What I’m changing in how I work
After reflecting on a mistake, the next question becomes unavoidable:
What do you actually do differently?
Insight without behavior change is just self-analysis.
So here’s what I’m intentionally changing in how I work.
I no longer act on “I know this”
Any time I feel that familiar confidence — the “this is obvious” feeling — I stop.
That feeling is no longer permission to act.
It’s a signal to verify.
Confidence now triggers curiosity, not action.
I separate finding problems from fixing them
I’ve stopped treating every issue I notice as something that must be fixed immediately.
Now, my default is:
- identify the risk
- document it
- make it visible
- schedule change intentionally
This protects the environment — and protects trust.
I narrate my thinking before touching anything
I’ve learned that people can’t trust what they can’t see.
So I’m practicing saying things like:
“Here’s what I’m seeing.”
“Here’s why I think it matters.”
“Here’s what I would change — but I won’t until we agree.”
That turns internal knowledge into shared understanding.
I measure success differently
Success used to mean:
- fixing the issue
- being right
- making things cleaner
Now success means:
- no surprises
- no emergency rollbacks
- no unexplained outages
Predictability is the metric.
A quieter kind of confidence
I still want to be good at this.
But I’m learning that real confidence doesn’t come from acting quickly or decisively.
It comes from trusting a process that slows you down — especially when you feel sure.
That’s the kind of confidence I’m working toward.
Final note
If you’re in a similar place — where you know the technology but struggle to feel trusted with it — you’re not broken.
You’re recalibrating.
And that recalibration, while uncomfortable, is often the moment real professionalism begins.