent a lot of my life afraid to be seen trying. And I've recorded previous podcast episodes about
perfectionism, about overwhelm, about the challenges of asking for help. So if you are someone who resonates with this, like, it's scary to be seen, it's scary to put yourself out there, it's vulnerable to do that. This idea of not being afraid to be seen trying is a form of growth mindset. So even though I have this on my wall, and I say this to myself, I'm not afraid to be seen trying.
There is still some of that underlying fear, anxiety, right? Self-talk, limiting beliefs that can pop up, but it's an awareness piece to be like, hey, these thoughts are there. They might keep me stuck. So what can I do about that? How can I really grasp on and lean into this growth mindset? And this is what, so I do this in my real life and it's what I also help.
clients do this like formula of like noticing what's keeping you stuck. Fear, fear of failure, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, right? There might be, there's so many other categories of things that can keep you stuck, but in the theme of this podcast episode, right? Those were some of mine. And then, so being able to name that for yourself and then looking at, what strategy can I pull from my toolbox?
that is going to align with the reason that I'm feeling stuck. So for an example, with this podcast, I had a lot of all or nothing thinking or perfectionism around, well, if I'm gonna start a podcast, I need to commit to releasing an episode every week. And that is a goal and I had to be able to adjust it to fit reality.
Yes, I think I've released an episode every single week. There might've been one or two that I skipped around holidays when I first started. But you might've also noticed that back in September when my life was chaotic, I had a lot of things going on, I did not record any new episodes. I re-released some of my favorite and some of your favorite episodes, right? So I adjusted the expectations I was putting on myself.
to fit the reality of my situation. I challenged that all or nothing thinking. I also gave myself permission to change how I worked on the podcast. When I first started, I was batch recording episodes. I was recording four episodes over the course of like one to two days, and that worked well for a while. But then my life shifted, and there was a period of time where I was recording one episode a week and kind of winging it.
still not a true winging it, but felt like winging it for me. You probably know this about me. I'm a planner. I like having a plan. But right, was a practice for me to be like, okay, I'm going to shift how I do this to fit what life is looking like. And then it's also looking at what is your self-talk? How can you give yourself reframes and reminders when these automatic thoughts are popping up, when you're feeling stuck?
And so for me, pressing record that first episode, my gosh, it was so scary, so stressful. I rerecorded it multiple times. And so I had to remind myself, like, it'll get easier each time I press record. I'm not a professional podcaster or public speaker, but I have a lot of information in my decade plus of coaching that I wanted to be able to share with you. And then the other piece of this formula for getting unstuck and taking action and working on growth mindset,
is to have support and accountability. And that can look very different. For me, it was hiring a podcast coach, hiring somebody to do the editing, and joining a podcast membership where I could talk with other podcasters and be part of a community. that was, did heavy support at the beginning and then tapered off as I got more confident with my process procedure and.
the growth of this podcast and how I was working towards goals on this podcast. But support and accountability is huge and so important and cannot be overlooked. And it does not always have to be hiring out help. It can be asking for peer to peer support from a colleague, a friend, a loved one. There are so many different ways to create that for yourself depending on your goal or depending on what you feel stuck on. So if you're resonating with this idea of
being afraid to be seen trying or afraid to try, I wanna leave you with a couple of reminders. Trying is the first step to doing. Trying is the first step to doing. And trying can be uncomfortable. And navigating discomfort is part of that process. Asking for help is hard and it's worth it.
I have way more thoughts on this, but I want to be mindful of our time together and keep this episode to as close to 20 minutes as possible. But I will explore those topics in future episodes, especially the navigating discomfort part. It's something I talk about on a daily basis with my clients and is just, I think it's an important topic that I want to talk about more. So there will be future content on that. But I just want to say thank you so much for being part of my podcast community again.
Whether it's the first episode or 49th episode you've listened to, I'm really grateful for you being here. Podcasting is weird. I sit by myself in my office occasionally with my dogs and I just chat and I put it out into the universe, into the internet, into the world. And I don't really know who's listening. It's a very different form of connection. But many of you have reached out.
over email or Instagram or written reviews telling me how much this podcast means to you. And that truly means the world to me. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been coaching for over 11 years. I think I'll be hitting 12 years in January, which is wild. And I want to be able to share what I know and what I've learned and what I've seen my clients do far and wide, because I know coaching is not.
always accessible. So please continue to share this podcast with people who you think would enjoy it. And I kindly ask you, if you have connected with this podcast in past episodes, please consider leaving a five-star rating or writing a review on Apple podcasts. It helps other people find the podcast and spread this far and wide. So again, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here and I'm looking forward to
many episodes together.
