How To Be Good at Your First Job

Josh Felgoise (00:00.398)

Welcome to Guy's Set, the guy's guide to what you should be talking about. I'm Josh, I'm 23 years old, and I'm here to find all the tips, advice, and recommendations for guys in their 20s. Let's get into it.

Josh Felgoise (00:18.329)

Hi guys, welcome back to Guy's Set, the guy's guide to what should be talked about. This week I have a very important topic if you are an intern this summer or starting out a new job or if you are in a job. I think these tips are helpful for anybody. Usually this podcast will only have one episode per week, but because these are the first real episodes of the podcast, I decided to put out two this Friday.

to kind of show you the juxtaposition. Whoa, my God, he's doing big words. The difference between what the episodes will actually look like each week. So this episode will be all me and this week's topic is tips for going to the office. And for a little bit of background, I have been in my job for almost a year now and have I learned some things. This is my first job after college and I work in a startup. So while this advice may not directly

relate to your job or your position, think it pertains to most first jobs starting after college. So here we go, let's get into it. My first piece of advice starts right when you get into the office. Personally, I'm, if I'm either walking to work or on the subway, I will have my AirPods in or my headphones in and I'm listening to something. So when you're walking into the office, take out the headphones, take out the AirPods, whatever you're wearing and be present.

You truly never know who you're going to see right when you walk in or right when you get off the elevator. So it's important to be available to say hi or be looking up. You're not looking at your phone or in your own world listening to a podcast or music. You're ready and able to say hi. How are you? And just be friendly to whoever you're about to see. This is obviously going to be easier for some people over others, but in the beginning, just being friendly and being available is super important.

It also just shows people that you want to say hi and you're not in the don't speak to me. I'm wearing my AirPods like that, that mentality. I think this piece of advice also relates to common spaces or like the kitchen. When you're walking in there where there's most likely going to be other people there, put your phone in your pocket. Don't wear the AirPods, just be available and kind of ready to start a conversation. I know a lot of these conversations are going to sound super mundane, boring, repetitive, just like those last three words.

Josh Felgoise (02:37.816)

but I do think it's really important to still be available to say, hi, how are you? How was your weekend? Make some stupid shit up about how your weekend was, whatever you're gonna say, just being present and not blocked off. My next piece of advice, which took me some time to learn, is this thing I like to call the coffee chat mentality. If you don't know what a coffee chat is, it's a quick, informal chat.

15 to 30 minutes with somebody that you don't know. Maybe you do know, just to ask them what they're working on, what they do at the company, how you can help them, how they can see you working together, just stuff like that to get to know the person, get to know another friendly place, place at the company. And if you did know what a coffee chat was, I apologize for mansplaining it, but I always like to end these chats by asking,

the person, what advice do you have for me or do you have any advice for me in my role in starting out in a new job at a new company and whether or not it was good advice, tell the person it was some really good advice and you appreciate their time and willingness to chat. Some other questions I think are really good for these types of chats are what is the best thing about this company? What is something you would change about this company if you had that power?

What is a recent project you've worked on that you really liked or are really passionate about? Another one I like is explain your role to me as if you were explaining it to an old person. I find that that makes people laugh and kind of sets you guys off at a better tone than being like, I'm so thrilled for your time and thank you for allowing me to sit in a room with you. just be chill. At the end of the day, none of this is that serious and you guys are just there to get to know one another.

So don't put too much pressure on yourselves with these types of chats, but I also think it's really important for you to come with your story. And it doesn't have to be some grand, huge thing talking about how you saved the world to get to this internship at JCPenney, but it does have to be a background on you in like what, one to two minutes that can kind of really summarize you and explain how you got to where you

Josh Felgoise (05:01.588)

an easy format that you can kind of fill in the blanks for for this type of story. Bear with me here, but I think it's helpful. So how you can start just being like, I got an internship at so and so and that summer I worked on blah blah and I realized through working on that that I really liked blank and I actually preferred this to that.

