Friendly reminder to those of you early in your careers and collecting a steady paycheck

Make yourself indispensable. Don’t just do your job, own it, ask for more. Take on what others avoid. Learn faster than the people around you. Because the second you start coasting, you’ve already started falling behind. Complacency is a venom that dampens ambition.

In the past two weeks multiple friends, smart, well-paid, working at strong companies got blindsided. Either laid off or cut due to “budget realignment.” No warning.

If you move through life with blinders on assuming someone else is steering, or that loyalty will protect you you’re going to crash. Sooner than you think.

Network like your life depends on it because it might. The best opportunities don’t go to the smartest. They go to the most connected, the most visible, and the most prepared.

Take full ownership of everything you do. Every outcome in your life is tied to a decision you made or avoided. Pretending otherwise is being dishonest to yourself and how people stay stuck.

No one’s coming to save you. But the good news is one can stop you either.