Care about your work. Have a life you care about, too.
Between Here & Better is a weekly note about doing meaningful work, navigating ambition, and keeping everyday frustrations from taking up more room than they deserve.
Honest reflections, with a little humor and something to carry into your week. Preferably something lighter than the meeting you’re still thinking about.
Hi, I’m Alex. This is a place to think about what better actually means.
I spent 12 years in the Army before moving into manufacturing, operations, and program management. Across those settings, I’ve cared about being someone people could count on.
There’s meaning in that. There are also questions I’m still learning to ask. How much of myself am I tying to being useful? When does wanting to improve turn into feeling like nothing is ever enough? What deserves my attention once the workday is over?
I started Between Here & Better to explore those questions through the ordinary moments where they show up. A contribution nobody notices. A conversation that stays with us. An opportunity we want, and the reasons we want it.
“Better” can mean moving forward. It can also mean changing our minds about where we’re going, giving someone else more understanding, or recognizing something good before we rush past it.
I write from experience, curiosity, and the occasional realization that I’ve given a three-sentence email far too much influence over my evening.
Each Monday, I share a short reflection on work, ambition, and making room for a life we care about. I hope you find something here that helps you understand your own experience a little differently.
Glad you’re here.
Alex Donlick
The perspective list
Make a little room for perspective.
A short reflection to start the week. Something to think about before the meeting invites start multiplying.
One short reflection each week. Unsubscribe anytime.
Someone catches a mistake before it reaches the customer. A teammate takes ten minutes to explain something so the new person doesn’t spend three hours guessing. A project manager clears up an ownership issue before two departments both assume the other one has it.
The day goes smoothly. Everyone moves on.
“Nothing went wrong” rarely gets its own slide in the monthly review.
It makes sense that we notice the people who step in when something goes wrong. Their contribution is right there in front of us. It’s harder to see the preparation, patience, and attention that kept a problem from happening at all.
I like the idea of giving those quiet wins a little more credit. There’s usually someone behind them.
This is the first edition of Between Here & Better, a short weekly reflection on work and leadership.
