Mental Health – mardihumphreys.com

Fly Like a Pilot

Every Monday you probably write a to-do list like you’re building a small, ambitious civilization. Thirty-seven items. Color-coded, maybe. A few quick wins sprinkled in so you feel like you’re adulting. Then the week happens. Three hours of meetings a day. Slack pinging like popcorn on a stove. A teammate drops an ask that is urgent and vague. A client changes their mind. Your boss needs help. By Wednesday, your list hasn’t been touched. By Thursday night you’re doing the actual work after dinner because daytime got eaten alive. By Sunday, there’s that familiar anxious feeling: I was busy the whole time but I didn’t do what mattered. That’s not a motivation problem. That’s a piloting problem. A pilot decides where the plane is going. They adjust for weather. They make trade-offs when fuel is limited. They don’t try to fly to twelve destinations at once because the map has a lot of options. A to-do list is not a pilot. It’s a storage unit. Your week needs pilot energy.

Are You Really Fine?

Unclear priorities create reactive days and anxious nights. When you don’t choose what matters most, your environment chooses for you. Teams Chat chooses. Meetings choose. Other people’s urgency chooses. And if you’re on an understaffed team you’ll end up spending your best hours responding, coordinating, and firefighting, then borrowing time from your evening to do your actual work. That’s how you become the person who’s both always working and always behind. Not because you’re failing. Because your week has no pilot.

The Fix

Pick One Outcome for the week. This is the thing that, if it’s true by Friday, you can honestly say: This week counted. Not I survived. Not I answered things. Counted. Your One Outcome can be one of these:

A deliverable: ship X, send the deck, publish the doc, launch the feature.
A decision: choose Y, approve the plan, commit to the approach.
A metric: reduce backlog by Z%, cut response time, close five open loops.
A relationship win: align stakeholders, repair a cross-team miscommunication, get clarity with your manager.

You’re not choosing the only thing you’ll do. You’re choosing the thing the week will serve. Everything else either supports it or waits. That’s a pilot move.

How to Choose Your One Outcome in 10 minutes

Open your calendar and look at the reality, not how you wish it looked. Now ask three questions:

What would make Friday feel lighter? What’s the one thing hanging over you that’s making the voices very loud in your head?
What would create momentum next week? The best One Outcome unlocks future progress. It reduces dependence, ambiguity, or rework.
What’s the smallest version of success? Not perfectly done but meaningfully done. Perfectionism is how a One Outcome becomes a zero outcome.

Write your One Outcome as a sentence you could measure:

By Friday 3pm, the Q2 plan is approved by Finance and Marketing.
By Friday, the client decision is made: Option A or B.
By Friday, the onboarding doc exists and is shared with the team.

How do you manage your never-ending to-do list? Please share in the comments.

For the extended article including examples of how to fly your week like a pilot (not a passenger) sent right to your inbox, subscribe to my Substack here.

Get Your Brain Back

You’re technically done for the day, but your mind is still at work. You’re heating up dinner, and your phone lights up. You tell yourself you’ll just check Slack or Teams. Five minutes later you’re replying, clarifying, and re-reading a thread you didn’t start. That’s the always-on mentality. It’s not just that you can communicate from anywhere. You feel like you should. That pressure isn’t random. It’s wired into the way virtual communication works.

Virtual Messages Feel Urgent

In an office, urgency has cues. Someone walks quickly to your desk. A calendar invite pops up titled URGENT. You overhear the tension in a conversation. Online, everything looks the same: a ping, a red badge, a little green dot next to someone’s name. A casual question and a true emergency arrive wearing the same outfit. That ambiguity pushes you into a default mode: respond fast to be safe. Your brain hates open loops, and modern work quietly trains you to treat responsiveness like competence.

The Sneaky Cost

Always-on communication doesn’t usually blow up your day in one dramatic moment. It erodes your attention in constant nibbles.

For example, you’re writing a proposal. Ping. You answer. Back to the draft. Ping. You clarify. Back to the draft. Ping. Someone adds a quick question (the two most dangerous words in workforce history). You switch again. The result: you’re busy all day and strangely dissatisfied at the end of it. Work that changes outcomes like strategy, analysis, writing, planning, or decision-making, needs uninterrupted thought. Virtual communication is designed to interrupt you.

