Here is your 8-step guide to making quantum career leaps in 2025.

Step 1: GET AROUND PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING WELL.

In reality #1, the world is gloomy and life is a struggle.

In reality #2, people are having fun and making money.

Both are real, but you get to choose which one you live in.

Step 2: READ A TON OF GREAT BOOKS.

Or just read these 5:

ALCHELMY by Rory Sutherland

THE ALGEBRA OF WEALTH by Scott Galloway

ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear

THE ALMANACK OF NAVAL RAVIKANT by Eric Jorgensen

EXCELLENT ADVICE FOR LIVING by Kevin Kelly

Bonus: ART FOR MONEY by your humble newsletter author

Step 3: HAVE OPTIONS.

Desperation is a stinky cologne. Options eliminate desperation.

Options appear over time, when you combine professional and social excellence, and top it off with generosity.

The time to build options is before you need them.

Step 4: CREATE A 2ND RESUME.

Feel free to keep your rambling 3-pager if you like. But the version that sees the most action will have:

  • One page
  • White space
  • Short sentences
  • Bold statements

The ability to distill large dumps of information into hard-hitting summaries is the mark of a boss. Is that you? Use your resume to prove it.

Step 5: TALK BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF.

Most people don’t know how to talk about themselves.

They tend to summarize their experience, rather than synthesize what those combined experiences mean.

Building real self-awareness will catapult you into the top 90th percentile of professionals.  

Step 6: HAVE MORE FUN IN INTERVIEWS.

An interview is a chance to meet a decision maker in your industry, and befriend them.

This is important, because most peoples’ career troubles stem from a failure to meet decision makers in their industry, and befriend them.

Step 7: NEGOTIATE LIKE A BOSS.

Most salary negotiation advice focuses on small wins, white lies and unimportant details. Why? Because it’s aimed at amateurs.

I suggest the opposite approach: well informed, big picture, facts only.

Step 8: ACCEPT YOUR OFFER.

Any high performer can interview well, demonstrate skills, be likable, fit in with the team, get the offer. Those are the easy parts.

But if the offer comes in differently than you expected, the way you handle the next step is crucial.

Any pushbacks or additional asks must be:

  • Premeditated. (Organize yourself, and do it all in one conversation)
  • Prioritized. (Don’t ask for a salary bump and 3 extra PTOs in the same sentence)
  • Upbeat. (“I’m excited and I think we’re close. If you can meet me in the middle on X, I’m ready to sign”)
  • Verbal. (Attempting to have sensitive conversations in writing is a recipe for disaster)

‍