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The first twelve months are when most mistakes happen, most reputations are formed, and most people decide whether they can do this. Almost all of the serious mistakes are preventable — not through extraordinary talent, but through a handful of habits nobody mentions when you start.

The First 90 Days Are Reputation-Forming

Every interaction in the first ninety days — every email, every question asked, every assignment turned in — contributes to a picture of who you are. The people who succeed are not the ones who do the most impressive work. They are the ones who do reliable work and communicate clearly. Show up. Hit deadlines. Ask good questions instead of guessing.

How to Ask Questions Without Annoying Anyone

Before asking, google it, check precedent documents, check internal resources. If you still don’t know, ask — but frame the question to show your work. “I looked at the precedent and still don’t understand X” is a completely different question than just asking what X means. It signals seriousness and makes the answer faster to give.

Email Is Your Entire Professional Reputation

Before sending any substantive email: read it out loud once. Check the attachment. Check the recipients. Check that the subject line tells the reader what they need to know before opening it. These take thirty seconds. The cost of skipping them can follow you for months.

The Mistake Pile Philosophy

You will make mistakes. The question is what you do with them. Document them — literally write them down — and treat each one as a data point about something to change. I have kept a physical mistake pile for nearly a decade. It started embarrassingly early. It is the most useful thing on my desk.

When to Speak Up, When to Stay Quiet

The first year is a time to listen more than you speak. But when you see a factual error in a document, when a deadline is not going to be met and the partner doesn’t know, when you are asked to do something you genuinely don’t understand — speak up. The general rule: stay quiet about opinions, speak up about facts.

The first year is not about being impressive. It is about being reliable. Reliable people get interesting work. Interesting work builds a career.

If you want to talk through what the first year actually looks like — or you’re a few years in and thinking about lateraling — the first 15 minutes are free. More here.