Availability as a Performance Metric

Here’s the quiet part nobody says out loud: in many teams, being reachable has become a stand-in for being valuable. You reply quickly, so you appear to be on top of the situation. You’re always online, so you look committed. You respond at night, so you look like a high performer. But that’s not high performance. That’s high visibility. And it often backfires. When responsiveness is rewarded, you get more messages. More messages create more interruptions. More interruptions lower quality, increase rework, and make everything feel more chaotic.

The Real Issue

Virtual communication hijacks your attention with:

Uncertainty – What if it’s urgent?
Social Pressure – They’ll think I’m not responsive.
Variable Rewards – Sometimes a message is trivial, sometimes it’s a fire. Your brain keeps checking like it’s pulling a slot machine lever.

Instead of relying on willpower, you need rules and norms. The kind you can actually follow on a Tuesday.

A Couple of Things You Can Do

Replace boundaries with response windows: Vague boundaries sound nice. Specific behavior changes actually work. Try saying these:

I check messages at :15 and :45 each hour.
I respond to non-urgent messages within 24 business hours.
I’m in deep work 9–11. If it’s urgent, call.

You’re not refusing communication. You’re upgrading it from constant to intentional.

Define urgent as a team sport: A lot of workplace stress comes from mismatched expectations. You think urgent means today. Someone else thinks it means now. Propose a simple shared definition:

Urgent: production issue, customer impact, deadline moved up, work blocked.
Not urgent: FYIs, feedback that isn’t blocking, quick questions, brainstorming.
Then add one rule: urgent gets a different channel. If it’s truly urgent, it should be a call, a tagged message, or a specific label, not a casual ping.

How do you turn off the always-on mentality? Please share in the comments.

For three more things you can do and a five-day Always-On Detox Plan sent right to your inbox for free, subscribe to my Substack here.

Boundaries Have Consequences

I received this valuable feedback about last week’s discussion, Overcommitted:
“We think all we have to do is set up a boundary. But people push our boundaries and we have to defend them. That can be uncomfortable with coworkers and career threatening with higher-ups.”

Thank you for that point! Let’s talk about one of the trickiest situations you’ll face at work: holding boundaries when leadership pushes against them.

Risks and Rewards

Short-Term Discomfort: A manager who’s used to hearing “yes” may interpret a boundary as resistance or lack of commitment. This can feel awkward but that discomfort is temporary. Help them see how your intentionality makes you more reliable and engaged than ever.

Impact on Visibility: You worry about missing out on plum projects or promotions. Stay visible by over communicating progress on your existing priorities. Show that focus equals results. For example, “I’m wrapping up X this week, which should free up space for Y next quarter.” This helps you manage perception as much as workload.

Improved Respect: When you can say, “I’d love to take that on, but I want to make sure I can deliver the quality you expect,” you’re signaling maturity, not obstinance. Strong performers set boundaries because they care about doing things well.

Clarity Around Expectations: Your manager genuinely doesn’t realize the load you’re carrying. Communicating your bandwidth creates an opportunity to clarify what’s most important and what can wait. A respectful reality check helps both of you prioritize smarter.

Long-Term Career Growth: The same boundaries that cause friction early on often pay off later. People who manage their workload wisely are less likely to burn out, make fewer mistakes, and are more trusted with high-stakes projects. Leadership isn’t about taking everything on. It’s about taking on what moves the organization closer to its goals.

When It’s Your Manager Asking

When your manager gives you an assignment, you can’t just shrug and say, “Nope.” But you can negotiate.

When your plate is already full: “I’d love to help, and I want to make sure I’m meeting current deadlines. Can we talk about what should come off my plate if I take this on?” This signals realistic willingness and invites collaboration. You’re cooperating and making trade-offs visible.

When it’s clearly not your responsibility: “That sounds important. Who’s the best person to own that? I can share what’s worked for me in similar situations.” This reframes the request as problem-solving, not avoidance.

When the request is unclear: “Can you help me understand the goal of this task? I want to make sure it aligns with what we’re prioritizing right now.” This helps your manager think about the urgency of the task.

The next time you’re tempted to say yes out of habit, ask yourself: Is this task aligned with my goals? Will saying yes help me grow or just keep me busy? What am I giving up by agreeing to this?

What is a boundary you are glad you held? Please share in the comments.

Hold on Loosely

You’ve heard of job hopping. Meet its quieter cousin: job hugging. It’s what happens when you hold on to your current role like it’s the last lifeboat on the Titanic. Let’s talk about what’s happening and what you can do about it.

