Good afternoon, friends. It's Rohan with the latest edition of Coached — your personal mentorship email that takes a few minutes to read, but speeds up your career by years. |
In today's Mentor's Corner, I'm exploring the subtle ways our surroundings can shape our goals and choices. Hopefully it challenges you to think about the influences in your life. And in case you're on a job search, don't skip the resume advice section at the bottom. |
To my loyal readers: I've been active on LinkedIn lately, sharing bite-sized, candid career advice for quick boosts throughout your week. It's an easy way to stay motivated and keep your career on track. To give you a feel of it, this week I wrote about making good first impressions and asking for raises. If you like my writing, follow me on LinkedIn and say hi. |
New here? If you like the sound of getting free career coaching every week — the kind people usually pay a lot for — get my next email by signing up at Coached.com. |
Estimated read time: 5 minutes 50 seconds |
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📈 Mentor's Corner Insights put together by me or coaches who usually charge $750+/hour and mentor senior execs. One practical lesson a week that will make a measurable impact on your career, delivered right to you — for $0. |
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When I was in college, all my friends wanted to be the same thing: |
Management consultants. |
It might sound pretty boring, but everyone dreamed of working for McKinsey. |
So guess what I wanted to do with my life? |
Yup. |
I wanted to be a management consultant at McKinsey too. |
The funny / scary thing? |
Despite the fact I never truly wanted that… I managed to convince myself I did. |
Thankfully, I got rejected by McKinsey but got my "second choice" option in tech, a field which suited me way better (thank you, universe!). |
But it was a huge wake-up call. Specifically, that the whole, "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" rabbit hole goes far deeper than most people think. |
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"But Rohan," you say. |
"Isn't that just a bunch of pseudo-science BS?" |
No, it's not. |
Peer pressure is maybe the most powerful psychological force on the planet, and it's affecting us all the time whether we're aware of it or not. |
To put it bluntly: |
No matter who you are, other people's mentalities, goals, enthusiasm, optimism and pessimism WILL start rubbing off on you, for good or for bad. |
You might think you're immune, but it influences you subconsciously. |
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So, in today's issue of Coached, I wanted to go over a few strategies for how to use the power of "peer pressure" to benefit you. |
Let's go. |
🫵 What do you want? |
Years back, I visited to the university town of St. Andrews in Scotland. |
It's beautiful there - old buildings, right by the beach, with cobbled streets and archways… so I was shocked when my friend announced, |
"I would HATE to study here." |
"How come?" I ask. |
"Look at all the women here! They're so… fashionable!!!" |
I laughed but I had to admit - she had a point. If you study somewhere where the norm is expensive clothes, chances are you're gonna be drawn to that too, via other people's expectations. |
Now, is that a bad thing? |
Not necessarily. |
It just depends on what you want. |
So… |
What do you want? |
To make six-figures in your career? To run your own business one day? To start a family & grow your own veg? |
 | so…what do YOU want? (life was so simple when we were kids) |
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Only by knowing that can you start using the next tip: |
| | | | …by the way, if you use LinkedIn, go to my profile and hit the 'Follow' button. I share a mix of practical career strategy and mid-week motivation — stuff that makes it easy to keep your career on track.
Topics coming up this week: how to get promoted faster than others, how to build instant rapport with people (even senior leaders) and how to sound more confident (even if you're an introvert). See you there. | alright, let's get back to my essay… |
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🌎 Choose your environment |
In the wild, certain environments attract certain animals. Birds nest on cliffs, scorpions hide in holes, & wolves hunt in the forest. |
Likewise, different environments attract different people. |
Martial arts gyms attract one type of person, and Warhammer 40k shops attract another. And standup comedy workshops will attract a different crowd compared to Toastmasters, or salsa classes. |
I'm not hating on any of these "crowds". I'm just saying that their mindsets will rub off on you. |
 | got this from Damian Keyes, a musician who coaches other musicians |
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So… |
Who do you want to become, and where would you find that person? |
Then, spend more time in that environment. |
📅 You'll often have luck going to events |
Similar to the last point…I was once swithering about whether to attend a TedX event where I live. You know what pushed me to buy the ticket? |
My buddy who told me years ago, |
"It's not even about what you learn - just being in a room with all those people is worth it." |
Ralph Waldo Emerson said that a mind, once exposed to a new idea, never reverts to its original shape. |
Makes me wonder… |
Does a mind exposed to a person ever revert back to its original shape? |
=> If you're not sure how to find a new environment, consider going to events or meetups where there are people you admire. The energy will rub off on you. |
 | (try to spend time around people you admire and respect, and their thinking will become yours and it'll lift you up) |
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📺 You are what you watch |
(... or listen to, or read). |
If it's too hard to change your surroundings, an easy hack is changing what you consume. |
Start listening to podcasts or reading content from people you admire. Their mindsets will start rubbing off on you. |
