redactedTall Poppy Syndrome (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift's song But Daddy I Love Him has the following lyrics: I forget how the West was won / I forget if this was ever fun / I just learned these people only raise you to cage you / Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best / Clutchin' their pearls, sighing, "What a mess" / I just learned these people try and save you / ...Cause they hate you/ Swift, in her own unique way, is writing about the pressure to fit in and how extreme behavior (or boyfriends) can invite criticism or concern from others. Sometimes, what looks like an attempt to “help” someone is really an attempt to push someone to conform. Chase Better is one of Chenmark's long-standing values, and it's core to our ethos. We don't want to coast. We see opportunity, and we know the only way to make it a reality is through relentless pursuit. We believe in setting ambitious goals and pushing ourselves to do difficult things. Life is short, and we'd rather spend it striving for something meaningful than wondering what might have been. And yeah, chasing better is hard. The work is never done. Achievements are fleeting, and then it's on to the next one. It can be exhausting. But that's a trade-off we're willing to make. One of the downsides to this approach to life is that you can often seem pretty weird. And sometimes, when you dedicate yourself to a given goal, other people might try to talk you out of it. It's rarely overt. In fact, it's often disguised as friendly encouragement or genuine concern. You're trying to eat healthier. You don't order dessert at a group dinner. People say, "Don't you want to just have a bite? It's delicious." You're trying to cut back on drinking. You decide not to drink at a cocktail event. People say, "Let loose. Live a little." You sign up for a big race and commit yourself to a training plan. People say, "Just come out tonight. Why are you so intense? Can't you just relax a bit?" You love your job and deeply enjoy your work. People say, "You're going to burn out. You should work less." Sure. Any of those things might be true. But we have an inkling that, at least some of the time, these comments represent an attempt to cut down the tallest poppy. Our experience is that when someone else makes a non-standard choice, particularly one that requires significant sacrifice or discipline, it can force us to question our own decisions. And rather than confront that discomfort, it's easier to convince ourselves that their approach is misguided. After all, if that person can do it, what does that mean about me? None of this means we should stop offering advice or expressing genuine concern. Sometimes people really are making bad decisions. Sometimes the friend who suggests taking a night off from training or the colleague who encourages a vacation is absolutely right. Having people in your life who are willing to challenge you is important. But there's a difference between challenging someone out of genuine concern and challenging them because their choices call your own justifications into question. We know we're guilty of this more often than we'd like to admit. However, we have also received our fair share of "feedback" related to how we choose to spend our days. We have learned that when someone tells us about an important life decision, or something they're working toward, particularly if it's not something we’d choose for ourselves, we should be thoughtful about our response. We need to be careful that our self-limiting beliefs don't diminish someone's light. After all, Chasing Better should mean having the conviction to pursue your own ambitions without needing to diminish someone else's. It may be crazy, but if it's what you want, just focus on chasing your own better.