Your first 90 days

A hill I'm willing to die on: STOP networking. Skip the networking events. Skip the coffee chats. Skip the "can we connect?" LinkedIn requests.

Build yourself into the type of person the people you want to network with WANT to hang around. That's the only hack.

You can only watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, and take courses for so long.

At some point, you have to step into the arena and get some dirt on yourself.

And once you do, you'll realize how much quicker you learn through action, not theory.

Somewhere along the lines, someone said you have to suffer to become successful and everyone else started to parrot it.

Why do you need to be miserable to get what you want?

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” — Sun Tzu

"Get it through your head. First impressions last. You start behind the eight-ball, you'll never get in front." – Harvey Spector

Your first 90 days at your job set the tone for everything.

Here's how to nail them:

When you're ambitious and eager to prove yourself, it's tempting to want to immediately make your mark.

But offering suggestions before understanding the landscape risks offending people who spent years building what exists today.

You're not seen as ambitious. You're seen as arrogant.

Instead, treat your first 90 days as an intelligence-gathering mission.

This reminds me of Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador:

Before attempting to conquer the Aztec Empire, Cortes spent months learning the political terrain of Mesoamerica.

He discovered that many tribes resented Aztec rule. So he made alliances with local enemies of Montezuma before marching on Tenochtitlan.

These allies showed him the best routes to attack and where the Aztec system was weakest.

Cortes only had 600 men. Against an empire of millions.

Had he charged in blind, he would've been slaughtered. But because he gathered intelligence first, he accomplished what seemed impossible.

Cortes didn't win with force. He won with information.

Your career works the same way.

When you start a new role, you're walking into an existing power structure. Relationships, politics, and history you don't understand yet. People who've invested years into building systems they're proud of.

You need to map the terrain before you make a move.

Here's how:

Schedule 20-minute calls with everyone you can.

Ask three questions:

1. What's the biggest problem at the company or team right now?

2. What advice do you have for me?

3. Who else should I talk to? Can you connect me?

Each conversation ends with an introduction to someone new. Within weeks, you'll have met people most employees don't meet in their first year.

This does two things.

First, you signal humility. People respect someone who asks questions instead of assuming they have all the answers.

Second, you gather intelligence no onboarding document will give you. The real priorities. The hidden landmines. Who actually has influence. What's been tried before and failed.

Three months in, while everyone else is still figuring out the org chart, you'll know exactly who to align with, which battles to pick, and where you can actually make a dent.

Look, I get it.

When you're young and hungry, patience feels like a waste of time. You want to prove you belong.

But trying to impress people before you understand the game is like Cortes charging Tenochtitlan with 600 men and no allies.

It's not ambitious. It's reckless.

Do the interviews. Ask the questions. Map the terrain.

The fastest way to guarantee you don't get what you want is to rush for it.

Until next week,

Author of You Can Just Do Things

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