My Life Lessons (so far)

  1. Never be emotional at work. People will not look at you professionally ever again. Always stick with the facts at work. If your personal credibility is lost once, it will never recover.
  2. A job is a transactional relationship between you and your employer. You get paid to work. Not liking your work or the people you work with is no reason to not be good at your job.
  3. Everything you do at work MUST only answer at least one of these two questions. Everything else is just noise.
    1. Will doing this get me a promotion / raise / goodwill?
    2. Will doing this make my boss shine in front of her boss?
  4. Be nice and kind to the people at the bottom - Admin, IT, peons, janitors, cafeteria staff and receptionists. Don't fake it and only be kind when it directly benefits you. Over the long term, people see it for what it is.
  5. HR’s only responsibility is to look for company’s good. Your HR may be a nice person, but her and your professional alignments will always be at odds.
  6. Everyone you will ever talk to outside of your family, friends and circle of trust will either want something from you or will want to sell something to you.
  7. How people will perceive you at work will always supersede how good / competent you are at work. A likeable yet average worker > A competent worker who doesn’t have a positive recall.
  8. Always compliment a new haircut right when you see it.
  9. The best time to find a job is when you don’t need one.
  10. If you judge yourself by your intentions, don’t judge others by their actions.
  11. No one is really 100% sure of what they are doing. Everyone is winging it.
  12. Anger, Anxiety and Depression is self feeding. It will not go away unless you actively do something to make it go away. Go for a walk, clean up the house, talk to a therapist.
  13. The secret to staying at the top of your game is to NOT be busy. Start valuing your time and stop gloating about how many long hours you put at work.
  14. Every so often, look back in time to where you were 2 years, 5 years and 10 years ago and ask yourself whether you think you have become wiser than those times. If the answer is maybe or no, you must re-evaluate the direction you are taking in life.
  15. Learn to choose which battles you have to fight
  16. Even the best editors make the occasional grammar and spelling mistakes.
  17. “What you know” is alright. “Who you know” is good. But “Who knows you” is paramount to your success. Being in the right place at the right time with the right people matters more than all the talent and knowledge in this world.
  18. If a recruiter calls you and asks whether you’re looking out for new opportunities, always say yes.
  19. If a CV hasn’t got you an interview in 6 months, it’s time to change its content and add something new on it.
  20. If you’re working for someone at no cost, make sure they know that “working for no cost” does not mean working for “free”. There are no free lunches.
  21. Most professional advice you will read on the internet will either be half baked, biased, fake or written for PR.
  22. Don’t get in a relationship with a coworker.
  23. Saying No is an acceptable answer. If doing it makes you uncomfortable, practice saying No politely.
  24. You will never make enough money to satisfy your wants.
  25. Take a course in Public Speaking, Business Writing and Negotiations.
  26. Stay on top of your appearance game. No matter how bad things are, show up to work / meetings / interviews with your best foot forward. Buying 2 sneakers is a depreciating asset. Buying two watches and two Parker pens is an investment. Pay attention to your posture if you’re slouching. People notice and make biased opinions based on these traits.
  27. If you’re doing something new and you don’t know a lot about your task, take a couple of hours to google it. Someone has done it before. The internet is amazing. There literally is a ready-made template available of every deck, report or analysis you will every have to do.
  28. Read every email twice before answering it. If you feel emotional, reply the next day. If you don’t understand anything, question it.
  29. Walk in a meeting with a diary and always keep a good Rollerball pen on you (Pilot etc). Always follow up after a meeting with a summary or/and action items.
  30. Watch out for these phrases in All Hands Meetings: “Everything is good and there is no need for anyone to worry”; and “We need you to put 120% in your work”. If you hear these, start putting 120% effort in job search.
  31. Likewise, if you are ever put on PIP, don’t waste your time in improving your performance. Look for a new job immediately.
  32. Don't wait until the due date to raise issues that you knew about before the due date.
  33. Document everything and leave a paper trail. If your boss takes you aside and tells you to not resign and wait for 3 months for a promotion, send an email summarising the conversation.
  34. Never swear / cuss in the office, regardless even if everyone else is doing it.
  35. If you find yourself in a heated argument with anyone - ask yourself - will you ever have to deal with this person again? If the answer is no, take your guns out and go all terminator on them. But, if the answer is yes - preserve a working relationship with them.
  36. The most expensive word to come out of your mouth is “sorry”. Be very miserly in using it.

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