How to Stay Two Steps Ahead in Every Situation
Too much shit lands on you.
Work is a tennis match. Stop waiting for whatever gets lobbed at you.
People lose because they keep the ball in play.
Power comes from ending the point.
Instead of keeping ball in play, ask yourself: How do I end this point so it never comes back? Then decide how to end the rally:
1) Solve the problem forever.
2) Put it where it belongs.
Either way, that ball is NOT coming back over the net. I win.
The people getting promoted aren't returning more shots. They're choosing which balls to hit, where to place them, and when to let one fly past.
They control the tempo of every exchange. You need to start doing the same.
- RECEIVE — Something lands on your desk, in your inbox, in your meeting. Don't react yet. Pause. Read the real ask, not just the surface one.
- REDIRECT — Before you respond, decide: Does this move me forward, or just move the task off someone else's plate? If it doesn't serve your position, redirect it. Delegate, defer, or reframe the ask.
- POSITION — Every response you send should leave you standing somewhere better than where you started. Closer to the decision. Closer to the credit. Closer to the outcome that gets noticed.
This isn't a tactic. It's an operating system.
Once you see work as a tennis match, you can't unsee it. You'll spot who's controlling tempo in every meeting. You'll notice who's always returning and who's always serving.
You'll realize that the people at the top aren't smarter or harder working — they just stopped playing other people's games and started running their own.
Every cheat code that follows builds on this foundation. This is the lens. Everything else is the playbook.
This is just the lens. The 25 Cheat Codes are the specific plays — the serves, the volleys, the drop shots that actually win points.
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