As a career and life coach I have published hundreds of blogs on a variety of topics, all dealing with career matters. Sometimes readers find it much easier to read and digest telegraphic statements that resonate than to read long passages that make a point. So, this blog is a distillation of my various blogs from which I have extracted such statements that allow for a short and pithy pearl of wisdom that you, the readers, can think about in managing your career!

1. Focus on achieving technical excellence during the first phase of your career (25-35 years of age).
2. Seek promotion every 2-3 years after showing your value at your company.
3. Change employers every five years
4. If you are the best at what you do, remember there is your company’s competitor waiting for you with better income and better position.
5. Change jobs every 5-7 years (a new job in your expertise adjacency)
6. Change careers every 10 or so years.
7. Don’t mix business with your friends. Don’t tell your “friends” at work anything that is personal (“I have stage-3 cancer.”)
8. Don’t trust your manager, most of them exploit and hurt you to benefit themselves.
9. When your boss promises you something (“I’ll promote you in a year”) send them an email thanking them for that and keep it for posterity.
10. Master the art of communication with clients, boss, and superiors. Learn how to speak and present well.
11. Don’t be so available for everyone. Learn how to say no and learn how to say yes at the right times.

12. Know how you spend your time and learn how to spend that productively
13. Constantly outsource/automate the parts of your work that do not require creative thinking.
14. Do not compare your career arc with anyone else’s; each trajectory is unique.
15. Learn how to be the boss of your boss, don’t be his sheep. Manage your boss, not the other way around. If you hate them learn how to deal with the hate and manage that relationship. Running away may result in a worse new boss (remember that 80% of the bosses are dysfunctional and bad).
16. Be hungry, learn constantly, and be the best at what you do
17. Tell your superior they are wrong if they are; learn how to communicate that without getting hurt (see #10). Ask, don’t assume.
18. Being nice (cloying nice) won’t always make you succeed in the corporate world; you must show your toughness and purpose.
19. Dress well, go to a gym, look nice and attractive. Feel young! Think and look powerful.
20. Most of all, enjoy what you do. If not, find something worth doing!

Good luck!