Over the past couple of months, a pattern has emerged repeatedly in conversations with sellers, leaders, and in my own reflections.
Most people don’t consciously decide to play smaller, narrower, or more cautiously over time. It happens gradually. Decisions made for perfectly valid reasons in the moment begin to stack in the same direction. What starts as pragmatism eventually becomes default behaviour.
This is what makes drift difficult to spot. Nothing feels broken. Performance is fine. Activity remains high. But the work becomes less intentional, and the horizon shortens without anyone explicitly choosing that outcome.
The challenge, especially at senior levels, isn’t effort or competence. It’s maintaining clarity about what you’re really building towards and recognising when today’s decisions optimise for immediacy rather than position.
“People spend too much time doing what is urgent,
and not enough time doing what is important.”
— attributed to Eisenhower
A short pause, if useful:
• Where did reasonable short-term decisions in 2025 begin to dictate your longer-term direction?
• Which account, deal, relationship, or skill would meaningfully change your position over the next 12–24 months if given disproportionate attention?
• What would need to be deprioritised (not added) to create space for that shift?
-Aaron
P.S. Further thinking
– A recent note on drift and direction in sales careers
– A reflection on short-term box ticking
– Sales Life explores how experienced sellers design careers intentionally, rather than letting momentum decide for them