Are you doing better than you think?

// My Problem

I’ve got this habit of focusing on the wrong thing.

- The stuff I haven’t done.
- The ideas still stuck in a notebook.
- The gap between where I am and where I thought I’d be.

It’s easy, isn’t it? To get caught up in the chase and to convince yourself that you’re behind - without ever stopping to ask, “Compared to what?”

But every now and then, something shifts. A conversation. A quiet win. A moment of stillness. And you realise… maybe you’re not as far off as you think. I've had quite a few of these moments over the last week - it's been nice to be reminded.

Maybe - just maybe - you’re already doing better than you give yourself credit for.

// How It Starts

It creeps in quietly, there's this small sense that you should be further along by now and social media doesn't help - I see smartly, hot snappy edits in videos and I look back at mine and I feel like I'm just sticking it together with Pritt Stick and Blu-Tax.. The niggle isn't always loud - it's just there, in the background.

Then my mind wanders into a project that’s still half-finished or towards the person who seems to be doing what you’re trying to do - only better.
You scroll past someone else’s update and, without meaning to, measure yourself against it.

It doesn’t feel like comparison. Not at first. It just feels like falling short. (and we can all relate to that right?)

You start to forget what you have done, mainly because it doesn’t look like much.
Not on paper.
Not next to everything you still want to do - but the thing is, people don't know what you still want to do, they only see what you have made and what you're about to release.

And that’s how it starts. The slow unwinding of progress - not because you’re not making any, but because you’ve stopped noticing it and that's definitely the case for me.. I stopped looking at my newsletter as a thing which was growing and I just remained consistent..

But here’s what’s also true - we rarely give ourselves the full picture.

We’re good at listing the things we haven’t done, but not so good at noticing the things we have. Last week was amazing because of the 'Relevance' video I released - I had so many voice notes, DM's and comments all 'bigging' me up and making me feel like I'd cracked the code and there are so many things like that.

But we forget to notice the stuff that didn’t get a big announcement or a pat on the back, but mattered all the same. Like the small video edit you finally finished after putting it off for weeks, The conversation you showed up for, even when your confidence was low and the newsletters you kept sending when your creativity was lacking - The fact you kept going, even if your version of going looked a bit slower, a bit quieter, than you’d hoped.

Progress isn’t always dramatic. It doesn’t always come with fireworks or clear turning points. Sometimes it’s just about showing up - even on the days you don’t feel like it. Sometimes it’s about saying no to something you used to say yes to, and not needing to explain why.

It’s easy to overlook how far you’ve come when you’re always thinking about how far there is to go. But that doesn’t mean the steps you’ve already taken don’t count.

They do.

You just stopped seeing them because they became part of the background.

So maybe the problem isn’t that you’re falling behind maybe you’ve just forgotten how to recognise progress when it doesn’t look like a big leap.

// The Review

It’s easy to miss the signs when you’re always looking for something bigger. We’ve been taught to celebrate the moments that come with fanfare - the public wins, the milestones that make for good Linkedin posts, the external markers that feel like proof we’re doing it right.

But most of the important stuff doesn’t look like that.

Real progress, the kind that actually shifts something in you, usually happens quietly. It shows up in conversations that could have gone differently but didn’t. In decisions that felt small at the time but gave you back a bit of your voice.

In the days you didn’t feel particularly strong or inspired, but still chose to show up and do the thing.

So take a moment to look again. Not through the lens of output or achievement, but through behaviour, change, movement.

• What have you said no to lately that you wouldn’t have in the past?

• What have you followed through on, even when it would have been easier not to?

• Where have you softened, or stood your ground, or asked for something you used to just accept wasn’t for you?
  

These are the moments that tend to slip by unnoticed. They’re quiet. Personal. Often hard to explain to anyone else. But they’re yours - and they matter.

And if nothing obvious comes to mind straight away, that doesn’t mean you’ve been still.

It just means the lens you’re using might not be one that’s designed to notice the kind of progress you’re making. Because not all growth looks like expansion. Sometimes it looks like restraint. Sometimes it looks like rest. Sometimes it looks like staying exactly where you are - and choosing not to give up.

// The Reminder

I think we forget that progress doesn’t always feel like progress.

It’s not a drumroll moment. It’s not a new logo, a funding round, or a bold announcement. More often, it’s quiet. Uneventful. Something you only notice with hindsight.

You don’t always feel it happening, but you might notice you’re reacting differently now. You’re giving yourself a bit more time and space and you’re not jumping at every opportunity just to prove you’re still in the game. Maybe you’re setting boundaries - or at least thinking about them.

Maybe you’re moving slower on purpose.

None of that feels headline-worthy. But it matters.

Because it means you’re changing. Not to become someone else - but to become more of who you actually are.

And if it still feels like you’re not doing enough?

Just take a moment. Look at where you were six months ago.
Not in terms of output or numbers or noise - but in how you felt, how you showed up, what you let slide and what you chose to keep hold of.

You might realise you’ve been moving all along.
You just didn’t notice because you were busy chasing a version of progress that was never the same 6 months ago - everything is progressing, even your goals.

// The Reframe

So maybe you're not stuck.
Maybe you're not late.
Maybe you're not falling behind.

This week, I got a nice little email from ConvertKit - The Clique just tipped over 100 subscribers, It's not something I’ve shouted about - didn’t even notice on the first glance at the email, to be honest, but it’s a little milestone and a quiet drop in the bucket.

And that’s the thing: these drops add up.

They’re easy to miss because they don’t demand your attention. But they’re still movement.

They still count.

So maybe - just maybe - you're already doing better than you think.