Okay so last week I stumbled upon this video where Gary Tse talks about climbing the career ladder. Guy’s got serious cred in finance, right? Figured why not try his methods myself instead of just nodding along like I usually do.
The Wake-Up Call
First thing I did was literally grab a notebook after breakfast last Thursday. Gary kept hammering on about owning your mistakes instead of making excuses. Made me remember that failed project pitch in June where I blamed marketing for not prepping me right.
So I wrote down:
- Admitted to my boss that I should’ve asked for their analytics pack earlier
- Created a checklist for future pitches
- Actually emailed marketing lead coffee invite to fix things
Felt super awkward but guess what? Boss nodded like “finally” and marketing dude actually showed up. Small win.
The Weekly Grind Adjustment
Gary’s big on deliberate practice. My old routine was basically:
- Open laptop
- Drown in Slack pings
- React to stuff
- Repeat
This Monday I blocked 9-10AM as growth hour:
- Spent 20 mins drilling Excel shortcuts (always sucked at pivot tables)
- Watched one industry case study video
- Messaged 2 senior colleagues asking specific questions about their projects
By Wednesday? Already used that new INDEX-MATCH trick in a report. Felt less like a hamster wheel.
The Networking Thing
Always hated “networking” – sounds so fake. But Gary said approach it like making friends. Saw our CFO speaking at a fintech meetup yesterday.
Didn’t do the creepy “I want your job” thing. Just:
- Asked about her early career mistakes after the talk
- Shared my own Tuesday pivot table fail
- Got her take on crypto regulation over free pizza
Walked away with actual laughter instead of business cards. She remembered my name this morning near the coffee machine.
Three weeks into trying Gary’s stuff and it’s not magic dust. Still messed up a client call yesterday. Difference? Now I’m writing down why instead of binge-watching Netflix to forget. Slow progress beats standing still I guess.
