most people spend longer choosing what to watch on netflix than evaluating whether their career is actually going anywhere.

i realized this when a former colleague, three years into her "dream job" at a bangalore fintech unicorn, couldn't answer that question. smart person. good role. equity that looked promising. but when i pressed her on what specific skills she'd developed, she went quiet.

not “let me think” paused.

blank paused. she genuinely didn’t know.

that silence costs more than you think. the expensive lie of staying busy

career growth compounds. but most professionals operate like day traders, optimizing for the next performance review or salary bump without understanding what actually builds long term value.

it’s not always the wrong company. sometimes you’re just parked in a team that’s too comfortable. or protected. or low on strategic priority. and sometimes? you’re the one keeping it safe :(

here's what career drift looks like:

arjun (alias for privacy) led product for a logistics startup that raised 50 crores from ABC partners. two years. shipped features. hit OKRs. got promoted to senior PM. but when the funding winter hit and the company had to cut 40% of product, he couldn't explain why keeping him made more sense than keeping the other PMs.

his skills were feature factory specific. not product strategy transferable.

this pattern repeats across every function. growth marketers who've mastered one acquisition channel but can't build sustainable growth loops. engineering leads who know their codebase inside out but are unable to coach their team or worse? lack product vision. rev ops specialists who can optimize existing funnels but can't design attribution for complex enterprise deals.

the dangerous part isn't the plateau.

it's that plateaus feel productive.

you're shipping. contributing. getting positive feedback from your manager. but productive isn't the same as progressing, and comfort kills growth faster than any market downturn.

why this 3 minute audit works

traditional career advice treats symptoms. update linkedin. expand your network. find a mentor. all fine tactics, but they're downstream from the real problem: most people don't have a feedback loop that reveals whether their career is actually advancing.

and the ones that work?

they require you to answer 50+ questions, spend hours with 1:1 calls that honestly are more exhausting than hitting a plateau. (yes i said it!)

the 3 minute audit changes this.

3 questions 1 minute each just run it monthly. let’s dive in, shall we?

minute one / capability check / set timer. write fast.

what can i do now that i couldn’t six months ago?