Turning 30: 30 tips and piece of advice for Brussels' professionals
Special day for me today. It's time to reflect on what I learned in 30 years. Profesional and life advice. I hope it helps.
Commitment always beat skills.
Don’t treat anyone badly, no matter their hierarchical rank. Interns are quick to become influential people too.
Don’t work for the money, but understand that your skills have value. Which is probably higher than you think.
Have a platform to develop your skills and showcase your work. I chose the newsletter format, but you can do it on social media, Youtube, podcasts, etc.
Try to meet a new person each week, and make time to nurture existing relations.
Work-life balance is overrated. You should aim for work-life harmony. Spread your work and pleasure as you prefer.
Consultants: you probably work too much already. Treat yourself to an early leave today.
Work on yourself first, and improve the world later. In the EU policy environment, a lot of people are active in politics. I think healthy activism should start only when you have a healthy life: friends and relationships, a fulfilling job, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. I see too many people that do not have these basic requirements. It makes for angry, pessimistic and unreliable activists. It is not sustainable for them or the organisations they join.
Don’t expect people will deliver after you told them once. Relentlessly chase after people.
On the other hand, try to be the person who delivers systematically.
Don’t follow the news. When I want to be informed, I make my own research.
Call your parents more often. Unless you’re my girlfriend, in which case you’re doing fine. Be like her.
A business meeting’s default length should be 30 minutes maximum, not an hour.
If you are the organiser of a business meeting, prepare and share the agenda sufficiently in advance. If you are a participant, confirm with the organiser the need for your presence if you did not receive an agenda.
Some (most?) business meetings can be replaced with a well-written email.
Read The Unwritten Laws of Business by W. J. King. All my work ethics come from this incredible little book.
Make time for friends, family, hobbies… Work can be a lot of fun, but it is a mistake to build a house on a single wall.
I consider one of my main skills to be that I can’t lie to myself. If I don’t feel well about a situation, in a job, with a person, I must act on it. Try to cultivate this skill.
If you can’t sleep at night, it is because you have unaddressed thoughts. Make time in your day for reveries and daydreaming. Journal if that helps. Talk to a friend. In any case, understand that if something bothers you, you will have to act on it.
It takes more courage to quit a toxic environment than to swallow your feelings and keep going. And the latter is delusional: you are only hurting yourself (and the people who rely on you) in the long run.
Employers: by allowing your people to work from home one day a week, you can lower your office rent by a fifth. Or hire 25% more employees for the same sqm cost per employee.
I started in 2023 to set monthly and weekly goals. I believe it gives priorities, direction and purpose to your week.
Don’t be content with the default setup of your tools. Don’t use Microsoft Edge when Google Chrome or Firefox are waaaay faster and more useful. Don’t download and share files when you can do it directly through a server. By teaching yourself just a little how to make the most of your tools, you save so much time and increase accuracy and professionalism.
Traditional (hierarchical, 9 to 5) work environments are not adapted to modern realities. People (and talents) want flexibility, independence, and responsibilities. Try to be an agent of change in your company. Ask for professional training, work-from-home possibilities, show your employer that working on your personal project has its benefits for the company, etc.
Make lists. When you feel overwhelmed, when you have nothing to do, when you are lost, or when you must balance priorities.
Teach yourself about Artificial Intelligence. At best, it can save you from losing your job to a machine. At worst, it makes your work easier by using the most intelligent tool developed by mankind so far.
Trouble focusing? Try to Pomodoro method. 25 minutes of uninterrupted work (put your phone away), followed by 5 minutes of break (walk, breathe…) and repeat. Every two hours (that’s 4 Pomodoro cycles), take a 15-minute break (make a coffee, go to the toilet, etc.). You never worked so efficiently.
Last week, I asked my friend Philipp Saueracker what is the best skill to have to succeed in Brussels. He answered “Openness”. Be open to meeting new people, new ideas, and new ways of working. Cultivate this state of mind.
Subscribe to The Beubble.