Baselines are important for measuring the quality and effectiveness of your future work, but they can also be a trap.

Whether it’s how much you charge, how much you can get done, how many people your latest podcast or blog post reaches, or some measure of the quality of your work, baselines can be essential in pushing you to meet the minimum standards you’ve set for yourself.

The problem is that the baselines you set to measure your work probably don’t reflect what you’re truly capable of if you push yourself.

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They can become a place to hide, to justify to yourself and others that you’re doing enough, giving enough, aiming high enough.

But you probably aren’t.

I’m guessing you have another gear you could shift into, and that once you find it, you’ll also find that your existing baselines were selling short what you are truly capable of achieving.

Hitting your baselines should not be foregone conclusions. They should push you to exert yourself in order to achieve them.

If you’re able to coast your way to meeting the minimum requirements, it’s time to aim higher, dig deeper, and set a new standard for your work.

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Want to hear more about building an audience around work that matters? I think you might enjoy these reads.

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