The Difference Between Hustling and Actually Becoming *Top Talent* in Your Career

Hi guys - I’m on vacation this week, a real one, without kids so I definitely plan to disconnect. For the sake of “balance” and preserving my sanity, I’ll be publishing only one email this week and next. Thanks in advance for not unsubscribing. <3

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Hi Aleen,

I’m ~4.5 ish years into my career graduated college and went into consulting, while there I felt like I was driving to do the work get the things don’t and get the “stamp of approval” but looking back I don’t feel like I was hustling in the grander career sense like was I making the connections in meaningful ways focusing on building myself at that job and then also preparing for the future as well. I felt like I wasn’t putting in that other work into it but was doing my actual day to day work. I lost that job and had some time between and am at ______ now and really liking it here, I like the work and my coworkers and all around work life balance heaps above where I was at, and I want to really establish a better focus here ok not just doing my work and doing it well, but also making those connections have my “eye on the prize” focusing on self development, working towards promotions even if they aren’t soon as I started recently.

A little context on me losing my job: it was technically a layoff or that’s how it was positioned officially, but in the months leading up to it my performance reviews hadn’t been great and weren’t improving despite putting in a lot of work myself, meeting with my mentor at the company and my project heads.

Tldr; keeping myself hustling and motivated for my career as a whole to help myself succeed in the long run especially now when I’m young to set myself up well for the future. Please advise!

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Hi!

Just by reading your note it’s clear you’re really driven. Of course that’s not all it takes to succeed at something, but it’s a big piece of it.

Let’s talk about your current job. I know you said you “want to do your job and do it well but also make connections and keep your eye on the prize” but I can’t stress enough that doing your job really well will be your path to success. It obviously depends on the culture of your company but in most companies, they will do what it takes to retain and invest in exceptional talent. But it takes hard work and earning results in your job to be seen as a rising star or top talent. So the first thing I’d do is to make sure you’re killing it in your role and exceeding expectations. And then as a sort of “back-burner goal” you can keep yourself open to potential networking opportunities and say yes to them when they arise.

Here’s the secret: you are already networking every day at your job. It’s not just about senior leadership liking you and seeing you as a star employee, but about your clients, peers, and colleagues including people who are more junior. The way you interact daily is the substance of your future references and anyone who you work adjacent to can potentially be a far more valuable industry contact than a random exec you met for five minutes at an industry happy hour (unless maybe you’re in sales). Don’t not put yourself out there especially since you’re young, but don’t pressure yourself to constantly be ~mingling~. Maybe this looks like joining one group and consistently attending their events. You’ll definitely connect with at least a few people you can stay close to.

Now I’m going to give you a little tougher feedback: Your email gives ambitious but scattered vibes. I normally wouldn’t shade someone for (now-edited) typos – I don’t think I’ve ever spelled the word ‘receipt’ correctly on my first try – but in this case, the typos give me a sense that you may be rushing through things and not paying attention to details. Quality is almost always reflected in the details. My instinct is that you need to work on slowing down and focusing. Ambition is great, but what transforms ambition into achievement is intention, effort, and focus.

Now let’s talk about your last job. Layoffs happen, but as you mentioned, it seems like they were giving you some negative feedback that you were struggling with. Regardless of the company’s reason for letting you go, I would still recommend taking the feedback as data points to reflect on when working on your own self development. If you notice a pattern going forward, I would take it even more seriously and proactively work to address it because you don’t want to end up in a similar situation in this new role.

The first thing I’d ask myself about this new job: Do you actually know what is expected of you in this role? Can you list the top 3 things that your manager hired you to do in the next one to six months? Without referencing anything? Seriously, list them.

If you want to exceed expectations, you have to be crystal clear on the baseline expectations. It’s possible to be “doing a lot” but the entirely wrong things, so if you aren’t totally clear on what results your manager and company wants to see, I would meet with your manager and align on what “good” looks like and how your success will be measured. If by some chance you don’t have a manager who is clear in what they expect from you, despite you trying, consider touching base with HR if it feels right. That said, a big part of the whole climbing the corporate ladder thing is being able to manage up and not just expect your manager to manage down. It means that you need to learn how your manager works, how they process information, how they give feedback, etc. It’s an extremely important skill. If you don’t know what it means, definitely look into learning about it: ask someone in your *new networking group*, ask a friend who is a little further up in their career, or even go to HR and ask for resources on how to manage up as they should happily share something with you.

If you have a biannual review cycle, check in monthly or at natural points in your work cycle (like after you complete a project) to get feedback. If you’re doing well, make it known that you’re willing to take on more (if you’re able to of course), or even better, use your judgement and do it proactively. As you move up, practicing good judgement, anticipating needs and future next steps, and doing things proactively will become the expectation. Showing those qualities early on will definitely get you noticed. But make sure not to overextend yourself because the worst thing you can do is take on too much, and then your daily responsibilities suffer. Prove that you're a star with your work and not your words. Do your talking on the field. Work smart, hard, whatever, get shit done. Then do/ask for more. And so on.

I put together some specific points on what this could look like:

• When you talk to your manager about expectations, say something like: I want to be straight forward. I’m really passionate about XYZ and I want to succeed. I’m here to learn so please know I welcome feedback, I can handle it and will always try to internalize it and improve.

• Be prepared to answer where you see yourself and what you’d like to achieve, so they know how to cater their feedback. Open dialogue fosters trust and connection.

• Be a team player. See where you can spend some time helping others. Cross functional collaboration is a quality that is usually highly valued by leadership because it shows that 1) you’re committed 2) you’re willing to devote your time to a greater problem 3) you work well with others and are therefore an integral part of making the business run smoothly.

• On getting “stamps of approval”: People can usually sniff out when someone is just eager to please. While there are worse qualities in the workplace, it also may be perceived as professionally immature. You didn’t get hired to check boxes and finish your list of tasks just for the sake of the “good job” slack message. That usually leads to rushed, low quality output.

I just threw a lot at you. If you’re feeling a bit untethered, remind yourself that there’s the “hustle” you see on tiktok and instagram i.e. people who talk about hustling (but …are they?) And then there’s reality. Be really intentional with your time and communication. Don’t rush through things just to get them done or to get a fleeting stamp of approval. Ultimately, the only stamp of approval that really matters is the one you can confidently give yourself.

Oh and keep an eye on what’s out there in the job market. If after a few years a promotion is still not on the table, don’t hesitate to explore moving on.

Aleen

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Thank you for reading! If you’d like my advice on your career, business, relationships, life submit an email to hi@aleen.co or dm me @aleen.