As the days are growing longer and the signs of spring are emerging, we naturally think of growth. The first daffodils poking up through the soil or the trees beginning to bud, but how often do we pause and recognize our own growth?

In our world of proposals and business development, our jobs require us to spend significant time highlighting the strengths of organizations and teams and selling our company’s products and solutions. We, or at least I, tend to undersell ourselves, assuming because we’ve mastered a skill, it’s not special or worthy of note anymore. Sometimes we might even miss the fact we gained the skill at all, because progress and growth happens gradually over time.

Have You Grown Without Noticing?

I challenge you to think back to where you were in your career a year ago. What tasks once felt challenging but now are second nature? What feedback have you received that shows you have made an impact? Often, people wait for external validation – a title change, a positive performance review, or a big win – to acknowledge their progress. But real growth is happening all the time, whether or not we receive external recognition.

I personally struggle to see my own growth, because even as my skills improve there are always people around me who have been in the field longer—people who can do the same tasks faster and with less effort. It’s easy to measure yourself against someone who is 15 years ahead of you in their career and feel like you’re still falling short. But that is measuring yourself against a moving target. As you improve, so do they. The continued presence of a skill gap doesn’t mean you haven’t grown; it just means experience is an ongoing and unending process. And the truth is, even the most seasoned professionals struggle sometimes. They still have moments where they need help—it just isn’t always in your line of sight. This is a topic we took some time to discuss in February’s session of the Mentor Protege Program

So, how do you stop using someone else’s accomplishments to determine your growth? You need to shift your mindset.

Shifting Your Mindset: From “What’s Left to Learn” to “How Far I’ve Come”

In a field like proposals, there’s always something new to learn—best practices evolve, strategies shift, and every RFP brings unique challenges. That’s part of what makes this work exciting. If you’re only focused on what you don’t know yet, it’s easy to lose sight of how much you do know now compared to when you started.

As previously mentioned, I often find myself measuring progress against what feels out of reach rather than reflecting on tasks that once felt impossible but are now routine or less daunting. The key to shifting this mindset is deliberate self reflection.

  • Track your wins: Keep a running list of skills you have developed, obstacles you have overcome, goals you have met, and moments when someone turned to you for guidance.
  • Teach what you know: Nothing reinforces how much you have learned like helping someone else. When you are able to break down a concept for a colleague, it confirms and proves the expertise you have built.
  • Reframe the Gap. Instead of seeing senior experts as a reminder of how far you have to go, see them as proof that learning never stops. That gap is not evidence of personal shortcomings. Even your role models are still growing and improving. The difference is, they have had decades to build on the same foundation you are standing on now.

Growth doesn’t mean knowing everything—it means knowing more than you did before. The next time you catch yourself focusing on what’s left to learn, take a moment to recognize the distance you’ve already traveled.

Brag About Yourself More—You Deserve It

We’re often told to stay humble, to let our work speak for itself, and to avoid coming across as boastful. When does that mindset stop being humility and start becoming self-doubt? You shouldn’t need to be in a job interview to enumerate your successes. If you don’t recognize your own growth, who will?

Set aside space—real, intentional space—to acknowledge your progress. Not just in performance reviews, not just when updating your resume, but regularly. Brag about yourself, even if it’s just to yourself.

  • Say it out loud. When someone compliments your work, don’t brush it off—own it.
  • Celebrate growth, not just big wins. Did you handle a tough compliance review better than last year? Speak up more in meetings? Complete a hard task with less support? That’s growth. That matters.

Set Short-Term Goals to Track Progress

One way to see your own improvement is to set small, achievable goals and actually track them. Long-term success is built on short-term wins, and those are worth celebrating, too. This is the first thing I have pairs in my Mentor Protege Program do together, so they can celebrate small successes throughout the year.

  • Instead of just aiming to “become a better proposal manager.” Set a goal like, “Lead a kickoff meeting with confidence and clarity.”
  • Instead of vaguely wanting to “gain more industry knowledge.” Set a goal to study for and earn a certification.

These small wins add up. The more you intentionally track progress, the more tangible your growth becomes.

So this spring, give yourself permission to recognize just how far you’ve come. Because if you’re always chasing the next milestone without appreciating what you’ve already achieved, you’ll never feel like you’ve truly grown.

Sara Levene is an up-and-coming professional in Proposal Management with two years of experience. Her dedication to personal and professional growth is evident in everything she does. Sara values the significance of effective mentorship for emerging professionals. Furthermore, she firmly believes that one is never too advanced in one’s career to benefit from mentorship. Sara’s fresh perspective, enthusiasm for career excellence, and unwavering commitment to continuous learning make her well-suited to lead a program dedicated to supporting the growth of others. Sara currently serves as an Associate Proposal Manager at DMI.

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