If you've ever worked with me, you know how much I hate that phrase. Few words shut down progress faster than "that's the way it's always been done." It's the corporate equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears.

WHEN I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO RETHINK

One of my first assignments in my first actuarial job: I was asked to create updated age/gender factors, including an option for groups covering maternity benefits. Our organization had never made that distinction before. I had never created such factors before. No prior version or documentation existed. So I just started thinking about what made sense. That blank-slate experience taught me something early on: sometimes, the best guide is your own judgment.

THE DANGER OF DEFAULTING TO THE OLD WAY

Before you copy last year's file, pause and ask: Who is this for? What do they care about? What's the real story I'm trying to tell? If I were doing this for the first time, how would I approach it? Even something routine — like a quarterly trends report or an annual planning deck — deserves a moment of reflection. Things change. People change. Priorities change.

PRESENTATION IS A SIGNAL

How you present something signals whether you actually thought about it. When a client or leader sees something that looks new, clear, and purposeful instead of the same recycled charts with new numbers, it gets their attention. It shows initiative.

And taking that step back might lead you to an even bigger insight: maybe the report doesn't even need to be done anymore. Maybe there's a better use of your time.

INSTEAD OF "THAT'S HOW WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT," TRY ASKING:

"What would this look like if we started from scratch?"

"What problem are we really trying to solve?"

"Is this the clearest, most useful version of the work?"