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Anthony Kenneth Spark Founder, Spark A Change Coaching Life & Business Coach | Entrepreneur Co-Founder: Operation Impact ⢠Punk Rock Run Podcast Co-Host: ExtraOrdinary Excellence đ +631 327 2241 âď¸ [email protected] đ www.sparkachangecoaching.com |
Spark's Notes
When Your Baseline Is Broken, Progress Feels Invisible
Anthony Spark
2/06/2026
Thereâs a quiet problem high performers run into after years of overworking.
Your baseline gets distorted.
I had a moment recently where I genuinely thought, âI barely worked this week.â I felt like I was home all the time. Present.
Around my wife and kids more than ever.
And Callan looked at me and said something that stopped me cold: âYou used to be a workaholic.
So what feels like âbarely workingâ to you is just⌠normal.â
That hit.
When youâve lived in deficit long enough emotionally, relationally, physically normal starts to feel excessive.
Rest feels lazy.
Presence feels indulgent.
Balance feels suspicious.
So even when youâre objectively doing better, it doesnât feel better yet.
This shows up everywhere:
⢠People whoâve healed but still feel behind
⢠Leaders whoâve improved but still feel guilty
⢠Parents who are present but still feel like itâs ânot enoughâ
The issue isnât effort anymore.
Itâs calibration.
Your nervous system hasnât caught up to reality.
If you donât consciously reset your baseline, youâll keep chasing a version of âenoughâ that was designed for a life you no longer want and no longer need.
Thatâs how people burn themselves out after theyâve already won.
Questions worth sitting with:
⢠What still feels âlazyâ thatâs actually healthy?
⢠What standard are you still living under that came from an older version of you?
⢠If this pace was normal, what would you finally stop apologizing for?
Progress isnât just doing less damage.
Itâs relearning what normal feels like.
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