What It Is

After years of high turnover during the Great Resignation, the pendulum has swung the other way. Companies have slowed hiring. Layoffs still make headlines. Pay growth is flattening. You see fewer “We’re hiring!” posts on LinkedIn. So, you do what many smart, responsible professionals do. You cling to what you know. The steady paycheck. The predictable routine. The illusion of safety. But comfort and security aren’t always the same thing.

Why It’s Happening

The labor market is tight. Many companies are still rebalancing after over-hiring during the pandemic. Simultaneously, economic uncertainty, from interest rates to election cycles, makes even confident professionals hesitate. You might think it’s not the right time to make a move and you’re wise to be cautious, but there’s a difference between being careful and getting stuck. That stuck feeling is what’s fueling job hugging: a mix of fear and perceived safety.

The Risks of Holding Too Tight

Stalled skills: When you stay in one environment too long, your learning curve flattens. For example, a project manager who’s been at her company for six years knows every client, every template, every shortcut. But the market’s moved on to new project-tracking software and if she hasn’t even touched it then she’s behind competitors who’ve adapted.

Missed opportunities: By not looking, you don’t see what’s out there. Even if you’re not ready to switch, keeping an eye on job trends tells you what skills are in demand, what salaries are rising, and which companies are growing.

Long-term financial stagnation: According to Statista, in 2022 job switchers used to get an annual pay increase of at least 15%. Those who stayed often saw only 7–8%. Today that gap has narrowed, but staying too long in one place can quietly cost you thousands in lifetime earnings.

Hug Your Job but Don’t Burn Out

Ask the hard question: Are you staying for the right reasons or just because it feels safe? If your only reason is fear, that’s not a strategy. That’s a stall. Write down what’s keeping you there: money, flexibility, benefits, etc. Weigh those against what you’re missing: growth, learning, pay, satisfaction. The clearer you see it, the easier it is to act intentionally.

Invest in yourself: Take advantage of internal upskilling budgets, cross-training, or free tools. If that’s not an option, spend a few hours a week learning new technology, obtaining certifications, or practicing soft skills. (Pssst…Access to LinkedIn Learning is free with your Dayton Metro Library card.) The best time to build marketable skills is before you need them.

Nurture your network: You don’t have to launch a full-on job search. Just reconnect. Send a LinkedIn message to a former coworker. Attend a virtual event. Comment on industry posts. These small touches keep your professional circle alive and position you for future moves.

Update your materials: Quietly refresh your résumé. Polish your LinkedIn profile. Pull up your Atta Baby! file and jot down your recent wins and metrics while they’re fresh. Think of it as career hygiene. You brush your teeth daily; you should update your career toolkit quarterly.

Get curious: Ask to shadow another team. Volunteer for a cross-department project. Learn how your company is making money this year. Curiosity keeps your brain sharp and your résumé interesting.

What is one thing you’ll do this week to prepare for your next opportunity? Please share in the comments.

The Art of Ignoring

Willpower isn’t just about resisting the urge to check Slack every time it pings. It’s about deliberate focus.

Focus Like a Lens

Think of your attention like the lens in your eye. When you focus on something close, the background blurs. Willpower works the same way. It sharpens your mental focus so one task comes into crystal-clear view while the rest fades away. When you say, “I’m finishing this presentation before lunch,” you’re choosing clarity over clutter. But when you rapidly task switch (multitasking is a myth, btw) like editing slides, checking email, responding to a message from your boss, then you’re trying to keep everything in focus at once. That’s like asking your eyes to look near and far at the same time. You end up not seeing anything clearly.

Try this: Before you start a task, close out everything that’s not essential: browser tabs, Slack channels, your phone. You’ll be amazed how fast your brain clicks into single-focus mode once you remove the background noise.

How to Bend Willpower to Your Will

Willpower is more like a cat than a dog. You can’t force it to show up on demand. However, you can make it easier to access. When you design your environment to make discipline unnecessary, willpower becomes less about fighting temptation and more about removing it.

Try this: Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. For example: Keep healthy snacks visible; hide the candy. Put your phone across the room during meetings. Schedule deep work sessions at your mental peak (for many, that’s mid-morning).

Freedom in What You Don’t Do

Freedom at work doesn’t come from saying yes to everything. It comes from saying no to the wrong things. The freedom to end your day on time. The freedom to take lunch away from your desk. The freedom to leave unread emails… unread. Boundaries create breathing room. Without them, your time gets hijacked by other people’s priorities. True freedom at work is the ability to choose less on purpose.