Similarly, stop (or reduce) consuming content from people you shouldn't follow. I'm talking about random reality stars who you might not share goals with, but who are still shaping yours. |
So.. |
Be extremely wary of the content you consume. |
I'd go out on a limb and say the easiest way to become an optimist is by consuming optimistic content, and the easiest way to become a nihilist is to consume nihilistic content. |
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🚨 Watch out for Mr. Hanna |
In The Wolf of Wall Street, on Jordan Belfort's first day as a stockbroker, he's invited to lunch at a fancy restaurant with his boss, Mr. Hanna. |
As on anyone's first day, Jordan's eager to show how hard-working, honest & trustworthy he is, so, it comes as a bit of a shock when Mr Hanna is… well, a sociopathic degenerate, who recommends screwing clients over and drugs as a recipe for success. |
Now, let me ask you something: |
It's sad, but… |
In life, we're probably gonna spend more time with our colleagues than with our spouse, friends or kids. |
So given that fact… |
Do you really think that working for someone like Mr. Hanna will have NO effect on how you view your job/industry/life? |
 | (sorry this image was a little cropped, couldn't find the full version) |
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True story: |
My good friend Alina, a super creative & super smart girl, joined a hedge fund after college and started making serious money. |
However… |
Little by little, she started noticing that her mindsets were changing because of the people around her - she stopped doing creative things, she stopped traveling, and she abandoned her hobbies… all because everyone at her work valued "work" over life experiences. |
Now, in the end, she decided to quit and change careers before she'd lost who she was deep down… |
But a lot of people don't. |
So, (if you can)…choose your workplace wisely. |
🤔 A question I'll leave you with… |
We've covered a lot today, but I think all I want you to take away is one simple question: |
Are you pursuing what you're doing right now because you genuinely want it? Or because it's just the popular choice? |
Periodically, take a step back and reflect on your goals. Make sure you're chasing your own true north, not someone else's. Just because everyone else wants something, doesn't mean it's right for you. |
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And we're done! I hope that gives you some food for thought. These emails take me freakin' forever to put together and cost a lot in email sending costs. But I keep the whole thing free, without sleazy 'pay to read the rest of it!' type of stuff. So in return, here's the 'fee': |
If an email changes the way you think, opens your mind to a new perspective, or gives you an insight you get value from, do one of these: |
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Stuff like this helps and makes all the efforts feel worth it — thank you. Have a lovely Easter break |
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🔎 Speed Up Your Job Search One actionable piece of advice to help you hack your job search. |
How to say you manage employees on your resume |
Read the full article here. |
👨🏼🏫 Whether you're applying for high-level roles, are looking to move into a management position, or just want to take the next step up in your career, experience managing others is often vital. |
💁🏻 Your ability to manage others shows strong leadership and communication skills, all of which hiring managers look for on resumes. |
🧐 If you're struggling to come up with good ideas on what to add to your resume, add a bullet point highlighting a project or team you managed. For example: |
Managed a process re-engineering project to improve and consolidate end-to-end service processes; restructured communication flow among 10 departments, and cut down paperwork by 75% Hired and trained team of six employees with two direct reports; promoted 6 months ahead of schedule
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🎯 You should use a tool like Score My Resume to find out if your resume shows enough leadership skills. One of the components of your resume's score is leadership (among 20+ other recruiter checks), so it's a great litmus test to see if you've checked this box. Try it. |
(Btw, don't forget to try out the Magic Write feature within the tool, which will use AI to rewrite your bullet points and make them a whole lot more impressive to recruiters). |
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If you're new here, let's get the intros out of the way. |
I'm Rohan. Six years ago, I found myself frustrated with the sea of misleading career advice online, so I started Resume Worded. The goal was simple: provide guidance that actually works. |
But resumes were only the tip of the iceberg. There was a lot of clichéd, generic career advice out there. So, I started this email series, Coached. Each week, I talk about real career strategy, informed not only by my experiences but by my conversations with industry leaders, senior coaches who train CEOs, and people with way more experience than I have. |
Every email you receive is written by me, not a ghostwriter. I'm here, on the other end, reading your replies. |
Until next time, |
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Rohan @ Resume Worded |
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What'd you think of today's edition? |
👍 I loved it. |
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Here are some reviews of last week's email. Leave one here. |
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Thank you for making me smile so wide with the kind reviews!! :) |
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P. S. To make sure your career never goes off the rails, don't miss my future emails. A simple way to make sure you get each email is: |
If you're using Gmail, hit the 3 dots at the top-right corner, and choose Move to -> Primary. Or drag this email to Primary if you're on your computer. If you're using Apple Mail, tap on our email address at the top of this email (next to "From:" on mobile) and click "Add to VIPs.".
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