Everyone Photographs the Summit. Nobody Photographs the Climb.

There’s always a story behind success or failure. Behind that story is a long series of events: decisions, work, and probably a few sleepless nights. Together they lead to the peak, or sometimes to the fall.

But we only ever see the final moment. The striker who scores gets the headlines, not the player who built the whole move that made the goal possible.

Everyone photographs the summit

Think of a mountain. Everyone takes photos at the top of Table Mountain. Nobody takes them at the bottom. And often the climb gets cleaned up altogether, like taking the cable car, so only the view is left. That view becomes the post.

Careers work the same way, and LinkedIn is the clearest example: a collection of everyone’s peaks, all in one place. The promotion, the launch, the award. Not the years of work, the rejections and restarts, or the late nights nobody saw.

Why it can hit hard

Scroll through a feed of peaks when you’re already down and it can hit hard. It looks as if success is happening to everyone, all the time. You’re shown the view from the cable car, never the hike, and it’s easy to conclude that you’re the only one still climbing.

You’re not. Everyone whose summit you’re looking at climbed too. You just didn’t see it.

A simple rule

That’s when a break matters. My rule of thumb over the years has become simple: if I don’t gain anything from a platform, I don’t use it. In practice that means noticing how I feel after scrolling, keeping what teaches or supports me, and stepping away without guilt when it doesn’t.

Peace of mind has become the most important part of life for me. No feed is worth trading it for.

How do you approach your use of platforms like this?