From the desk drawer
Breaking the Old Rules
2 min read
There are rules everyone knows.
"Stay in a job for at least three years."
"Get the right titles at the right companies."
"Follow the path that looks good on paper."
I knew these rules.
I lived by them for a long time.
They made sense —
safe, structured, proven.
Until they didn’t.
When the Rules Stopped Working
I checked every box.
I got the titles.
I joined the well-known companies.
I hit the milestones.
But it didn’t feel the way I thought it would.
I wasn’t proud.
I wasn’t excited.
Sometimes,
I wasn’t even happy.
Because following the rules got me to the destination —
but it didn’t guarantee I’d like it when I arrived.
Success Wasn’t What I Thought
When I first started out,
success meant logos on my résumé,
bigger titles,
higher paychecks.
But somewhere along the way,
I realized:
None of it mattered if I wasn’t proud of the road I took to get there.
The logos didn’t stay with me.
The titles didn’t define me.
And the paychecks got spent.
What stayed?
The people I worked with.
The challenges I grew from.
The lessons that stuck.
Success wasn’t about how it looked to others.
It was about how it felt to me.
Writing New Rules
Now, I have a different set of rules:
-
Move when you’ve learned enough, not when a timeline says you should.
-
Choose roles that stretch you, not just the ones that sound good.
-
Build with people you respect, not just brands you admire.
-
Stay long enough to make it better,
leave before you lose your curiosity.
And most importantly:
Make sure you still recognize yourself at the finish line.
The Road, Not the Résumé
I don’t plan my life to make my résumé look better anymore.
I plan it to make my journey feel right.
Because in the end,
no one else drives this car but me.