Latest / Career Coaching with Fexingo: Professional Coaches, Career Counselors, and Guidance for Workers / How to Get Career Advice That Actually Changes Your Trajectory
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that moment when someone gives you genuinely good career advice, you nod along, maybe you even write it down — and then you never actually do anything with it? Luna: Yeah, I think every professional has been there. It's like the advice goes in one ear and out the other, but you feel like you've already done the work just by hearing it. Lucas: Exactly. And that gap — between receiving advice and acting on it — is actually where most career growth stalls. So today I want to walk through a specific framework I use with coaching clients. It's called the advice audit, and it's basically a three-question filter that turns vague input into something you can actually execute. Luna: Before you dive in, I have to ask — is this something you developed yourself, or is there research behind it? Lucas: Great question. The framework is mine, but the insight comes from a Harvard Business Review study I read a couple years ago. They looked at executives who received mentoring — and they found that the ones who took notes during those conversations were 42 percent more likely to report a promotion within 18 months. Just the act of writing it down made them more likely to use it. Luna: Forty-two percent — that's huge. But I'm guessing note-taking alone isn't the whole story. Lucas: No, it's not. Taking notes is a start, but the real leverage comes from filtering the advice through a structured lens. If we've helped you think through a career move or decision, honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: And it's a small way to keep this ad-free and focused on practical tools like this. Lucas: So the first question in the advice audit is: Does this advice apply to my specific situation, or is it generic wisdom that sounds good but doesn't fit my industry, my role, or my timeline? Luna: I love that. Because a lot of advice — even from well-meaning mentors — is really just 'work hard and network.' That's not advice, that's a cliché. Lucas: Right. So the filter forces you to ask: is this actionable for me, right now? If the advice is 'build your personal brand,' that's too vague. But if someone says 'start writing one LinkedIn post per week about your project management wins,' that's specific. That passes the filter. Luna: What's the second question? Lucas: Second question: What is the smallest possible next step I can take within the next 48 hours? This is key because most advice feels overwhelming if you think about the whole journey. But if you break it down into a single, tiny action — like sending an email to request a 15-minute chat, or updating one line on your resume — you're much more likely to do it. Luna: Forty-eight hours — that's a tight window. Why not a week? Lucas: Because momentum decays fast. If you don't act within two days, the advice starts to feel abstract again. You lose the context, the motivation fades, and it joins the pile of good intentions. I've seen this in my own life — if I don't schedule the action on my calendar right after the conversation, it rarely happens. Luna: That makes sense. And the third question? Lucas: Third question: How will I measure whether this advice actually worked? This is the one people skip most often. They implement something, but they never check if it led to the outcome they wanted. So you define a success metric upfront — it could be 'I got a response to my outreach' or 'I received positive feedback on the presentation' or 'I got invited to the meeting.' Something observable. Luna: So you're essentially creating a feedback loop. You try the advice, see if it moves the needle, and then either double down or discard it. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where the real learning happens. Because not all advice is good advice, even if it comes from a successful person. The only way to know if it works for you is to test it. Luna: I want to push back on something, though. There's a growing body of research on decision fatigue — the idea that the more input you take in, the harder it is to decide. So if someone is collecting advice from multiple mentors, could the audit itself become overwhelming? Lucas: That's a fair point. And I think the solution is to apply the audit selectively. You don't need to run every piece of advice through this filter. I recommend picking one source per month — maybe a mentor you trust, or a book you're reading — and focus only on the advice that comes from that one source. That limits the input and reduces the noise. Luna: So it's almost like a 'one-thing rule' for career advice. Implement one piece of advice per month, properly, rather than trying to act on ten things at once. Lucas: That's exactly right. I call it the one-thing rule. And I've seen it work with clients who were stuck in a cycle of consuming career content but never changing their behavior. Once they committed to one piece of advice per month, their trajectory shifted noticeably within three to six months. Luna: Do you have an example from a client? Lucas: Sure. I worked with a mid-level marketing manager who kept getting told to 'network more.' She felt paralyzed because she didn't know where to start. We applied the audit: the advice was too vague, so we refined it to 'reach out to three people in your target department at other companies and ask for a 15-minute informational interview.' The smallest step was writing the message template. She did that within 48 hours. And the measure of success was getting at least one response. She got three. That small win gave her confidence, and she built a habit from there. Luna: That's a great example. And it shows that the audit isn't just about filtering — it's about transforming advice into a concrete behavior change. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's why so many people feel like they're getting lots of advice but not moving forward. The advice itself isn't the problem. It's the absence of a system to convert it into action. Luna: So if someone listening wants to start using the advice audit today, what would you tell them? Lucas: Pick one piece of advice you've received recently — maybe from a performance review or a conversation with a colleague. Run it through the three questions. If it passes, define your smallest next step and schedule it for tomorrow morning. And if it doesn't pass, let it go without guilt. Not all advice deserves your time. Luna: I like that. Permission to discard advice that doesn't fit. That's almost as valuable as the filter itself. Lucas: It really is. Because we're socialized to be grateful for any guidance, but the most respectful thing you can do to a mentor is actually use their advice — or tell them honestly why it didn't work for you. That closes the loop and makes the relationship more productive. Luna: That's a good note to end on. I think the key takeaway here is that career advice is only as valuable as your system for acting on it. Without that system, it's just noise. Lucas: And with it, even one good piece of advice per month can change your trajectory. That's the kind of compounding most people miss.