[Journal] 28 August 26

Hey 🙂

This week I launched something I’ve been building towards for a while now.

One of our big goals at The Question First Group this year — and honestly for the next three to five years — is to build a world-class group coaching program. We’ve mainly been a private coaching company up to now, and if we want to actually impact more people, we need to make our work more accessible. That’s the whole point of it.

This week, that goal took a real step forward. We launched our case study group coaching offer to the market. It wasn’t a small thing — it was weeks of work leading right up to that moment.

And then I went into a team meeting to talk about it, and… nobody really seemed to care that much.

Not in a horrible way. Nobody was rude about it. It just wasn’t a big deal to them. And I sat there afterwards feeling pretty deflated, if I’m honest. The gap between how much I’d put into this and how much attention it got back from the team and the owners was massive. That disconnect is what threw me off.

And then I caught myself. Because what I was actually doing was waiting for someone else to tell me it mattered.

Here’s the thing I keep having to relearn: you can do the important, strategic, focused work — the stuff that actually moves things forward — and you cannot expect anyone else to hand you the recognition for it at the end. That’s not their job. Nobody else is in your head knowing how hard you worked, how many other things you said no to, how much you committed to this one thing. That’s yours to know.

The second you expect a pat on the back from other people, you’ve handed them the power to disappoint you. And most of the time it’s not even malicious — they’re just busy, focused on their own stuff, not tracking your effort the way you are. But it still stings if you were quietly expecting it.

So the shift is: get to the end of the week and give yourself the recognition first. Not instead of ever getting it from others — if it comes, great, take it, enjoy it. But don’t wait for it. Don’t go hunting for it. Build the habit of recognising your own work, and whatever you get from other people becomes a bonus, not a requirement.

So here’s your journal prompt this week:

• What am I proud of from this week?
• Where did I do well?
• If I was a member of my own team, watching myself work this week — what would I want to give myself recognition for?

Take it seriously. Actually look at:

• the work you did
• how you approached it
• the challenges you pushed through
• what you actually achieved

Give yourself the pat on the back. Don’t wait for someone else to do it.

And hey — if you actually sit down and do this properly, email me at chris@chrismarr.co.uk and send me your recognition. I genuinely want to read it. I want to see how you’re talking to yourself.

🗣️ 👀

Chris.