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10 job mistakes I made

1: I assumed fast = smart.
​I thought being super-fast at work made me a genius.
Nah.
We’re not paid to get things done fast.
We’re paid to get things done right.

2: I thought identifying errors in my work was my manager’s job.
​No!
If your manager has to spot your errors, they are doing your work.
Not theirs.
If your manager can’t trust you, it doesn’t matter how smart you are.

3: I waited for feedback.
​I assumed if my manager had something to say, they’d let me know.
Silence meant I was doing great.
Nope!
Giving feedback was my manager’s responsibility.
But it was my job to seek it.
And receive it well.
Because it affects my career, not theirs.

4: I only hung out with my team.
​It was HR’s responsibility to organize team bonding activities, not mine!
During meetings, conversations became Us vs Them.
Spend time with people from different functions.
So you can learn what you don’t know.

5: I changed plans midway without informing anyone, and I thought they’d get it.
​They didn’t get it. Because they weren’t mind-readers.
We know ourselves through our thoughts.
We know others through their actions.
If you want people to know you, transform your thoughts into speech and actions.

6: I assumed a good job = recognition + promotion.
​I never asked anyone, “What do I need to do to be promoted?”
I never asked, “Am I ready for the next level?”
Doing good work does not equate readiness for more responsibility.

7: I based my salary expectations on what I wanted.
​For my desires, my ambitions, my future.
So the company was unfair if it didn’t pay me what I wanted!
Wrong!
A company pays us a salary for a role, not our life goals.
And that role has a cost structure.
It’s our job to check if that cost fulfills our wants.
If it doesn’t, it’s our job to see that we get another role that does.

8: During lunch and tea breaks, it was easy to side with the crowd and blame the management for everything.
​It was easy to play the victim and say, “They don’t know anything!”
I never bothered to understand their side or what they dealt with daily.
Because it’s always easier to criticize from the sidelines than to actually play the game.

9: I was given a task.
I finished the task. I assumed the job was done. ​
I never stopped to ask: Why was I given the task? What was my task meant to achieve?
I focused on the output, not the outcome.
Output = what you are supposed to do.
Outcome = what you are supposed to achieve.
Own the outcome. Not the output.

10: Whenever my manager tried to show me a new way to do things, I mistook it as micromanagement.
​"They were not giving me the autonomy I needed," I thought.
They were stifling my independent thinking.
I failed to see the difference between guidance and micromanagement.​
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Which of these hit you the hardest?

Book I am reading this week

Finished reading The Learning Game by Ana Lorena Fábrega. Lovely book.
Highly recommended if you are a young parent, or you think actively about education.

Started reading Uprising: The Liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Neelesh Kulkarni.
It's a gripping tale of how the UT, post independence, was grappling with the rule of the Portuguese and how it was up to a few brave men and women to take matters into their own hands. I can so imagine this converting into a movie. I genuinely had no idea about this part of our history.
Great book if you like history, non-fiction, and curated storytelling.

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My 3rd book, Make Epic Money, has sold 1,26,000+ copies in India with a 4.4+ rating. You can buy it in Hindi, English, Marathi, Audio, and Kindle here.
The book has also been converted into a video course (in Hindi and English) - that you can check out here.
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Here is an alphabetical list of all books I have shared in this newsletter so far.

Question of the week

When are you the most productive, during the day?

• Early morning (before 8am)
• Mid-morning (8am - 12pm)
• Afternoon (12pm - 5pm)
• Evening (5pm - 9pm)
• Night (after 9pm)
• Never! :))
• All the time!

(and see the results of others, too)

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Results of last week's question

Clearly a lot of people feel stuck - either in a golden cage (earning well, but not fulfilled) or worse, in a crisis (not earning well, not feeling fulfilled).

My response?​
I am living my dream life - high financial success and high personal fulfilment. Very grateful.
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3-2-1
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3 pics from last week

Was at BITS Pilani Goa Campus last week - absolutely stunning campus. What greenery. And of course - the students were smart as well :))

This Sunday we went for an annual ritual - Onam Sadhya. At our favorite South Indian cuisine restaurant - Dakshin. LOVED it!

I am in Bangalore today. Had an awesome session with Dell Digital yesterday. Find me in the crowd, haha :)

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2 quotes I wish to share

When you catch up with friends after a really long time, you are basically looking at yourself in the past.

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The wise respond. The fools react.

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1 new thing I learnt this week

Do you know which is the most stolen food item in the world?
Apparently, it is cheese.
According to some studies, about 4% of all cheese produced globally ends up being stolen.
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On that note, guess which is the highest selling product in Walmart?
Hint: It is not cheese, but it is a food item.
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🎙️ My top content from last week
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📹 YouTube:​ Escape the 9-5 trap​

📱 Instagram: 4 things that the happiest people have in common​

🐥 Twitter: Advice from someone in their 30s to someone in their 20s​

🎧 Podcast: Meet my team​
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You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.​
​(Bangalore ke traffic aur weather ke deadly combination ki kasam)

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