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Are You Getting Better or Just Getting Next?
Why studios that endure learn to resist the addiction to escalation
In a culture obsessed with “what’s next,” it’s easy to confuse momentum with meaning.
One more client. One more feature. One more award. But if we’re always reaching for more, we rarely stop to ask: Better at what? For whom? And to what end?
The problem with getting to “next” isn’t that it’s ambitious. It’s that “next” often becomes an addiction to escalation. A pursuit of a louder amplifier, a bigger office, a faster launch. But after 11, you’ll want 12. And when you get 12, you’ll wonder who has 13.
The Studio That Knows When to Stay
Studios that last don’t just chase the future — they shape it. Not by speeding up endlessly, but by choosing when to hold still.
They learn to recognize the difference between growth and glut. Between improving their practice and inflating their metrics. Between evolving and simply accumulating.
They realize that if every moment is lived in the shadow of what’s next, the present becomes a blur.
