House renovation, cards, and towels

On Monday, we started work on the upstairs of our house, which led to a game of musical chairs when it came to bedrooms and who sleeps where.

Unsurprisingly, my wife and I are now camping out in the living room for the next two months, while our teenage children have their own lovely bedrooms, each with an ensuite. Got played again, go figure.

Monday was also the first day back to school for the kids. Because of late starts in the morning for the first few days (apparently, they need to be eased in very, very gently after a ten-week break...), nice as I am, I thought I'd let them sleep and not use the shower in any of 'their' rooms.

In fact, I decided to be a very good boy and start a new morning routine by going to the office gym before work and having my shower there.

A win/ win.

In theory, at least.

It turns out it's quite hard to get dry with paper towels after having a shower. There are also significant downsides to using a sweaty t-shirt to dry yourself.

Yes, as things are a bit all over the place in the house right now, I had not packed my bag very well and forgot my towel.

Playing the cards you have, but ALSO focus on getting better cards

I did what I could in terms of playing the cards I had at my disposal (i.e., paper towels and sweaty clothes), and I kind of got the job done.

But obviously, I should have brought better cards.

Which made me think that throughout my career I have probably focused too much on looking at the cards in my hand and doing reasonably well playing them, but I spent too little time trying to get better cards, or trying to stack the deck to my advantage.

For example, instead of just accepting the normal promotion cycles when I was an employee, I could have taken the initiative to actively seek out additional training or certifications in areas where I was already strong. By pro-actively doubling-down on my strengths this might well have given me opportunities to move into even more interesting roles sooner.

Another example: Did I actively build and leverage networks, inside and outside the companies I was working at, and utilise them effectively? Or was I just relying on the same few contacts?

On this one, I'm fairly sure that I have been, and to an extent still am, na?ve and consistently underestimated the power of networks. You can probably all think of examples where peers have been promoted or gotten great opportunities based largely on their networks, less on ability.

And yes, there are different ways to build strong networks, even if you're an introvert like yours truly, but that's a topic for another day.

The point is, whether it’s in your career or something in your personal life, working actively towards collecting 'better cards' will make a world of difference. Maybe not today, but tomorrow, or the day after.

There you have it. For sure, play the cards you have as well as you can, but don't forget to take a step back and think of ways to get better cards in the long run.

Until next time,

Niclas

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My (evolving) philosophy:

Be nice.

Be helpful.

Turn up every day.

Do what you say you're going to do.

If you can't do what you said you'd do, let them know.

Double-down on your strengths, compensate for weaknesses.

Play the cards you're given short term, collect better cards long-term.