How I’m Measuring Progress Differently This Year
A reflective year-end perspective on leadership, growth, and success. Learn how redefining progress beyond goals and metrics can create clarity, resilience, and sustainable momentum.
As the year winds down, I usually find myself deep in reflection mode: thinking about what worked, what didn’t, and what I want to do differently next.
This year, that reflection looked different.
If I look at my business goals alone, I didn’t hit the milestones I’d set for myself. I didn’t scale the way I planned. I didn’t launch the course. I didn’t start the YouTube channel.
It would be easy to label the year a failure and move on.
But when I really zoom out, that story falls apart.
This year, I spent more focused time on SmartPin. We launched a real product. We have real customers using it successfully. I also had to get honest about capacity and accept that some things I want to do someday simply require more time and energy than I have right now.
And I made a deliberate decision to double down on my health.
I’ve lost about 15% of my body weight, gained muscle, and healed an ankle that had been limiting me for a long time. That didn’t happen by accident. It required space, consistency, and margin: all things that don’t show up neatly in a year-end scorecard.
Near the end of the year, I also lost Coco, my dog of 16 years. My constant. My unconditional support through some of the hardest chapters of my life. Grief has a way of slowing everything down and reshaping what “progress” even means.
All of that changed how I measure success this year.
So yes, I can honestly say this was a great year.
Not because it went the way I planned or felt easy.
But because I paid attention to what it was actually asking of me.
Instead of forcing reinvention, I’m choosing to celebrate the unexpected wins: the health, the clarity, the foundation, and the capacity I didn’t even realize I was building.
I also don’t feel the urge to create a whole new plan just because the calendar is flipping.
I already know what I want to focus on next year: doubling down on what’s working in my business, leaning into intuition and trust, refining instead of replacing, and staying with the things long enough to let them compound.
As I look ahead, I’m realizing how much I value having a place to think like this: a space for reflection, strategy, and grounded leadership without hustle.
And I realized that’s why I created Leadership Impact Labs.
It’s where I hold space for engineering and tech leaders to slow down, zoom out, and refine how they lead in the real world.
And whether or not that’s part of your next chapter, here’s the invitation I’ll leave you with:
If your year didn’t go the way you planned, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a success.
Take a moment to reflect on your wins, especially the ones you didn’t expect, and let yourself truly celebrate them.
However you’re closing out this year, I hope you’re gentle with yourself.
P.S. One question I’ve been sitting with: What did this year give me that I didn’t know I needed?
You might find the answer is quieter and more meaningful than expected.