Try this: Block “do not disturb” hours on your calendar and defend them like the Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon guards the Gringotts Wizarding Bank. You’ll feel your mental space expand almost immediately.

Willpower Needs Rest

Willpower is like a battery. If you drain it all day with constant decisions, nonstop meetings, and endless notifications, then it will fail you when you need it most. But when you rest and recharge, it grows stronger. Rest isn’t laziness; it’s maintenance. Take a walk. Eat lunch without your laptop. End your day instead of letting it fade into night. These aren’t indulgences. They are refueling stops for your brain.

Try this: Treat your focus like your phone battery. When it hits 20%, plug it in. For example, step away for five minutes, stretch, breathe, or just stare out a window. You’ll come back clearer and sharper.

How do you intentionally ignore what doesn’t matter so you can pour your attention into what does? Please share in the comments.

Three Down

“We don’t learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on the experience.” – John Dewey

Continuing the journey we started with Quarterly Contemplation and Half Way There, it’s time to pause and reflect on Q3.

Think About Your Thinking

You’re wrapping up a busy quarter at work. The projects, deadlines, and constant task juggling are all blurring together so it’s tempting to skip reflection. Think about how you handle your workweek. If a meeting runs over, what’s the first thing you cut? Chances are, it’s the five minutes you set aside to review your progress or reset your priorities. But if you do, then you’ll miss out on one of the most powerful and affordable tools available for professional growth. The same happens at the end of a quarter. Please pause and process what happened so you don’t walk into Q4 on autopilot carrying forward habits that do not serve you.

We treat reflection as optional, but it’s actually central to learning. It’s more than replaying events in your head. It requires metacognition: thinking about your thinking. You consider what worked, what didn’t, and why. You connect past choices to future goals. And when you articulate that process (even just jotting notes in a document), you’re strengthening a skill set that compounds over time.

Your output isn’t just tasks. It’s also ideas, decisions, and problem-solving. Here are two common areas where reflection can make a difference:

Time Management: Maybe you intended to block out focus hours, but constant Slack pings derailed you. Reflection helps you spot patterns like this so you can try a new boundary next quarter.
Career Goals:. You might be good at executing tasks but realize you’ve spent little time building skills for the role you actually want. Reflection surfaces those blind spots before another quarter slips by.

These aren’t abstract benefits. They show up in real ways: fewer late nights at the laptop, better alignment with your manager’s expectations, and more energy for projects that matter to you. Give yourself targeted questions. Think of them as prompts that guide your thinking and keep you honest. Over time, you’ll get faster at noticing themes in your work and more confident in making adjustments.

Questions to Ask Yourself

What were the major objectives I set at the start of the quarter, and did I meet them?

What work am I most proud of, and why?

What were the biggest challenges I faced, and how did I respond?

What is one habit I should start, stop, or continue doing to improve my workflow?

How did I contribute to the positive culture of my team?

What is my top goal for professional development before the end of the year?

Are my current projects and responsibilities still aligned with my long-term career aspirations?

What questions would you add to this list? Please share in the comments.

Your Real Budget

A house. An MBA. A vacation you’ve dreamt about since your first entry-level job. Big scary purchases like these force you to stop and ask a tough question. “Is it worth the money I’d have to spend?” But it’s not only about the price tag. It’s also about what else you have to trade for it: your time, energy, and attention in addition to your money. That’s your real budget. When any of those get stretched, your productivity, mental health, and values take the hit. How do you decide?

Let’s say you’re thinking about one of these:

An MBA program to switch careers or boost your salary.
Buying a house in a better school district.
Finally taking that two-week vacation to Europe.

They’re all valid options. And they all come with a cost.

Will this drain your capacity for work you care about?
Will this choice add to your stress?
Will you regret doing it?
Will you regret not doing it?

What Are You Really Investing?

Earning your MBA is not only tuition, It’s also late nights, weekend classes, fewer hours for friends, family, or rest. If your job is already demanding, is your current energy level up for this?

Buying a house may seem like an upgrade. But it may double your commute, stretch your mortgage, or add home maintenance tasks you never had to think about. Can you make time for that?

Even the vacation, which sounds like self-care, can eat up time in planning, money you may need later, and attention you should be giving to pressing deadlines. Do you have the attention span for it?

Think about:

Are you willing to invest the time it takes to make this work?
Do you have the energy for it, or are you borrowing against burnout?
What other priorities will lose your attention?
What will you have to say no to, either now or later, because of this cost?

