Becoming, Not Achieving

A thought to consider… 

Goal-setting season is coming.

You can already feel the pressure in the air; gym ads, planners, shiny journals that promise to turn you into a new human by January 1st.

The trouble with goals is that they live in the future.

They dangle a finish line in front of you and whether you reach it or not, disappointment often follows.

Miss the goal and you feel defeated.
Hit it and you end up moving the goalpost anyway.

The better question for the new year is not what you want to achieve; it’s who you want to become.

Before you grab a fresh notebook and write twenty resolutions, try the good old 5 Whys from Lean thinking.

Ask yourself why you want the thing you think you want.
Keep asking until you hit something honest.

If the root reason is extrinsic, it will never satisfy you.
If it is intrinsic, the outcome becomes secondary and the process becomes the reward.

Identity over outcome wins every time.

The shift is about becoming over achieving.

Eng-Spire Labs: Identities Worth Practising

Here’s a practical guide to identities you can embody; no trophies at the end, just ways of being:

Be a parent who listens first and puts the phone away.
Be a learner who reads, experiments and stays curious.
Be someone who loves others well and says the encouraging thing out loud.
Be a communicator who actually listens.
Recommended read? Nonviolent Communication. It’s life-changing.
Be an explorer who shakes up routines and tries new things.
Be someone who is not tethered to devices.
Be a person of nature who steps outside every day.

None of these have finish lines.

You can’t fail.
You just practice.

Structural 101: Identities That Build Better Engineers

Here are the identities we endeavour to embody as structural engineers; they aren’t tethered to outcomes, but ways of being that strengthen both the craft and the culture:

Be an engineer who learns.
Stay curious. Ask questions. Share what you discover.

Be an engineer who knows the craft.
Understand load paths, codes and fundamentals because people trust you with their safety.

Be an engineer who collaborates.
Speak the language of all disciplines.
Use Revit as a shared conversation, not a solo task.

Be an engineer who builds relationships.
Trades turn your drawings into reality. Respect them and learn from them.

Be an engineer who understands impact.
Buildings shape behaviour and hold memories.
Remember the humans who will use the spaces you help create.

Be an engineer who loves fundamentals.
A free-body diagram and first-principles thinking will always be your superpower.

Be an engineer who gives back.
Mentor, teach, join industry groups and leave the profession stronger than you found it.

Your Turn: Who Will You Become?

This week, ask yourself:

What identity do you want to practice, not perfect?
What way of being would make your work, relationships or life richer?
What would shift if “improvement” wasn’t the goal; instead becoming was?

The new year doesn’t need a new list.
It needs a fresh perspective.