🎥 Sunday Reset With Steven | 21 Sep 2025
🌻 Comparing Yourself Kills Progress - Because Ordinary Is What Builds Extraordinary

The other week, I caught myself slipping into comparison.
Scrolling. Seeing promotions, milestones, “big wins.”
And for a moment, I thought:
“I’m behind.”

But then I remembered:
In nature, no two flowers bloom at the same time.
Even in the same garden - roses open one by one, while sunflowers stand tall weeks later.
Each follows its own rhythm.
And none is late.

Theodore Roosevelt said it best:
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Their season has nothing to do with mine.
And yours has nothing to do with anyone else’s.

A reminder on the Sunday Reset.
During the week, I work with boards and leaders at the intersection of AI, governance, and transformation.
But these Sunday resets? They’re about stripping back the noise and focusing on what’s real.

Here is why I’m fired up about this:

In a meeting last week, a team’s progress was brushed aside because it “wasn’t extraordinary enough.”
Late nights. Solid results. Real effort.
Dismissed because it didn’t look like a unicorn headline. Imagine that!

I’ll be honest- it hit me. Because this is the trap we all fall into:
We discount the ordinary.
We trample steady effort.
We forget that without the ordinary, the extraordinary never comes.

Serena Williams didn’t become the GOAT by hitting extraordinary shots every day.
She hit thousands of ordinary forehands in practice.

In business: Great boards don’t transform because of one flashy decision.
They become extraordinary through the ordinary rhythm of governance done well.

Your reset this week:

1️⃣ Celebrate ordinary progress that compounds.
2️⃣ Resist comparing your chapter to someone else’s.
3️⃣ Remember: today’s ordinary is tomorrow’s extraordinary.

📚 If you want to dive deeper:
▫️Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader - Herminia Ibarra. About stepping in before you feel ready.
▫️Advocates & Enemies - Colin Gautrey. A practical guide to navigating influence and stakeholders.

Both tie back to this:
Being yourself in your lane.
Ordinary choices. Ordinary actions. Extraordinary results.

Make the ordinary come alive -
and the extraordinary will take care of itself.

Keep growing. Keep leading.
Until next Sunday.
Let’s get it!

Steven PAUL, CDir FIoD 
Reshaping boards and CEOs to lead decisively - your boardroom compass for bold, trusted decisions at the intersection of AI, governance, and transformation.

📳 Let’s start the conversation - I invite you to connect.
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