Or I loved working on this and I really wanted to seek out something that did that even more. And that led me to applying to this position where I will be working on that as well as hopefully working on this and this, which I'm really excited about. And I think since you are the one who initiated this coffee chat, I think it's even better to start that way and be like, I just wanted to introduce myself. So I'm happy to kind of start here. Hi, I'm Josh. I apply for this position because I'm super interested in this and blah, blah, blah. And you know, the rest.

Obviously filling that in with all of your stuff, but I think having it doesn't have to be that long, but I think three to four kind of sentences that you can have in your back pocket and tweak when necessary. The next piece of advice happens after this coffee chat or after any kind of meetings that you think deserve a follow up. I think it's good to get in the habit of following up and this comes in the form of a quick thank you email or slack or whatever your company does.

And I'm going to also kind of format that for you with the fill in the blank thing that I just seem to love to do. Hi, Bob. Thank you for the time and advice today. I really appreciate it. I was really interested in hearing about what you do in your job, blah, blah. And you're going to want to say something you actually took away from the conversation or about Bob's job. And I look forward to staying connected. Thanks again and best Josh.

and can include your email and number or whatever you do for your job at the end of it. I also think it is smart to connect with said Bob on LinkedIn after and keep that connection. You truly never know what can come from that connection with Bob. And I know I'm being all funny here, but I do think that it is important to stay connected and make these connections, keep these connections in any company. You just never know what they're gonna come to. Years down the road.

Josh Felgoise (07:18.03)

My next piece of advice is about your attire and what you're wearing to the office. I'm lucky enough to work in a place where it truly does not matter what I wear to work, but I always at least try to look presentable because as I said earlier with the whole headphone thing, you never know who you're to run into or who you're going to see that day. Uh, there was a day that I opened the fridge and bent down to get a LaCroix and closed it. And the CEO was literally on the other side of the fridge. And I was like, ha ha ha ha.

But at least I had a nice shirt on so like that's that's one win and we take a win where we can get them and if you can go into every day with at least one win of looking nice and presentable then you're already setting yourself up for success and this is piece of advice I Heard from Kim Kardashian on a podcast put your eye roll back down. She's made a billion dollars I don't care where she started you got to start somewhere and I think this right here if I could tell you nothing else

This is my favorite piece of advice is to pull out your clothes the night before. While this may sound incredibly simple, it has been an absolute game changer for me. This small act kind of sets your mindset for the next day before it's even begun. When I don't pull my clothes out the night before, I spend an extra five to 10 minutes figuring out what to wear when I'm already in a like hazy morning state. So first of all, it takes me way longer than it should. And pulling my clothes out the night before,

means I can just get up and go the next morning without a worry. So while this actually does save me a ton of time, it has also just become a mindset and mentality thing for me that just kind of sets me on the path for the next day. And I couldn't recommend it more. It's kind of funny going from when you're a kid and pulling your clothes out the night before was something you like had to do and you hated. then when you got to college, nobody did it but the people who really had their life together.

And now I'm doing it again because it turns out that those people were in fact right. It's too bad. On to the next piece of advice. Let's invite my good old friend of the party, the work life balance. And this one is relevant for you if you care about working out or want to figure out how to work out alongside your busy work schedule. One of the hardest things for me is still figuring out the balance of lifestyle and work.

Josh Felgoise (09:39.518)

I was super overwhelmed in the beginning of my job, maybe in the first three months of like, how do I stay in touch with friends and go hang out? Call your parents and your family, go food shopping, cook dinner, go on dates, work out, stay up to date with my favorite TV shows. It still stresses me out, I'm not gonna lie to you. All the things you have to get done or want to do on top of a nine to five job. And I sure as shit haven't figured out a balance for all this stuff.

but I have figured out when is the best time for me to work out and that's one thing down. And I believe if you can get one task done, then the other stuff starts to fall into place. I'm gonna run you through a routine where I work out before work versus when I work out after work. So I'm gonna start with the before work one because that is my real routine and this is what works for me. So I set my alarm, my Alexa for around 6.50 to 7 a.m.