Are You Doing This for the Right Reasons?

Your college friends are going back for grad school. Your family thinks it’s time you bought property. Your coworker just returned from Italy. But if the cost doesn’t line up with your values, it’s going to backfire. For example:

If freedom is a core value, taking on $80K in student debt may weigh you down more than it lifts you up.
If you value stability, moving across the country for a job with a higher salary, and a higher cost of living, may not be the right move.
If competition drives you, the selfies you take in Milan may one up your coworker temporarily, but the cost is long-term.

What Are the Long-term Consequences?

Imagine yourself three years from now:

Will the MBA help you earn more, or delay your ability to save for a home?
Will buying a house now lock you into a job you’re already outgrowing?
Will a vacation refresh you or set back your emergency fund?
Will this investment open more doors or close some?
Will it still feel like it was worth your time, energy, attention, and money?

How do you make decisions about the resources that shape your life? Please share in the comments.

Financial Freedom

We are preparing to celebrate Independence Day here in America. Financial Independence is a goal for many of us. It can impact the jobs you take, how you choose to save your income, and how you decide to spend it. What does financial independence mean exactly? How much money do you need? How long will it take to achieve?

What Is It?

Financial independence means you don’t have to work to cover your basic living expenses. Your money through savings, investments, or passive income covers the essentials. You work because you want to, not because you have to. Financial security means you can weather a surprise expense like a car repair or a medical bill without spiraling into debt.

How Much Do You Need?

There’s no one-size-fits-all number, but there are some rules of thumb. A popular one is the “25x rule”: multiply your annual expenses by 25. That’s roughly how much you’d need to have saved and invested to consider yourself financially independent. For example, if you spend $50,000 a year, then you’d need about $1.25 million saved to live off a 4% withdrawal rate, which is generally considered sustainable. If your goal isn’t retirement but options, you don’t have to wait for that number. If you have a solid emergency fund (6-9 months of expenses), no high-interest debt, and some savings built up, you’re already gaining both financial freedom and decision-making power.

How Long Will It Take?

The more you earn and the less you spend, the faster you can save and invest and the fewer years you may need to work. But there’s a tradeoff. Chasing higher pay often comes with longer hours, more stress, and less time for life.

How Does It Affect Your Choices?

Which job you accept: Do you take the high-paying role with the long commute, or the one that pays less but lets you work from home three days a week?
How long you stay: You may put in three more years at a demanding job to hit your savings target, or leave early if the tradeoff stops being worth it.
What kind of work you pursue: You may take a risk on a startup, a nonprofit, or a new field entirely because your finances give you the freedom to.
The questions you ask: What’s the return on investment for staying late to impress your boss vs. using that time to build a side income or upskill?
Your priorities: Does this promotion align with your long-term goals, or just lock you into more stress for a bit more money?
Your values: You may decide it’s worth paying for conveniences (like grocery delivery or a house cleaner) so you can spend more time resting, learning, or building your next move.

What You Can Do?

Know your number: Calculate how much you spend annually and multiply by 25. That’s your financial independence target.
Audit your time: Track how much time you spend on work, commuting, side gigs, and rest. Is your time supporting your financial goals or working against them?
Automate your savings: Set up auto-transfers into a high-yield savings account or Roth IRA. Even $100 a month adds up.
Evaluate job offers holistically: Don’t just chase salary. Look at total compensation, health benefits, schedule flexibility, and burnout risk.
Think in seasons: It’s okay to sprint for a few years to build savings as long as you have a plan to rest, pivot, or reprioritize later.

What are you doing to secure your financial independence? Please share in the comments.

Half Way There

Back in March, we did a reflection on the first quarter of the year. Now that we’re approaching the end of Q2, it’s time to evaluate the first half of 2025.

If you read the article, Quarterly Contemplation, and followed the final prompt to set goals for the following three months, pull those out. Did you achieve them? If so, what behaviors helped you? What got in the way? What could you tweak? If you have not reached your Q1 goals yet, how are they coming?

Last week, we talked about measuring success. I received feedback asking how you can shift your mindset when you are in the habit of comparing yourself to others. So, let’s focus on that for our end of Q2 reflection. These questions are meant to keep you anchored in what you can control: your choices, your mindset, and your direction.

Am I living up to my values?

