The real test of your success is whether the people around you are doing better too.

Individual results can be achieved at other people’s expense, and from outside the two look identical. The honest check is what happened to everybody nearby while you were rising: whether your team got better, whether your friends learned something, whether the people who helped you ended up ahead. Success that drains its surroundings tends to be short and lonely. The wider sort holds up.

Look at the people closest to your work and ask what they have gained from being near you. If it is thin, pick one of them and be useful to them this week.