The next promotion, the next chance to earn more, gain influence, or power. Ambition is just another measure of worth at work. If you’re not ambitious, someone else will snatch your job away.

We’ve been fed this bullshit for years. Being comfortable is seen as laziness. We stigmatize those who reject the corporate ladder, ignoring that they might be the ones who truly understand what it means to have enough—something you’re never taught growing up.

If you’re going to judge someone’s work, you owe them clarity. Set expectations upfront and be consistent.

Grading work without a clear rubric is a joke. It’s unfair and meaningless. Without standards, nitpicking after the fact is nothing but a power trip.

Evaluations should help people improve, not feed your ego.

Learn to accept risks and live by them. Removing every possible risk results in bland, uninspired work that aims to offend no one.

De-risking everything makes you ship average shit. The fear of failure and making mistakes leads to a culture where safety and mediocrity become the norm. You’re left with something so sanitized that it fails to compete, yet you think it is great.

You should be embracing risks, not removing them.

If you find something broken, ask ‘why’ instead of ‘who’. Then, fix it and move on.

‘Who’ involves blame and diverts energy from progress. Instead of indulging in ego, channel your efforts into the repairs.

Taking responsibility in silence is a testament to leadership and sets a precedent for others.

Progress doesn’t need a spotlight; it just needs to happen.

Call dibs.

I’ve never met anyone who burned out from working too much on something they love.

Burnout isn’t about the hours. It’s about the soul-crushing feeling of being undervalued and overwhelmed by things that don’t matter – the bureaucracy, the finger-pointing, the lack of autonomy, and endless processes.

You weren’t hired to be a menu; you were hired to make things happen. Presenting multiple solutions to every problem doesn’t move things forward; it just creates noise and unnecessary debate.

If you’re at a restaurant, options are great. But when you know the best approach, offering bogus choices is just plain stupid. You know what to do, so stop waffling around.

“Prove me wrong, and I’ll change my mind” is a shitty approach.

Teamwork isn’t about winning arguments or proving points. It’s about collaboration, trust, and mutual respect. When you set up a discussion with the premise of proving someone wrong (you included), you’re creating a hostile environment. It’s combative, not cooperative. It wears people down and discourages participation.

“It will just take you five minutes” is one of the most toxic lines you can hear.

Nothing ever takes “just five minutes”. You might spend the time tweaking a color or writing a line of code, but work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are context switches, interruptions, back-and-forth discussions, and, more importantly, the mental overhead of getting out and back to your zone.

I take everything personally and don’t trust anyone who says they don’t. It’s either a lie or a sign that they don’t care enough. Emotional detachment is often seen as a strength, but it’s often an excuse for mediocrity.

Standards made sense 100 years ago. Efficiency and consistency were vital then. Today, they often don’t fit.

You need strict standards to build a plane, but Rock wouldn’t exist if Chuck Berry hadn’t tried the unconventional.