It’s easy to get distracted by other people’s milestones, but their path may have nothing to do with what matters to you. Maybe you value creativity, but you’re comparing yourself to someone who’s climbing the management ladder. Different values, different paths.

For Example: Let’s say you’re in a marketing role and someone else on your team is great at landing speaking gigs. Before you start thinking, “I should be doing that,” ask yourself: “Is that the kind of contribution I want to make?” Maybe you care more about solving tough messaging problems or mentoring newer teammates. Write down your top three values related to work. For Q3, what happens when you align your daily tasks with them?

Do I know what my purpose is?

Purpose doesn’t have to mean saving the world. It can be as simple as learning your craft, building relationships, or getting better at delegation. The key is knowing what your work is building.

For Example: Let’s say you’re a project manager. Right now, your purpose might be building a track record of reliable delivery. That way, when bigger projects open up, you’re the obvious choice. Purpose creates direction and it helps you stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. Finish this sentence: “The purpose of my work right now is…” For Q3, what happens when you keep that sentence somewhere visible when you’re feeling distracted?

What’s my potential if I keep showing up?

It’s easy to get frustrated when success feels slow, but what could your job look like in six months if you stay consistent?

For Example: Think about a junior software developer learning a new coding language. Comparing yourself to a senior engineer won’t help but practicing every day will. The gap between where you are and where you want to be closes through daily effort, not overnight wins. For Q3, what if you strive for 1% improvement every day?

Does my behavior match the future I want?

Want to lead a team one day? Are you acting like someone who’s ready to lead? Want to be known as a problem-solver? Are you tackling problems, or waiting for someone else to handle them?

For Example: Let’s say you work in operations and your long-term goal is to move into leadership. Your future is shaped by today’s actions not by what someone else is doing. For Q3, what happens when you volunteer for cross-team projects? Offer solutions in meetings? Take ownership when things go sideways?

What are some questions you think we should ponder here at the end of Q2? Please share in the comments.

The Right Measure

If you constantly compare yourself to others, you chase a standard that shifts every time you get close. There’s always someone getting promoted faster, managing bigger projects, or getting more recognition than you. If you measure yourself by their successes, you’ll never feel like you’re enough.

And here’s the kicker: You likely judge yourself not by what others actually think, but by what you assume they think. You guess what your manager values. You assume your team sees you falling behind. You imagine that everyone else is operating at peak performance all the time. But that’s not real. And it’s not useful.

Flip Your Focus

The next time you compare yourself to a more successful coworker, try shifting your attention inward. Instead of asking, “Am I as successful as they are?” Ask yourself:

Am I better today than I was yesterday?
Did I learn something new?
Did I make a meaningful contribution?

That paradigm shift matters. Success is an external measure. It can be valuable information, but don’t let it define you. Use your success metrics like data. What are they telling you?

For example: Let’s say one of your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is the number of client accounts you manage. You’re under target by 10%. That doesn’t automatically mean you’re failing. Dig into it. Maybe you’ve been onboarding new clients. That work doesn’t count toward the metric but it still matters.

Use Your KPIs

Reframe the way you think about your KPIs. They aren’t a report card. They’re not a moral judgment. They’re tools. It’s easy to tie your identity to your outputs. But you don’t control every variable. You can’t make a customer sign a contract. You can’t force a stakeholder to give faster feedback. You can’t make a product ship before it’s ready.

But you can control your own actions: How many new leads did you contact today? How many blockers did you resolve on that project? How many updates did you send to keep others aligned? Those are behaviors you own. They compound. They create momentum.

When your KPIs aren’t where you want them, think about what needs to change. What’s missing or unclear? What habits or inputs can you adjust?

On the other hand, when they are where you want them to be, think about what’s working. Can you replicate it? Is this a system worth sharing with your team?

Your Progress

Instead of measuring success by comparing yourself to your coworkers, try measuring your progress. For example:

Do you have more connections than you did last month?
Did you reach out to more clients this week than last?
Did you lead a better meeting today than you did last week?

If so, you’re growing. That’s the measure that counts. Aim for getting 1% better every day. You get to decide what success looks like for you.

Your Future

Success is about the past. It’s what you did. But the past is over and you can’t change it without a DeLorean, a working flux capacitor, and plutonium. So, concentrate on today and tomorrow. You can’t control the future, but you can influence it. The way you manage your calendar today, the decisions you make in this meeting, the effort you bring to this email; all those actions shape what tomorrow will look like.

What is your measure of success? Please share in the comments.