Which are you in? You need to know to get to the next one.

There are 5 phases to a great career. They’re not defined by skills, titles, or achievements, but by how the world sees you, and how it responds when it does.

At first you’re nobody, because nobody knows who you are.

If you’re here, you need to get noticed.

At the start of your career, resist social pressure to fit in. Distinguish yourself. Dress differently, do something worth talking about. If you have more talent, find a way to use it. If not, just work harder than everyone else.

Be useful… listen carefully, learn what others need and go get it. Bring it to them, without strings or expectations.

Most people feel an obligation to reciprocate kindness. That goodwill, accumulated over time, will give you power in an organization, something especially important to someone with no authority (i.e., you.)

Eventually, in some room you’re not in, someone you’ve helped and who sees your potential will recommend you to someone else.

It may take longer for this to happen than you want, but it will happen eventually, if you get noticed in Phase 1. When it does, you get your shot.

It’s no longer about getting noticed now. It’s all about getting results.

Focus on delivering results.

Use the listening skills you’ve developed to understand not just what you’re supposed to be doing, but why it matters to everyone else. Focus on that, spending as little time as possible on lesser priorities. Come up with a plan, and a way to measure your progress against it. Treat feedback like a gift; lower your defenses to stay open and relaxed. Delegate when you can, and ask for help when you need it.

What’s important is that you never make excuses; that you take ownership of results, even when you come up short. Don’t shepherd some process, no matter how dutifully. The world has more of that than it needs, and is always looking for people who get things done.

Build a reputation as one of those people. Then one day…

Welcome to the bigs. Your time has come, you’re finally in the spotlight. Don’t blow this opportunity!

Make hay in the sunshine.

Let go of who you want to be, and decide what you want to do. Crystalize the mission, for you and the people you lead. Apply your skills, authority, and influence in service to that mission, ensuring others know their role in it, and have what they need to contribute. Hold them accountable, and reward those who deliver results.

By now you’ll have real power… use it, like a muscle that gets stronger when you exert it in service to worthy goals.

Watch your ego, and remember where you came from. Make it your business to know the people in Phase 1, and to help those who deserve it to Phase 2. Now yours is the voice in a room they’re not in. Use it to advance talent, planting the seeds of future success.

Don’t forget your reputation got you here. You need to protect it, now that the spotlight’s on you. Tell the truth, as kindly as you can. Work with people you trust, and be someone worthy of theirs.

Savor the time on the top of whatever heap you’ve been climbing all this time. It won’t last forever, though. You’ll have started down when you hear this…

Success is a funny thing. It eats itself, ouroboros-like, as your reputation overtakes you in the imagination of others. The best thing you can do to avoid it is this:

Stay humble, keep learning.

You’re past the peak now. The world is changing, and so is the game. The players are different… younger, faster, with less to lose and more to gain. Resist the instinct to see them as a threat. You’ve got nothing to prove, except that you delivered when it mattered, and left a legacy of strategic clarity and great talent.

Help them, and you’ll learn from them. Embrace Sho Shin. Obsess over what’s changing and what isn’t; advocate for new priorities and persistent truths with equal enthusiasm. Groom your successors… not in your own image, but in the image of what will be required next.

Everything ends, and that’s ok.

Move on before it’s necessary. Not from the life you’ve had, but toward a life you’ve also wanted.

And here we are again. It’s a hard pill to swallow, at first. The work we do feels so important, while we’re doing it. But work is never as important as family, as friendship, as love. It’s time to change mindset again.

Find meaning, someplace else.

Don’t be afraid to let go of the world you knew. Don’t be afraid to let go of your Self, or at least the part of you that was at home there.

The world is large. It’s many worlds, in fact… a world we’re born to, and one we build over a lifetime. Maybe you want to stay in that world, or at least a corner of it you protected from work. Good for you. There are infinite other worlds, though, and if you’re done working, but not growing, it’s time to find them. It’s time to find — to make, really — another you.

I hate the word “retirement.” It looks back, rather than ahead. Don’t retire, from something you’ve already done. Remake. Remake yourself, as another of the people you wanted to be. Do you remember? Was it a creator? An athlete? A traveler? If you’re lucky enough to make it here, now is the time… not to discard the focus that powered your working life, but to re-direct it, at… life.

