Grow into the kind of person you’d follow if you met them at eighteen.

The clearest standard is not a list of achievements but whether the person you are becoming would be useful to someone starting out. That test is harder to fake than most, because it asks about steadiness and honesty rather than about what you have collected. It also quietly rules out a lot of impressive but hollow options.

Think of somebody a few years behind you and ask what they would actually need from you. Then consider whether you are currently that. Adjust one habit in the direction of the answer.