It’s tempting to look at someone else’s career and think: “That’s nothing.”
Sometimes we’re so far ahead in our journey that when we look back, we can’t even see the beginners we once were. We can’t see the period when early-day milestones seemed monumental. And, at times, we even look down on people celebrating similar achievements.
That’s a mistake.
Ask yourself: Why does someone else’s particular accomplishment and celebration bother me? People are at different points in the journey, and if someone is genuinely proud of what they’ve accomplished, you should be able to celebrate that with them no matter how far they still have “left” to go.
Being bothered by someone else’s celebration says more about you than it says about them.
First, it signals that you forgot the humble beginnings you came from. Forgot how hard it was to turn your first profit or win a big client. You may be an expert now, but there was a time when you, too, were a beginner.
Second, it can make you look insecure, like you feel the need to prove something.
I remember being excited when we crossed over the $100,000 mark for the first time at Crisp. It took years of work just to get there, and even though there were more successful companies in the field, I felt like I was on top of the world. And then again, when we crossed the seven-figure mark for the first time. And then eight. And so on.
$100,000 feels relatively tiny compared to where we’ve ended up, but I feel so excited for companies that get there and everyone else in the industry, whether they’ve been around for decades or just launched. Even when they have no revenue to speak of yet, I feel proud and excited for them because I respect their courage to bet on themselves and get into the arena.
So when someone tells you they just hit a milestone, don’t minimize it because you’ve already passed it. Don’t make them feel small for how much more they have yet to achieve. Instead, recognize the grit, the resilience, and the progress. Check in with yourself and see if maybe you’ve lost some of it along the way. Sometimes, the beginner drive wanes as we get far and get comfortable.
You don’t have to be where they are to be proud of them, unless you forget where you came from.
So don’t forget. And support people as enthusiastically at mile five as you do at mile 25.
