A client said something to us this week that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
She looked at us and said, “You’re crushing it. You’re doing better than you think you are.”
It was such a simple thing to say.
But it made me wonder how often we actually hear those words when we need them most.
Because I think most of us are pretty good at keeping score of the things we haven’t done.
The email we forgot to send.
The project that’s taking longer than we wanted.
The goal we haven’t reached yet.
The conversation we wish we’d handled differently.
The things on our to-do list that somehow keep moving from Monday to Tuesday to next week.
We’re usually much harder on ourselves than anyone else is.
And sometimes, we’re so focused on what’s still in front of us that we don’t stop long enough to look behind us and see how far we’ve actually come.
That conversation with our client reminded me of something else, too:
You don’t always get to see the difference you make.
You might think you’re just doing your job.
Just answering the phone.
Just checking in.
Just taking care of one more detail.
Just showing up.
But on the other side of that interaction might be someone who was overwhelmed, worried, grieving, confused, or simply having a really hard day.
And maybe your five-minute conversation was the thing that made their day feel a little less heavy.
They may never tell you.
You may never know.
That’s true in our personal lives, too.
The friend you checked on.
The parent you called.
The kid you listened to.
The person you encouraged without even thinking much about it.
We rarely get to see the full ripple effect of our actions.
So, if nobody has told you lately:
You’re probably doing better than you think you are.
You may not have everything figured out.
You may still have a long list of things you want to accomplish.
You may have days when you feel like you’re barely keeping up.
But that doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.
It doesn’t mean you’re not making a difference.
And it definitely doesn’t mean you’re not crushing it.
Sometimes we just need someone else to remind us.
So consider this your reminder.
Keep going. Give yourself a little credit. And don’t underestimate the difference you’re making—especially the difference you may never get to see.
