Reader

I’m in the middle of a desert right now.

39 degrees Celsius. 12:09am.

I just climbed down a rocky hill in a place called Muzdalifah.

It’s covered in cactus. Spiky little balls that stick to you and hurt like hell to pull out.

I didn’t see one of them.

It’s now in my left foot. Pulsing. I’m hoping it’s not toxic.

Then it hit me.

I didn’t trip on this cactus. I didn’t fall into it.

I walked straight into it. In the dark. Completely unaware it was even there.

That is most people’s career.

You don’t get derailed by the obvious stuff.

You get stabbed by the things you couldn’t see coming.

The colleague who was quietly building a relationship with your boss while you were heads down delivering.

The restructure being discussed in a room you weren’t in.

The reputation you didn’t know you had.

Most people walk through their career in the dark. They keep their head down, do good work, and hope nothing sticks.

Then it does. And you spend the next three months wondering if the damage is permanent.

Here is what I have learnt after 20 years inside the machine.

The people who get ahead aren’t braver, smarter, or harder working than you.

They just brought a torch.

They saw the system before the system stabbed them.

So here is your move this week.

Sit down for 15 minutes. No phone. No noise.

Answer one question.

What is one thing you have done in the last 90 days that the three most senior people who influence your next promotion genuinely know about?

If you can’t answer that, you have a cactus problem.

Right now it is dark, and you can’t see it. But it is there.

15 minutes with a notebook is a torch.

I’m going to limp back to my group now and figure out what this plant is.

Hit reply and tell me what you walked into. I read every one.

Talk soon,

Yasar

P.S. If you want the full framework for seeing your workplace clearly before it costs you, my free Career Diagnostic walks you through it in 5 minutes. ovdlab.com/assess