Everyday Run State: Pro Edition

Happy New Year! Happy three weeks of writing ‘2025’ and then trying to make the 5 into a 6 with a weird join on the five.

For my New Year’s Resolution (who even does those anymore,) I decided I was going to do 8 minutes of yoga every day. When I told my husband, he thought I meant driving 30 minutes to a yoga studio, doing 8 minutes of yoga, and then leaving and driving 30 minutes home. While this was hilarious, it certainly wasn’t optimized - it required a significant time commitment, was location specific, and I could easily talk myself out of it.

I needed something so small, so easy to do in any location (for the record, it’s an app on my phone) that I have to do it every day, no excuses.

The 10-Minute Rule for Grown-Up Professionals

Every January, I see the same thing happen with my clients:

• New dashboards

• New KPIs

• New expectations

• Big conversations about alignment, performance, and improvement

And then… nothing changes in the day-to-day.

Leadership looks at metrics. Teams do their jobs.
The two don’t always connect.

I recently submitted a talk to MSPGeekCon (I’m volunteering on the Logistics Committee!) about KPIs and metrics. Not what they are, but how they actually show up in people’s daily work. Because I see a huge gap between the numbers leadership cares about and what people do from ticket to ticket.

The fix is not more dashboards. It’s shorter feedback loops.

A Simple Habit That Bridges the Gap

Here’s my practical suggestion.

Spend 10 minutes a day on one thing that improves how you work.

Yes, KPIs can be part of that. But they’re not the only option.

If you want to use metrics, try this:

• Sit down with your manager and agree on one shared dashboard

• Pick one metric you both care about

• Spend 10 focused minutes understanding it and improving it

Not gaming it.
Not closing tickets just to make numbers look pretty.
Actually moving the needle.

Even if that means you:

• resolve one ticket properly

• fix bad data that’s skewing the metric

• clean up documentation so the issue doesn’t repeat

Ten minutes is enough to make real progress without overwhelming your day.

Not a KPI Person? Still Works.

If dashboards make you want to fake a Wi-Fi outage, here are other 10-minute habits that quietly improve professionalism over time:

• Clean up one recurring issue instead of firefighting it again

• Update one piece of documentation you wish existed earlier

• Review one ticket with fresh eyes and improve how it’s written

• Look at your calendar and remove one unnecessary meeting

• Clarify one expectation with your manager or team

None of these are flashy. All of them compound.

You don’t need a massive transformation plan to start the year strong.
You don’t need to fix everything at once.

Sometimes the most professional thing you can do is pick one small habit and repeat it daily.

What’s one thing you’re improving in 2026? Let me know!