18 lessons to become indispensable at work 🔑
Blake Emal
1) Create order when you find chaos
👉 Be a calming presence
👉 Build repeatable systems
👉 Don't seek drama, seek structure
2) Bias toward shipping
👉 Done is better than perfect
👉 Ship more than you're even comfortable with
3) Ask for forgiveness, not permission
👉 Do great work and do it quickly
👉 Prove worth with your work
👉 Let results be your apology
4) Make decisions with quick patience
👉 Don’t overthink
👉 Give yourself a moment to think — don’t rush just to appease the other person’s timeline
5) Ask questions that move the group forward
👉 Learn how to ask great questions
👉 Push back on ideas with questions
👉 Don't ask questions just to be heard
👉 Ask questions others aren't willing to
6) Treat your work as art
👉 Have pride in what you ship
👉 Go nuts on being overly creative
👉 Quit when it stops being art to you
👉 Put things out there others wouldn't dare
7) Build side hustles within the company
👉 Learn skills outside your sphere
👉 Take things off co-workers hands
👉 Ask your CEO for extra work hustles
8) Build repeatable systems
👉 Identify what exists and not
👉 Build systems for tasks with none
👉 Record training videos for everything
👉 Help others build systems for themselves
9) Be effective even on vacation
👉 No, don’t work on your vacation
👉 Set up systems and programs to run in your absence
👉 Communicate needs ahead of time and ask for help of coworkers
👉 Accomplish work even when you’re not at work
10) Be a critical thinker in the midst of “Yes” people
👉 Don’t agree to everything
👉 Challenge the impact of each project
👉 Take 24 hrs for non-minor decisions
👉 Challenge the way things have always been done
11) Outpace your peers at learning
👉 Make study a daily routine
👉 Nevers stop learning your niche
👉 Host lunch and learn sessions often
12) Forget the word “Perfect”
👉 Ship at 70% ready
👉 Perfect never gets done
👉 Analyze results & improve next time
13) Build an audience
👉 Show your expertise openly
👉 Give away free advice always
👉 Become worth learning from
👉 Leverage audience into roles
14) Tackle a Quick Win every day
👉 Pick something you can do today
👉 Plan out daily in your calendar
👉 Go out and get that thing done
👉 Report on results
15) Record 3 daily highlights
👉 Tasks that must be accomplished
👉 If they are, the day is a success
👉 If not, the day is a failure
👉 Report daily
16) Stay top of mind in Slack, email, and meetings
👉 Batch mail into 1-hour session daily
👉 Keep meetings to 1 day of the week
👉 Open Slack twice daily
👉 Be present, not distracted
17) Exercise humble confidence
👉 Know your weaknesses
👉 Know your strengths
👉 Remind daily what you’re doing well
👉 Take criticism as mentorship and add them to your “To Improve” list
18) Learn from role growth advisors
👉 Write down your core goal for your current role
👉 Find someone who has achieved that goal already
👉 Reach out and seek mentorship
👉 Listen and do what they say