Climbing the Right Ladder Beats Running Fast in the Wrong Direction

Day 4 of 30 – Why alignment is more important than speed

Author

Selim Uysal
June 04, 2025

Hi friend,

We often assume that if we just move fast enough—send more emails, cross off more tasks, keep momentum going—we’ll eventually reach our goal.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: speed means nothing if you’re headed in the wrong direction.

This week, I ran into that exact wall.

I’ve been doing outreach for my ghostwriting business. Lots of it.

Emails, follow-ups, CRM updates. A solid system, or so I thought.

But after a few days of effort and silence, I stepped back to look closer.

And I realized: most of the people I was reaching out to weren’t even close to my ideal client.

The problem wasn’t the system. It wasn’t the effort.

It was direction.

That’s when I remembered the quote by Stephen Covey:

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

Stephen R. Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

It hit me hard.

I wasn’t building the wrong ladder. I was just climbing it in the wrong place.

So I paused everything and redefined my direction:

→ Who do I want to help?

→ What do they struggle with?

→ What signals tell me someone is a perfect fit?

And then I used AI to make the rest easier.

🧠 A simple AI prompt to clarify direction before you act

Here’s the exact prompt I used to rethink my outreach strategy:

“I want to grow my ghostwriting business. What are the 3 most important questions I should answer to define my ideal client before doing outreach?”

You can use a version of this for almost anything:

“I want to achieve [insert your goal]. What are the 3 key decisions I should clarify before I take action, so I don’t waste time climbing the wrong ladder?”

It’s a small pause that can save weeks of wasted energy.

📌 Have you ever realized you were climbing the wrong ladder?

Hit reply and tell me, I’d love to hear.

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📬 Want more prompts like this?

→ Subscribe here: productiveknowledgeworker.com

→ Catch up on the full series here: productiveknowledgeworker.com

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🤝 If you’re a productivity coach/content creator or a B2B SaaS founder, DM me “ladder”, I’ll help you clarify your next step.

Let’s get back to the right wall.

Selim

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