The graduation speech moment is such a good example of when work stops feeling like work. Building coalitions, testing material, studying what works, reading the room, that's all persuasion even if it doesn't look like traditional selling. I've seen alot of people chase prestige over fit and end up miserable becasue they never stopped to ask where their energy actually comes from. Looking backward to find patterns instead of just grinding forward is underrated advice.
There is so much that resonates here—thank you for sharing, Alex. I have had similar moments, which I would describe as “realizing what you thought was a weakness is actually a strength.”
Did you deliberately sit down one day to assess these patterns (e.g., in a “design your life” or similar exercise)? Or did the realization of your strengths just slowly come to an aha moment one day?
The realization didn’t happen suddenly. I mean, I did spend a lot of time thinking about it but for the longest time I couldn’t articulate the pattern. It took me until I had a series of spectacular blow ups to recognize the patterns. In fact it was more helpful to figure out what I was terrible at, and then avoiding those areas.
I’ve written about this before but the main takeaway I’ve always shared is to try lots of things, and pivot as often as you can while figuring things out. My big step forward pivoting to startup sales took place when my back was against the wall and I just scrambled to the best opportunity available to me at the time.
I really like how you were able to look back and find the ways you succeeded due to the skills you didn’t recognize at the time. The OCI example really hits that point home.
The graduation speech moment is such a good example of when work stops feeling like work. Building coalitions, testing material, studying what works, reading the room, that's all persuasion even if it doesn't look like traditional selling. I've seen alot of people chase prestige over fit and end up miserable becasue they never stopped to ask where their energy actually comes from. Looking backward to find patterns instead of just grinding forward is underrated advice.
Well said, and totally agreed.
There is so much that resonates here—thank you for sharing, Alex. I have had similar moments, which I would describe as “realizing what you thought was a weakness is actually a strength.”
Did you deliberately sit down one day to assess these patterns (e.g., in a “design your life” or similar exercise)? Or did the realization of your strengths just slowly come to an aha moment one day?
Thank you for the kind comment!
The realization didn’t happen suddenly. I mean, I did spend a lot of time thinking about it but for the longest time I couldn’t articulate the pattern. It took me until I had a series of spectacular blow ups to recognize the patterns. In fact it was more helpful to figure out what I was terrible at, and then avoiding those areas.
I’ve written about this before but the main takeaway I’ve always shared is to try lots of things, and pivot as often as you can while figuring things out. My big step forward pivoting to startup sales took place when my back was against the wall and I just scrambled to the best opportunity available to me at the time.
That makes sense. Thanks for sharing!
One of your best!
I really like how you were able to look back and find the ways you succeeded due to the skills you didn’t recognize at the time. The OCI example really hits that point home.
Thank you Nate!