the 3 minute career audit
the ultimate real career strategy in 3 minutes.
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 everywhere.
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
what can i do now that
i couldn’t six months ago?
not "got better at stakeholder management." that's improvement, not development. not "got better at" something. new capabilities. can you price a product from scratch? build a data pipeline? run a board meeting? structure a partnership deal?
specific. measurable.
transferable to your next role.
if you struggle to name something concrete, you're coasting. coasting feels sustainable because you're busy, but it's career debt accumulating while everyone else potentially grows.
minute two / market position
who would hire me tomorrow for a role I actually want, and why?
name companies. name roles. name the specific reason they'd pick you over fifty other candidates with similar backgrounds.
this cuts deeper than your resume.
market positioning matters more than past titles. "Startups need product managers" isn't positioning. "Series A companies launching in India need someone who's localized B2B products for price sensitive markets" is positioning.
the "why" matters.
if you can't articulate your unique value, neither can the hiring manager who's supposed to want you.
minute three / learning edge
what’s the most important thing I need to learn next?
not "leadership skills" or "better communication." those are topics, not learning objectives.
"designing compensation structures for remote engineering teams." is a learning objective. "structuring data teams for ai first products." is a learning objective.
"how to design growth experiments that drive revenue impact in price sensitive markets" is a learning objective. you’ll actually build this inside [our flagship GX course]
keep this section clear, specific & outcome driven.
Click here access the FREE worksheet you can use.
i've run this audit with dozens of people across bangalore's startup ecosystem. the patterns are stark. high performers answer all three immediately. everyone else struggles with at least one. the struggle reveals everything.
reading the patterns
those three minutes tell you everything.
if minute one is empty
you're in maintenance mode. doing work without building expertise. every month that passes, your market value either stays flat or declines.
if minute two is vague:
you don't understand your actual worth. you're probably underpricing yourself or chasing roles you're not positioned for.
if minute three lacks clarity
you're hoping career growth happens to you instead of building it deliberately. hope isn't strategy, yo!
the monday notification test
run this audit monthly.
same date. same questions. write everything down. you'll see patterns emerge.
maybe you keep learning tactical skills but never strategic ones. maybe you can articulate your current value but have zero clarity on what to build next. maybe you're constantly learning but in directions that don't compound toward anything valuable.
these patterns become your strategy.
not the generic "climb the corporate ladder" playbook everyone defaults to, but a specific plan based on how you actually create value and what the market actually rewards.
the goal isn't perfect answers. you wish ;)
our goal is progressing towards clarity.
most professionals think careers are about finding the right opportunities. but opportunities exist everywhere in india's growing tech ecosystem. the differentiator is recognizing which ones matter and being prepared when they surface.
this audit doesn't create opportunities.
it creates readiness. the difference between stumbling into your next role and systematically building toward it.
here's what i've learned watching hundreds of career transitions: the people who seem to get lucky are usually the ones who've been quietly building toward something specific while everyone else was hoping things would work out.
final note
your answers will feel shaky the first time. that’s the point. the act of answering is the first step to clarity building.
repeat monthly. track what shifts.
patterns will emerge:
– are your skills stacking or scattering?
– is your positioning consistent or blurry?
– are you learning what’s next or just playing safe?
this the only real career strategy.
everything else is just noise.
This was Day #3. Do share this with your friends who might find value from #100DaysOfCareers series.