I usually realistically get out of bed maybe like 7 10 7 15 get to the gym by 7 30 because my bags already packed with my clothes and my work stuff. So I have to do as much my teeth my contacts in deodorant whatever the other morning things are take my retainer out and my walk to the gym is about 12 to 15 minutes depending on the day of my pace not it doesn't the walk doesn't change I change and I'll usually have my phone set on do not disturb when I go to bed and I will

take it off to not disturb during some time on this walk. And I'll get to the gym, workout for about 30 to 45 minutes, stretch. And I'm lucky that I get to shower there and it worked out really well for me that it's actually on the way to my office. So by around 8.30, 8.45, I can start walking to the office and get there around 9, 9.15. And this is in contrast to days when I don't work out in the morning because I either went to bed super late or just couldn't get up in the morning.

And how that one looks is around five, five 15 when I leave the office, I'll walk to the gym, probably get there around five 30, five 40 work out till around let's say six 30. And then I'll get home and make dinner and shower. And to me that feels like the night has been super cut short and I've ran out of time in that, in that day versus before work. I have that time.

Josh Felgoise (11:58.562)

that nothing is really going on or I'm not trying to make plans or get those other things done that I want to get done in my day. I've also found that after work there can sometimes be like a happy hour with coworkers or if you want to go do something with friends or go on a date for me, it feels like there simply is not enough time in the day to work out and then go to those plans unless you're going to late plans like an eight, eight 30. And in that case more power to you. So for the workout routine, that's what works for me.

I have also found that when I work out in the morning, I show up to the office so much more present and feel so much better mentally. And I'm also just honestly more productive getting in some sort of movement in the morning versus going from literally my bed to a meeting and just being unfocused because I'm still like half waking up. Now let's get real for a second. This is not how every single day goes. There's usually one day every week at least.

where I decide that it's more important to get some more sleep and get in the workout later or skip that day. Or there's those days when I wake up at 830 and I'm like, holy shit, fuck, I need to go to the office right this second and I'm late or hungover or I mean, stuff comes up. So obviously this doesn't happen every day, but this is the day that I aim for and this is kind of the goal that I have. And for me, working out in the morning has kind of given me those nights back that I felt were being totally washed away.

and I was just kind of running out of time or very overwhelmed. Also, I talked about those wins of kind of like, if you dress nice, you're gonna feel nice, that's already a win to the day. This also applies to me for going to the gym. If the day at work is a total shit show and nothing went right and I was really upset, at least I got up and I made my bed and I went to the gym and got a good workout in. Like that to me is still something. And I find that it's all about looking for those small wins and small things that make you feel good because

There are going to be days, a lot of days in your job where you're not happy with something or something didn't go the right way or you messed up and there's there's always going to be those days. So looking for these small things in those days will bring out the good. And my last tip for you and I'm sure I'll have more and do another episode like this because this is something I would have wanted to hear is to ask questions. They say that no question is a dumb question and it's true because

Josh Felgoise (14:23.477)

Realistically, you start off not knowing anything and the only way you're going to know something is if you ask. And I also guarantee that somebody else in the room probably higher up than you also does not know the answer to the question that you're about to ask. So you're doing a favor to the greater community. You're just being a good person. But realistically, don't feel dumb if you don't know something because how are you going to know that this is a first job? This is your first time in an environment like this. So just don't be afraid to ask questions.

Also, this is a bonus piece of advice, but be the guy that gets the things done. There are going to be so many people at the company that point out the problems and point the things out that are wrong. So if you take the initiative, someone's going to notice it. You don't have to point it out and be like, look what I did. You just have to do it. This doesn't have to be in terms of a huge project, but if there's something that needs to get done and people are just sitting around and not doing it, be the person that gets it done. That's how you're going to get noticed.

send in any tips that you have for me that I can share with the audience here to my email josh at guyset.com josh at guiset.com and I'll do a part two with all the things you guys send in to me. Also let me know what you think of these tips in the comments below. I hope these are good pieces of advice and you can take some away from this.

If you liked this podcast, I really hope you did. Please give it five stars and leave a review and send any questions, topics, things you want me to talk about or things that just should be talked about to my email, josh at guyset.com, j-o-s-h at g-u-y-s-e-t.com. And I'll be sure to talk about it. shit, sorry. I think I forgot to say to leave this podcast five stars and our positive review. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next Friday. See you guys.