Very few of us live in a black and white structured league with records and playoff systems and a shiny trophy at the end. We have only one quantifiable metric we can measure, money. The outcome most of seek for personal growth is to increase the amount of money we earn in a given time frame. You are trying to get you more income. Your goal is to make more than you made the year before. To keep moving up the scale and see how high you can get.
Making more money than the year before is the objective. You can measure it. One number is greater than the other.
From here forward that is the objective you are trying to reach. If you accept that, keep reading. If that does not sound like you there is no point to continue.
I am not saying growth and making more money are the only things in life that matter. But in the narrow confines of this work that is what we are talking about. I am not going to talk about much other stuff here.