You’ll know you’ve changed when the same bait doesn’t work on you anymore.

Certain comments, certain people, certain openings used to get a reaction from you every time. The bait has not improved, but your response to it shifts. One day someone runs the familiar move and you notice it as a move instead of falling into it. That gap between the poke and your reply is the measurement.

Think of the line that always got you and picture hearing it tomorrow. Decide now what you will do with the three seconds after it lands. Silence counts, and so does being slightly bored by it.