Humble and hungry

We've reached the middle of the year, and for those of us in Australia, EOFY seems to feel like an additional full stop. One chapter closing and another about to begin.

Midpoints are kinda strange like that. It’s not quite the clean slate of January, not the finish line of December, just the messy middle… Accompanied with a pretty full calendar of deadlines and commitments, if you’re anything like us. How is it already July?!

If any of this comes with a sense of shoulda-woulda-coulda, you’re in good company. Many of us can feel the distance between the year we pictured back in January, and the one that we’re actually living. The goals set, the habits that formed (or faded). Maybe even a sense that we’ve somehow fallen behind.

What’s important to notice in this moment, is the story we’re telling ourselves and the direction in which we’re measuring success.

When we only look at the distance between where we are and where we hoped to be, we’re living in what business mentor Dan Sullivan calls the gap. The target sits out ahead of us, goalposts always moving. So much so, that we forget to look back at how far we’ve already come.

The alternative is to turn around and measure backward, from where you are now to where you started in January. This is the gain, where instead of fixating on the deficit, we override the negativity bias with evidence of how much you've grown. The hard conversations you had. The things you worked through. The small wins that never quite had their moment, because you were already onto the next thing.

Measured against where we began, the past six months tend to hold far more than we give ourselves credit for.

Which brings us to one of our favourite mantras from Where the Light Gets In:

Humble and hungry.

It’s "the opposite to a culture of entitlement and complacency,” as Crowey reflects, a way of staying grounded, regardless of whether we’re stalling or soaring.

The humble part of the equation is about radical honesty. Not to judge ourselves, but to invite in clarity. Where have things slipped, of late? Which promises or boundaries have I skipped over for myself? Am I living in alignment with my values, or have I drifted a little from where I’d like to be?

Practising this kind of humility and honesty isn’t easy, but it’s how we grow. After all, we’re either winning or we’re learning. And if there’s a lesson to take from the first half of the year, growth is already underway. You keep what's useful, and let the rest go.

And then, hungry. Eyes forward, open-minded. Not to prove, perform or ‘catch up,’ or to try to control the uncontrollable. This is all about coming back to the human we want to be for the rest of 2026 and beyond.

Now, don’t forget to breathe out slowly and unclench your jaw. Seriously, unclench your jaw and relax your ears. (Weird cue, but it works every time.)

None of this needs to be grand or overwhelming. We’re simply in the middle. If things feel good, we get to keep at it. If things feels off, we get to pivot. And if it’s a little hard to tell up from down, right from left, we’re allowed to pause too. Maybe today is just a great opportunity to be present, and reconnect with what matters most to us.

As for what comes next in 2026?

We'll see.

Humble and hungry all the way.