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Self | Work | Career
The 2 Strikes Principle Will Help You Stay Motivated And Win When It Counts
The single best career advice I ever got.
As I waited for my cab, my lips were parched by the cold dry air. It happens every time I go up north.
I’d just landed in Philly. I stood with my carry-on luggage and a dry-cleaned suit in a carrier. I was interviewing for a role at SAP that would triple my salary — if I got it.
Hours later, I arrived at the most corporate office I’d ever seen. It had a neutered, authoritative, brutalist design. In the waiting room, there was a young and pretty secretary, who looked straight out of a stock photo.
There was another guy in a wheelchair with his resume in his lap. I remember thinking, “I hope I’m not competing with him. I’m toast otherwise.”
20 minutes later, a woman came down and led me through the building, and eventually to the 5th floor.
Every person I passed was wearing a suit. It felt like an 80s Wallstreet movie in an office that only hires alpha-looking white dudes.
This pattern was broken by the beep of an elevator. The doors split open, revealing a mish-mash of 10 dudes in jeans and various pop culture and movie shirts. Their…