The Rules I Actually Follow
These aren’t feel-good slogans or poster values. Just the quiet rules that have kept me useful, sane, and steady—even when the pressure’s high and the spotlight’s off.
The Rules I Actually Follow
(Even if I Don’t Always Admit It)
Everyone talks about having a “code.”
Most of it falls apart under pressure.
These are the rules I actually return to—the ones that survive bad weeks, high stakes, and broken plans. They’re not designed to impress. They’re designed to hold.
1. Never let them see you sweat.
Not because I’m faking it. Because panic is contagious.
Calm isn’t for show—it’s a tool. I use it to keep the room steady while the signal clears. Pressure reveals most people. I’d rather it reveal my discipline.
2. Get things done.
Talk is cheap. Decks are delay. If something matters, I move on it.
Ownership is my default setting—because waiting for perfect is just a prettier form of avoidance.
3. Say “I don’t know” fast.
Pride slows teams down. I’d rather be honest and useful than clever and late.
4. Write it down or it didn’t happen.
Meetings lie. Memory drifts. Writing makes the work real.
If I can’t explain it cleanly in writing, I don’t understand it clearly enough to build it.
5. Handle the awkward.
Hard conversations are part of the job. Avoiding them isn’t kindness—it’s abdication.
I’d rather break the tension now than let it rot the team later.
6. Speed doesn’t equal progress.
Busy isn’t the same as effective.
I’d rather move slow with purpose than fast in circles. Thrash wastes trust.
7. Don’t complain if I’m not part of the solution.
If I’m not ready to help fix it, I stay quiet.
If I am ready, I roll up my sleeves before I open my mouth.
8. Fatigue is signal, not weakness.
I’ve learned to read the wear and adjust—not shame it, not ignore it.
Burnout isn’t noble. It’s just expensive.
9. Stay useful in the shadows.
I don’t need credit. I need outcomes.
If something gets better because I was in the room, that’s enough.
10. No job is beneath me.
Execution matters. Sweating the details matters.
Titles don’t clean up the mess—people do. And I’ve never been above grabbing a broom.
This isn’t a pep talk. It’s just how I operate.
Not because it makes me look good—but because it keeps me good under pressure, in motion, and aligned with the kind of leader I respect.
