22 Pieces of Career Advice They Don't Teach You in School

written by

Sahil Bloom

Mindset & Life Lessons

I get a lot of messages asking for career advice.

The following is my attempt to synthesize my responses from the last few years into a series of short, valuable lessons.

Behind each of these is a much longer story—probably a painful one—but I'll spare you that detail (for now!).

No matter where you are on your career journey, my hope is that this list has something of value for you.

And if you have someone in your life who's just getting started in their career, I'd recommend sharing it with them, as I know it would have made my journey more efficient and enjoyable.

Here are 22 pieces of career advice I wish I knew at 22...

The single most important rule: Be valuable.

Create value, receive value. If you want to make a lot of money, create value for everyone you come into contact with. Money earned is a direct byproduct of value created. Identify problems, create solutions, scale those solutions. If you aren't valuable, nothing else on this list matters. If you are valuable, the rest of the list is like gasoline on your already roaring fire.

Durable things take a long time to build. Flimsy things happen fast.

There are no shortcuts to building something real. The faster it comes, the faster it can fall apart. Remember that.

Be the person who can figure it out.

Early on, you'll be given a lot of tasks you have no idea how to complete. There's nothing more valuable than someone who can just figure it out. Do some work, ask key questions, get it done. People will fight over you.

There are no style points in life.

You don't get more points for making it look good. You win by getting to the truth. The layup counts just as much as the 360-degree windmill dunk—and it probably saves energy so that you can be on the court for the full game.

People want to do business with people they like.

So, being likable and nice to be around is a durable competitive advantage.

The best opportunities look like tiny cracks, not open doors.

Opportunities rarely feel obvious in the moment. Capitalizing on them requires one part awareness (to spot the tiny crack) and ten parts courage (to dive through it).

Inputs are great, but you're paid for your outputs.

Inputs and outputs may be dislocated in the short-term, but they should be connected in the long-term. If not, you probably need to adjust your inputs.

If you want extraordinary outputs, you need to be willing to contribute extraordinary inputs.

Life is filled with challenging, painful tradeoffs and sacrifices. There's no cheat code or hack to get around it. You need to be willing to endure seasons of unbalance to unlock a life of balance on the other side.

The ability to take feedback is a long-term competitive advantage.

Everyone says they want feedback, but most just mean they want positive feedback. If you can seek out constructive feedback and embrace it, you will always outmatch the person who runs from it.

Seek out rooms where you don't feel like you belong.

That feeling of uncertainty, fear, and discomfort is usually a sign of growth.

Always focus on doing.

You'll come across a lot of great talkers—people who seem to have built their careers on the back of sounding smart, using fancy words, and the like. While it may work out for a few, it's a bad risk-adjusted strategy. It's not talking about the thing, it's not brainstorming about the thing, it's not asking about the thing, it's not thinking about the thing. The only way to reliably get ahead is by doing the thing.

Potential is nothing without execution.

When you're young, everyone cares about your potential. You get accustomed to focusing on it. But as you get older, no one cares about your potential—just your delivery against it.

Everything matters.

Every single thing. You don't get to pick and choose when to show up, because the world will ignore your best and judge you for your worst. Top performers show up with energy and enthusiasm for the little things just as much as they do for the big things.

Learn to sell.

Sell yourself, your story, your product, your vision, your ideas. Don't be afraid of being told no. Use it to refine the message until you get to a yes.

Build a reputation for reliability.

My grandfather once told me: "You’ll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than by being occasionally extraordinary." I will never forget that. You can get pretty damn far by just being someone that people can count on to show up and do the work. Being reliable is entirely free but surprisingly rare.

If you want to accomplish anything significant, you have to work hard.

Nothing bad has ever come from working hard on things you care about. It may not lead to the outcome you expect, but it will lead to an outcome you deserve.

Don't follow your passion, follow your energy.

Passion can lie, but energy never does. When you have energy for something, you're prone to giving your deep attention to learn more about it. You open up to the world. You ask great questions and observe. Chasing your energy is how you unlock the gold in life.

Be selective in the games you choose to play.

There's an old African proverb that says, "The Lizard had the tree in mind when challenging the Dog to a fight." The most successful people I've met are hyper self-aware. They identify their unique edge, then play games that favor it (and avoid those that expose their weaknesses). Know your game and play it well.

Closed mouths don't get fed.

If you want something—and you’ve done the work to earn it—go ask for it. The old adage to sit back and wait for good things to happen is terrible advice. A little push goes a long way.

Do the "old fashioned" things well.

Look people in the eye, do what you say you'll do, be early, practice good posture, have a confident handshake, listen more than you speak. These things are all free and will never go out of style.

Side hustles are usually just distractions.

Having 5-10 income streams may sound nice, but it's quite rare that an income stream is truly passive. If it requires your mental energy (or creates headaches), it may just be a distraction pulling you away from the main thing that matters.

Your employer (probably) doesn't care about you.

Everyone's your best friend until it's time to make hard decisions. One of my dearest friends just got laid off after 15 years at a firm. The guy who gave him the news had hired him originally and been a groomsman at his wedding. Suddenly, he wouldn't reply to texts or pick up the phone. There's no loyalty. The sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be.

Your career is a long game. These 22 pieces of advice will help you play it well.

And always remember: Advice is great, but it's nothing without action.

I hope you take a few items from this list and act on them in the days and weeks ahead. Apply the ones that resonate, ignore the ones that don't.