As the back-to-school season kicks off, BITE asks industry leaders what they are committed to unlearning. Carren O’Keefe, Chief Creative Officer, Digitas UK is letting go of self-comparison and refuses to let her successes of yesterday undermine her potential.

Last week, after only two weeks of being back in the gym, I deadlifted 85kg for five reps. Not horrible considering it follows a summer where I lifted more beers than barbells.

But instead of being happy with that as a foundation for progress, I was frustrated. My previous PB for deadlift was 142kgs. In comparison, 85 felt like child’s play. I only focused on what I used to be able to do.

But that PB was set over five years ago. Back then I was consistently training four to five days a week and participating in powerlifting competitions. My life was significantly less demanding, and let’s be honest - I was younger and my body recovered faster. Since then I’ve moved to two different countries, taken a year off training altogether thanks to COVID, and stepped into a CCO role. While I may not be as strong physically, I can carry a significantly heavier mental load now.

And that’s the problem with comparing your present self to your past self. It diminishes what you can do currently, and has the potential to undermine your motivation to achieve that goal, or any goal, again.

This isn’t to say we can’t use where we were before as a marker of progress. When I did my first competition in 2017, I missed a 45kg bench press as my heaviest attempt. By 2019, I was benching 102kgs. Last week, I did 50kg. Less than half of what I used to do, but more than what I originally did after three months of training for it.

The ‘used to’ paradox can apply to every aspect of our life. In a work sense, I’m certainly guilty of thinking about ‘the good ole days’. It’s natural as we become more senior to become more disconnected from the day-to-day activities which got us into the industry in the first place. “Ahhh, remember when we used to sit around and just dream up ideas all day? Those were the days.” But comparing my current day-to-day to how it ‘used to be’ undercuts the impact and importance of what I get to do today - like focusing on the clients, conditions and culture for my team to sit around and dream up those ideas.

And how often have we heard someone say ‘advertising isn’t as good as it used to be’? While I’m not sure I even agree, it’s not a fair comparison. We’ve had the advent of all things like AI, we walk around with tiny computers in our pockets, and our attention is split more than we could’ve ever imagined. We don’t live in the same world as we used to, so of course it’s not the same. We should stop focusing on how it used to be, and focus on what it could be.

That’s the problem with using what you’ve done in the past as the bar for success – it’s an unfair comparison. The truth is ‘used to’ is useless. You either do, or you don’t. You are, or you are not.

I’ve always had unrealistic expectations for myself. A decade of working with Nike and pro athletes will do that to you. I don’t want to let what I’ve done before, and comparing myself to that, hold me back from what I could do. Instead of letting my successes of yesterday undermine my potential successes of today, I’m trying to focus on celebrating the small wins that lead to progress versus being frustrated about where I am. I’m unlearning the urge to constantly measure myself against the past, dropping the ‘used tos’ and focusing on what I will do next in the gym, in work, or in life.