Question of the week: What's the best career advice you ever received?

One of the best thing I read in Pragmatic Programmer book is "It is your life. You own it. You run it. You create it."

"You can't get what you don't ask for" is probably the best advice I ever received. Also, it's up to you to be ready for new opportunities.

"You don't have to impress people right when you enter a company, they will likely return only envy and doubts. Give the best of yourself when you're about to quit." I know this piece of advice is quite controversial, and I still question it occasionally. But somehow it works.

"Believe in yourself more so than you think you do."

In my very first sales job, I was told that my time is the most important thing to protect - spend time with leads where there is mutual benefit and don't be afraid to close off conversations are heading nowhere. Seems counter-intuitive to the idea that salespeople should pester until you buy but poor time management is a daily struggle!

At 25, you’ll be likely be doing something wildly different than 21. The job you have at 30 may not even be invented yet. The best advice I’ve always gotten is to give yourself permission to move away from sunk costs - it’s tough when you’ve invested in learning something or invested time into something to move on to something new - but so many rewards come when you change the vision of who/what you are.

You don't get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate.

I don't have it :(

The best advice I received is from one of my best friend, " Don't say you can't do this, you have a ​brain, time, and motivation. These are the main ingredients for Doing."

Always come with at least one suggested solution for a task given, not with a problem.

Back in my visual effects days my creative director always used to say "Suggest 3 options to the client. The one they reject, the one you're okay with doing and the one you would enjoy doing. When they land on a second one, you can convince them the third one is better".

"Do what you can't" - Casey Neistat

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take

"Always be prepared to be let down."

For me : - Learning to learn. Learning Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, computer science, Probability & Statistic, Design, Corporate Finance and know how to sell. Understanding - Best teacher is your last mistake. - Networking is giving and making best friends. - Goal + Deadline + Plan + Consistent + Action = Success. Best advices from Sahil Lavingia : - Start by freelancing or teaching. - Produce content for a growing audience. - Make and sell product that people love. A strategy for thinking clearly: - Rather than trying to be right, assume you are wrong and try to be less wrong. - Trying to be right has a tendency to devolve into protecting your beliefs. - Trying to be less wrong has a tendency to prompt more questions and intellectual humility. And the last quotes by Naval : "Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable."

Never to Give-up! You could rest, heal and get back up.

similar to @syswarren "Asking won't hurt you." -> I've always been curious and straightforward asking people (even CEOs) for jobs/help. Also: "Job titles are useless in your next job, the only thing that counts is your track-record." (speaking of "Head of xyz" as a 1-person-"department")