There's so much noise around us these days. It's easy to drift away from our own plans and paths, and that drift creates unnecessary FOMO and frustration.
It’s a sunny afternoon here in Brazil, and I want to share something I’ve been struggling with over the past few months. I’ve noticed the same pattern in a lot of engineers I work with, so maybe it will help you too.
Scroll through LinkedIn or watch a few tech videos on YouTube, and it’s easy to start feeling like you’re doing something wrong. Like your salary should be higher. Like your title should be different by now. But the truth is simpler than that: each of us is on our own journey, and comparing timelines rarely tells the full story.
Don’t chase the greener grass
Don’t make life changes just because someone else’s grass looks greener. People usually share their highlights, not the struggles behind them. What looks like overnight success online is almost never that simple up close.
Avoid copying other people’s paths
It’s tempting to copy someone else’s journey when it looks like it’s working for them. But if you keep switching to follow whoever seems to be winning at the moment, you risk walking in circles. Halfway through, you might realize their path isn’t actually right for you, jump to copying someone else instead, and end up stuck in a loop of chasing noise instead of making progress.
Learn to enjoy the boring part
Most real progress looks boring from the inside. It’s showing up on a Tuesday with no big win to post about. It’s the tenth day in a row of the same routine, with nothing dramatic happening yet. We’re trained to expect constant highlights, so when our own days feel uneventful, it’s easy to mistake that for standing still.
But boring is usually a sign that something is working. The most meaningful things in my life came from stretches of unremarkable, repetitive effort, not from dramatic leaps. Learning to actually enjoy that phase, instead of waiting for it to end, changes how sustainable your path feels.
Good things take time
We rarely see the years behind an overnight success. A senior title, a strong portfolio, a healthy business: all of it is compressed into a highlight reel that skips the slow part entirely.
Give your own plan the same time you’d give someone else’s if you knew their full story. Skills compound. Reputations build. Trust takes time to earn. None of that shows up in a two-week sprint, and it’s not supposed to.
Progress comes from consistency, not comparison
Staying committed to your own plan and taking small, consistent steps forward is what actually leads to a happier, less frustrated version of yourself. Not the next trend, not someone else’s title, not a number you saw on LinkedIn.
Your path is yours. Walk it.