The Career Success Guide

Welcome to the 1,002 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 78,225 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Veridas!Do you struggle with verifying the identity of your customers?Gone are the days of needing to ask customers over the phone to verify 3 pieces of information to prove their identity, and wasting your support rep's time. Veridas’ voice biometric authentication will confirm a person's identity simply by hearing them speak. No language requirements, no special phrase, just 3 seconds of chatter. In fact, 100 companies around the world already trust Veridas thanks to its simplicity, accuracy (+99.9%), and speed (150 milliseconds).Veridas is offering a special 15% discount for all Curiosity Chronicle subscribers that book a live demo in the next 30 days. Sign up at the link below to take advantage of the offer!Today at a Glance:Whether you’re just starting—or building—your career, you’ve undoubtedly faced new challenges that no textbook or classroom could have prepared you for. Early career years can be quite painful and anxiety-inducing. You face a completely new world with no map—no guide to help you navigate the uncharted terrain.Today’s piece provides that guide—a simple set of core principles that you can turn to and rely on as you start and build your career.If you prefer a printable, evergreen format that you can refer to in future, I turned this into a beautiful e-book, which you can buy here. It includes several additional principles and visualizations not in the newsletter version.The Career Success GuideWhether you’re just starting—or building—your career, you’ve undoubtedly faced new challenges that no textbook or classroom could have prepared you for.Early career years can be quite painful and anxiety-inducing. You face a completely new world with no map—no guide to help you navigate the uncharted terrain…So today, I’d like to provide that guide—a simple set of core principles that you can turn to and rely on as you start and build your career.All of the principles contained herein were developed and earned through my own experience, generally through failures or missteps. My hope is that by providing this in writing, you can avoid those same mistakes and accelerate your path.If you prefer a printable, evergreen format that you can refer to in future, I turned this into a beautiful e-book, which you can buy here. It also includes several additional principles and visualizations not in the newsletter version.With that context in mind, let’s dive right in: The Career Success Guide—10 principles to help you navigate the challenges of your early career…Build a Personal Board of AdvisorsThe general logic here is simple.If you treat your career lifecycle as a company...You start as a high-growth startupYou grow into a bigger businessYou IPO and are a public companyAt each phase, you're faced with a variety of difficult and new decisions and challenges.Traditionally, people have turned to "mentorship" to navigate the uncharted waters they encounter at each stage. But "mentorship" feels very formal. It carries a connotation of a fixed cadence and time commitment. From the mentor's perspective, it feels like a big commitment.Furthermore, having one formal mentor often falls short from a utility standpoint. Your mentor may not have encountered the challenge you're facing—they may not have a "map" that you can leverage to navigate the terrain. They may not be available when you need to make an important decision.Instead, build a Personal Board of Advisors. Companies have boards—ideally comprised of individuals from varying backgrounds and arenas. The board isn't involved in the day-to-day, but provides advice on strategy, key decisions, and challenges.Your Personal Board of Advisors is a group of 5-10 individuals.Important features:Unbiased (not family)Diverse experiences and backgroundsWilling to provide raw feedbackOver time, you can add and subtract from your board. The members don't need to know each other or that they are on your board. Informality is a feature, not a bug.As you encounter challenges, key decisions, or inflection points in your career, these are the people that you can reliably turn to for grounded perspectives, feedback, and advice.Swallow the Frog for Your BossThe “frog” is a difficult or annoying task your boss doesn’t want to do. But their frog is your opportunity!It presents one of the single greatest hacks to getting ahead early in your career:Observe your boss.Figure out what they hate doing.Teach yourself to do it.Take it off their plate (i.e. swallow the frog!).Swallowing the frog for your boss is a clear way to add value, put up a win, and build momentum.Create a Decentralized Growth TribeHaving a decentralized friend group to learn from and grow with is a legitimate competitive advantage.The features of a decentralized friend group:Unconnected to...