The Mountain You Chose to Climb
By Hiran de Silva
Let me start with a story.
There is a mountaineer.
In his region, there is a famous mountain.
Everyone talks about it.
Anyone who is serious about mountaineering has climbed it.
Reaching the summit is seen as proof—you’ve made it.
So one day, he decides: I’m going to do it.
He trains.
He climbs.
The terrain is difficult—steep sections, tricky passages.
It tests him.
Eventually… he reaches the top.
He stands at the summit.
Proud.
Satisfied.
Victorious.
From that height, he can see for miles.
A breathtaking view.
And then—
He sees it.
Another mountain.
Right next to him.
Higher.
More significant.
More… important.
And in that moment, he realises:
That was the mountain he thought he was climbing.
But the problem isn’t just disappointment.
The real problem is this:
He cannot get from this summit to that one.
There is no ridge.
No shortcut.
No clever traverse.
If he wants to reach the real summit—
He has to go all the way back down…
and start again.
The Moral
There are mountains…
and there are mountains.
Some are impressive.
Some are difficult.
Some are celebrated.
But not all of them lead to where you actually want to go.
So the real question is not:
- Can you climb?
But:
- Which mountain are you climbing?
- Why are you climbing it?
- Do you even realise which one you’re on?
The Excel Version of This Story
This is exactly what I see in Excel.
Everywhere.
The First Pyramid (The One Everyone Sees)
You’ve seen it.
The Excel skills pyramid.
It usually looks something like this:
- Copy / Paste
- Basic formulas
- VLOOKUP / INDEX-MATCH
- Pivot Tables
- Dynamic Arrays / XLOOKUP
- Power Query
- DAX / M Code
It gives a very clear message:
“Keep climbing.
Learn more features.
Move up the pyramid.”
And it works.
You do improve.
You do feel progress.
You do reach a kind of summit.
But Then Something Happens
At the top—
A strange realisation:
“I’m very good at Excel…
but nothing fundamentally changed.”
You are still:
- Working inside workbooks
- Moving data around manually (or semi-automatically)
- Building increasingly complex solutions
- Managing more… rather than eliminating work
And then—
You look across.
The Second Pyramid (The One Few People See)
There is another pyramid.
But it is not based on features.
It is based on:
- System design
- Data architecture
- Business responsibility
- Flow of information
- Separation of data and interface
This pyramid is not about:
“What Excel can do”
It is about:
“What the business actually needs.”
And this is where the shock comes.
Because when you see it—
You realise:
You were climbing the wrong mountain.
The Fork in the Road (That No One Talks About)
What makes this even more powerful is this:
At the beginning…
The paths look identical.
Same Excel.
Same grids.
Same formulas.
But at some point—quietly, invisibly—
A decision is made.
Not consciously.
But through:
- Training
- YouTube
- Certifications
- Influencer content
You are guided…
Almost pulled…
Down the left path.
The Left Path:
- More features
- More complexity
- More techniques
- More effort
The Right Path:
- Better structure
- Centralised data
- Simpler front-ends
- Less work
The further you go…
The wider the gap becomes.
And eventually—
From high up on the left path—
You can see the right one.
Clearly.
And you realise:
That’s where the real value is.
That’s where the simplicity is.
That’s where the money is.
But now?
You can’t just step across.
You have to go back.
Why This Matters (And Why People Resist It)
When people see my end result—
They say:
“That’s too advanced.”
“That’s not for normal users.”
And I understand why.
Because what they are seeing is the summit.
So I built something different.
A stepwise model.
Not big jumps.
Small steps.
Very small steps.
And I ask a simple question:
At what exact step do you believe this becomes “too advanced”?
Not the end result.
The step.
Because if no one can answer that—
Then the real issue isn’t capability.
It’s perception.
The Deeper Idea: Progressive Illumination
There is another layer to this.
And this is important.
Because even within a single pyramid—
There is a phenomenon.
At each level of learning:
- What you learn next
- Doesn’t just add knowledge
It challenges what you previously believed.
You realise:
- What you thought was “good” is limited
- What you thought was “advanced” is inefficient
- What you thought was “best practice” is… not
And as you move up—
You feel something very specific:
Liberation.
Because you are not just learning more.
You are:
- Seeing more clearly
- Thinking more freely
- Letting go of previous constraints
And eventually—
You reach a point where you think:
“There must be something even beyond this…”
That is the mindset I am trying to encourage.
Where This Is Going (Part 2)
In the next part—
I will show the two pyramids side by side.
And more importantly—
I will walk through a real budgeting scenario, step by step—
Where you can actually see:
- The fork
- The divergence
- And the outcome
Not as theory.
But as a working model.
Because once you see it—
You won’t just understand the difference.
You’ll realise:
You’ve been standing on the wrong mountain all along.
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