Making Better Decisions

Hi, I’m David Timis and my mission in life is to prepare people for the future of work.?

In order to fulfil this mission, or at least come close to it, I am committed to facilitating successful career transitions for people at every stage of their working lives. And, while I work on a 1:1 basis with several individual clients helping them navigate their career transitions and ultimately get more meaning out of their work, I am creating this newsletter to connect with, inspire, and support professionals that are looking to grow their careers.

In this week’s edition of the newsletter the theme revolves around decision-making, which is probably one of the most important skills one can develop. Making good decisions can save us time, money, and stress, yet no one really teaches us what makes a good decision and what we can do to improve our decision-making processes. Below are some insights and thoughts that will help you make better decisions in life and in your career.

Timeless Insight

“If you can’t decide, the answer is no.” — Naval Ravikant

What Naval means is that if you are undecided about a major decision in your life, (e.g., moving to a new city, taking a job, getting married, etc.), and it’s not an obvious “yes, I should do this right now”, then just don’t do it. You don’t want to lock yourself into something if you’re undecided, because you actually have far more options than you think. The best decisions in life are abundantly obvious. If it’s not obvious don’t do it.?

Food for Thought?

When it comes to career-related decisions, the following article contains relevant answers, especially for people that find themselves in the first ten years of their career.?

It is often believed that the job title and compensation you receive matter most when making a career-related decision. However, what actually matters most, at least in the first ten years of your career (and not only), is the network the organisation you join can offer and the market the company operates in (whether it’s operating in a growth sector or not).?

When it comes to network, there are very few similar examples to the ‘PayPal Mafia’, the founders and former employees of PayPal, which founded, funded or led some of the world’s biggest tech firms - from YouTube and LinkedIn, to Airbnb and Uber. A more recent version of the PayPal Mafia is the ‘Palantir Pack’, which is a group of tech entrepreneurs comprised of former employees of Palantir that are behind less well known, but very successful startups such as Anduril, OpenSea, Sourcegraph, and Addepar, to name a few.?

When it comes to market growth, Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta (formerly known as Facebook) gave the best advice — “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.” And that’s exactly what the article argues as well. Basically, if you’d have the chance to be one of the first 30, 50 or even 100 first employees of the next Google, Amazon or Apple, wouldn’t you want to take the chance? Early in your career, landing a job in a 'rocket ship' may be the biggest determinant for your future success.??

There are other important factors to consider when taking a career-related decision that the article highlights, such as optionality (what future roles the job sets you up for?), and the branding of the company you’re considering joining, which matters especially at an early stage of your career, if you’ve never had a well known brand name on your resume.?

I invite you to go over the article at your own pace and discover, besides the key factors to consider when taking a career-related decision, also the factors that are less important.?

Article of the Week?

How to Make Smart Decisions Without Getting Lucky

Caricature of the Week

Source: Condé Nast

Thank you for reading and keep on growing!

David

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