The Win I Didn't Know I Had

"How many of you truly love the work you do and could see yourself doing this exact work in 5 years, assuming you could have financial success?"

At the Activate Conference on Saturday, that question was asked in a room of about 15 people. Roughly half the hands went up, including mine. What I realized in that moment became my biggest takeaway of 2026 and alone made the entire conference worth attending.

I've been working full-time since 2011 and if you had asked me that question at any other point over the last 15 years, I wouldn't have been able to raise my hand. I've liked almost every role I've been in and cared about the work, but I was always looking toward the next role or, in the case of the last few years, going full-time in my business and then figuring out the right model.

In 2026, I can confidently say I've found the work I want to be doing. I get to work directly with entrepreneurs and executives to help them grow, bring incredible people together through masterminds and create opportunities to write, speak and host events. That's the business I have today and the business I can see myself building for years to come.

Writing that feels strange, almost unnatural to me, because this is the first time I can say that and until Saturday, I had no idea it was even true. I knew I liked the work and enjoyed working with my clients, but I didn't realize this was the first year I've ever truly loved what I do professionally, and that realization was eye opening.

While I love the actual work I get to do, the business isn't where I want it to be yet. I'm still trending behind last year's revenue and slightly behind what I made before going full-time in my business.

Instead of thinking about the progress I've made, which includes figuring out what I actually want to do professionally, I spend more time than I'm proud of thinking about all the things I still need to accomplish, the things that aren't right and the things I'm not good at in my business. I'm learning that 2 things can be true at the same time.

It can be true that I'm trending behind last year's revenue and that, in a completely new business model for 2026, revenue grew 15% in Q3 compared to Q2.

It can be true that I love the work I do with my clients, that I would pick it over just about anything professionally and that I sometimes lie awake at night because I'm impatient with the process.

It can also be true that I'm not where I want to be financially and that I would trade where I am today for where I was a year ago.

A year ago, I had 1 contract that made up the majority of my time and revenue. I didn't have the freedom I wanted and was doing work I was good at, but not necessarily great or elite at doing. Today, I have a more diversified portfolio of clients and a business model built around the work I actually want to do.

I've made a trade-off and it's one I would make again. I still want to grow, make more money, push myself to my potential and build a business that supports the life we want as a family. The trend line tells me things are moving in the right direction and there's a lot of evidence that the work I'm doing is working, even if it's not happening on my exact timeline.

I can take action to grow revenue, continue creating more value and get better at what I do. What would be much harder is completely shifting away from something I don't love to figure out what I actually want to do, and for the first time in my professional life, I've figured that part out.

I think sometimes we take things for granted simply because we built them. We're so focused on what comes next that we discount the progress we've already made.

Without that question on Saturday, I probably would have continued measuring 2026 by the revenue I hadn't achieved rather than recognizing that this was the first year I truly loved what I did.

That doesn't mean I'm going to stop pushing myself or change the goals I have for my business. It means I want to do a better job of recognizing the progress I've made along the way, including the things that don't necessarily show up on a financial statement.

I wonder how often we do this in other areas of our lives, whether it's our businesses, careers, relationships or personal goals. We spend so much time thinking about what we want to improve that we forget to recognize the things we've already worked hard to create.

There will always be another milestone, another challenge and another opportunity to grow. I wonder how many of us are already living some version of the life we once wanted, but are so focused on what's next that we don't even recognize it or allow ourselves to enjoy it.

I don't think we need to stop chasing bigger goals, but I do think we owe it to ourselves to recognize and enjoy what we've already accomplished.

I'm grateful that someone asked that question on Saturday because without it, I probably would’ve missed one of the biggest wins of my professional life.