Which are you in? You need to know to get to the next one.

There are 5 phases to a great career. They’re not defined by skills, titles, or achievements, but by how the world sees you, and how it responds when it does.

At first you’re nobody, because nobody knows who you are.

If you’re here, you need to get noticed.

At the start of your career, resist social pressure to fit in. Distinguish yourself. Dress differently, do something worth talking about. If you have more talent, find a way to use it. If not, just work harder than everyone else.

Be useful… listen carefully, learn what others need and go get it. Bring it to them, without strings or expectations.

Most people feel an obligation to reciprocate kindness. That goodwill, accumulated over time, will give you power in an organization, something especially important to someone with no authority (i.e., you.)

Eventually, in some room you’re not in, someone you’ve helped and who sees your potential will recommend you to someone else.

It may take longer for this to happen than you want, but it will happen eventually, if you get noticed in Phase 1. When it does, you get your shot.

It’s no longer about getting noticed now. It’s all about getting results.

Focus on delivering results.

Use the listening skills you’ve developed to understand not just what you’re supposed to be doing, but why it matters to everyone else. Focus on that, spending as little time as possible on lesser priorities. Come up with a plan, and a way to measure your progress against it. Treat feedback like a gift; lower your defenses to stay open and relaxed. Delegate when you can, and ask for help when you need it.

What’s important is that you never make excuses; that you take ownership of results, even when you come up short. Don’t shepherd some process, no matter how dutifully. The world has more of that than it needs, and is always looking for people who get things done.

Build a reputation as one of those people. Then one day…

Welcome to the bigs. Your time has come, you’re finally in the spotlight. Don’t blow this opportunity!

Make hay in the sunshine.

Let go of who you want to be, and decide what you want to do. Crystalize the mission, for you and the people you lead. Apply your skills, authority, and influence in service to that mission, ensuring others know their role in it, and have what they need to contribute. Hold them accountable, and reward those who deliver results.

By now you’ll have real power… use it, like a muscle that gets stronger when you exert it in service to worthy goals.

Watch your ego, and remember where you came from. Make it your business to know the people in Phase 1, and to help those who deserve it to Phase 2. Now yours is the voice in a room they’re not in. Use it to advance talent, planting the seeds of future success.

Don’t forget your reputation got you here. You need to protect it, now that the spotlight’s on you. Tell the truth, as kindly as you can. Work with people you trust, and be someone worthy of theirs.

Savor the time on the top of whatever heap you’ve been climbing all this time. It won’t last forever, though. You’ll have started down when you hear this…

Success is a funny thing. It eats itself, ouroboros-like, as your reputation overtakes you in the imagination of others. The best thing you can do to avoid it is this:

Stay humble, keep learning.

You’re past the peak now. The world is changing, and so is the game. The players are different… younger, faster, with less to lose and more to gain. Resist the instinct to see them as a threat. You’ve got nothing to prove, except that you delivered when it mattered, and left a legacy of strategic clarity and great talent.

Help them, and you’ll learn from them. Embrace Sho Shin. Obsess over what’s changing and what isn’t; advocate for new priorities and persistent truths with equal enthusiasm. Groom your successors… not in your own image, but in the image of what will be required next.

Everything ends, and that’s ok.

Move on before it’s necessary. Not from the life you’ve had, but toward a life you’ve also wanted.

And here we are again. It’s a hard pill to swallow, at first. The work we do feels so important, while we’re doing it. But work is never as important as family, as friendship, as love. It’s time to change mindset again.

Find meaning, someplace else.

Don’t be afraid to let go of the world you knew. Don’t be afraid to let go of your Self, or at least the part of you that was at home there.

The world is large. It’s many worlds, in fact… a world we’re born to, and one we build over a lifetime. Maybe you want to stay in that world, or at least a corner of it you protected from work. Good for you. There are infinite other worlds, though, and if you’re done working, but not growing, it’s time to find them. It’s time to find — to make, really — another you.

I hate the word “retirement.” It looks back, rather than ahead. Don’t retire, from something you’ve already done. Remake. Remake yourself, as another of the people you wanted to be. Do you remember? Was it a creator? An athlete? A traveler? If you’re lucky enough to make it here, now is the time… not to discard the focus that powered your working life, but to re-direct it, at… life.