Small Steps, Every Day: How True Leadership is Built
About Your Baseline
“The brightest flame burns quickest.” 🔥
— Metallica, Song: Mama Said
Our energy is finite. Our discipline has limits. Our motivation fluctuates.
That’s why we need a baseline — a commitment we can keep even on the hardest days.
It requires honesty about our limitations. Pretending we can do more doesn’t help.
The other day, I told a mentee, “Make sure you do something every day. Keep signaling your mind and body that you are moving forward.”
But set it in a way that protects you when life happens, you’re tired, sick, or circumstances get in the way.
👉 Keep doing your baseline. You can do more on good days, but never fall below it.
Your baseline is not about ambition; it’s about recovery, sustainability, and longevity. It must align with your life, family, friends, and the reasons you recharge.
We don’t need to do extraordinary things every day. Small steps, every day, with room to breathe and recover, is the healthy path forward.
Keep your candle burning. 🔥 It doesn’t need to be the brightest every day — it just needs to stay lit.
—Adrian
Leadership Starts with a Baseline
We often confuse managers with leaders.
Managers manage resources, timelines, and headcounts. Leaders maintain consistency through their personal baseline — the minimum they show up with, no matter the day.
Leadership isn’t given by a title. It’s earned through everyday presence and dependability.
You don’t lead CI/CD pipelines or cloud infrastructure. You manage those. You lead people, and they need to see your consistency.
The strongest leaders aren't those who deliver brilliance occasionally. They maintain their baseline when energy, motivation, and circumstances vary.
Your Baseline Defines the Mission
Every mission is a journey:
You’re at A.
You want to get to B.
To reach B, you must define and maintain a baseline.
The baseline is your commitment to progress, not perfection. It’s your agreement with yourself and your team: we move forward even when it’s rigid or slow.
Without a baseline, your leadership becomes erratic. With a baseline, your team knows what to expect, and they learn to trust the journey.
Resistance Tests Your Baseline
Every meaningful journey encounters resistance.
Resistance is normal. It's part of any effort toward change or growth.
Your baseline is the discipline to take small steps even when resistance is loud.
Discipline builds credibility. Your team trusts you because you show up, even when progress feels invisible.
Small steps, every day. That’s how you outlast resistance. That’s how you sustain leadership.
Set a Sustainable Baseline
A sustainable baseline respects your energy, health, relationships, and long-term mission.
It’s not about maximum effort every day. It’s about showing up reliably, moving forward without burning out.
Your baseline isn’t heroic. It’s human. It makes leadership sustainable over the years, not just months.
Your candle doesn't have to burn brightest every day. It just needs to stay lit.
Final Thought
Leadership is built on credibility. Credibility is built on consistency. Consistency is built on your baseline.
If you disappeared today, would your mission continue?
If yes, congratulations. You’ve built a leadership culture based on trust and sustainability.
If not, start here: define your baseline.
Small steps, every day.