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Welcome back to another edition of Tuesday mailbag. No time to waste, let’s jump in.

Question #1: If you could go back 10 years and tell yourself to develop 1 skill that you think would lead to maximum success at work, what would that skill be?

I *love* this question. I used to think that there was no silver bullet in careers. But I was dead wrong. There is definitely a clear and simple silver bullet:

“Be really good at getting shit done.”

Clear and Simple, but not easy.

At every level in your job, you will interact with people that are really good at leaning away from the mess. In the early years, it’s less sexy. In later years, it’s beneath you.

I have come across hordes of people over the past decade that are fantastic problem explainers and problem sympathizers - they tell you what is going on, why the problem exists, why it’s difficult to solve and why things are going wrong. But it’s incredibly rare to come across someone that does the above *and* then goes and tackles the challenge head on.

Getting shit done is the best way to get noticed and more importantly get ahead. It’s a skill you should hone when you’re starting out and a skill you should never lose no matter how senior you get.

When you’re in the early part of your career, you will develop a reputation quickly as a go to person that is actually helpful. As you rise the ranks, you will set the tone for your team - if you are willing to get it done yourself, you set a culture of accountability and humility.

Ultimately every business has to move forward. The underlying tasks have to get done. Unfortunately most people in the work environment are riders, not drivers.

That’s your advantage.

Make sure you’re driving the car and not just riding along.

Question #2: I want to switch careers, but I’ve invested 5 years in the path that I am on and I fear that if I switch now I am going to have to start over. How would you think about this?

I came across this awesome graphic the other day that I think perfectly answers this question.

Most people idealize careers as clean linear trajectories. They are not. They are windy, messy and filled with ups and downs.

This is not uncommon. What is common is every person thinking *they are different.*

Why is that important? Well when you think you’re different in this situation, you get stuck:

You don’t want to go backwards and are crippled by some combination of FIRE (fear, insecurity, ego and resistance):

• Fear: “I feel like I am going to fail. I don’t know what I’m doing”
• Insecurity: “I’m not where I am supposed to be at a certain age”
• Resistance: “Am I going to fit in this new environment? Maybe it’s not meant to be”
• Ego: “I know too much and am too good to start over”

But if you internalize this as a common pathway - that careers have peaks, valleys and all sorts of elevation in between - you understand that it is normal to go down to go up. It’s a really freeing insight. Understanding this at its core removes artificial constraints and barriers from your thinking. More importantly, it focuses you on the right variables to consider in this situation.

If I were making the switch I’d ask four questions:

• Peak: How high can I go?
  • If I make the switch, what is the potential upside of this new direction? How does it compare to the current direction I am headed for?
• Velocity: How fast can I get there?
  • If I make the switch, am I set for a slow and long grind or is it a curve that will require deep learning and familiarity, but once I am up to speed I will be able to accelerate on?
  • To be clear neither is necessarily better or worse, but it’s important to understand. Depending on what phase of life you’re in (e.g. what your obligations are, personal situation is, etc.), a different answer may make sense for you.
  • When you’re thinking about velocity, make sure to consider compounding. At five years into your path, you’re likely just getting to a stage where the benefits really compound. Year 6-8 is not going to be a linear ascent; it could be exponential - make sure if you’re switching you understand this.
• Endurance: How sustainably can I get there?
  • Will you personally endure the path for a long period of time? Building on the point above about compounding, real gains come when you’re 5-10-15 years into a journey.
  • Personally, I quit McKinsey & Company after 3 years. It was an excellent place to work, but I just knew in my heart of hearts that I would lose in that environment. I didn’t have any doubt in my capabilities, had great sponsors and mentors and was consistently ranked highly internally. The problem was I just wasn’t into it. I knew I would get outworked, outmaneuvered and outmuscled because someone with real motivation (either extrinsic or intrinsic) would beat me. More importantly, I had conviction that the pathway to real wealth (financial and non-financial) was through building a business. I wanted to drive that outcome.
  • Now whenever I think of my involvement in anything - I try to think about if it’s a journey I can see myself lasting on. It turns out, most often, you are your biggest competition.
• Personal Fit: If I get there, how do I feel?
  • Envision you’ve climbed the mountain top! High fives all around, you’re the man! (or woman!). Do you feel great or do you feel empty?
  • This is something people spend too little time on in my opinion. The worst thing in life is playing the wrong game. Make sure you give some thought to how you might feel if what you set out to accomplish came true.

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I hope this was helpful. Make sure to send me your questions (if you have any) so I can include them in the hopper for future posts.

Until next week,

Romeen

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