1. Work hard and do a good job
I work in a field that is known for long hours and high turnover rates, However, there's a clear progression path, fair promotion opportunities, pays fairly well, and provides job security. Of course, in order to survive and thrive in an environment like this, you'd have to be willing to work hard, put in the time and effort to continuously learn on the job, and be competent enough to get sh*t done. Be a valuable employee, and the promotions and raises will follow. Whenever I hear subordinates complaining about the long hours when they barely worked past 12am, and saying that they don't get paid enough to work so much, I just tell them to be thankful because there are a lot of people out there who can easily do the same job for a lot less money. Coming from a developing country and making significantly lesser doing the exact same work certainly gives me a better perspective and makes me appreciate the value of hard work and money even more. 
Quote to share: "Work hard and always do your best. You may not notice it but people do remember and recognize your good work." 


2. Develop passion in work, don't work for passion
"Pursue one's passion...how American".  This classic line from Crazy Rich Asian is sarcastic, but yet so true. I'm passionate about traveling and blogging, but I'm absolutely aware that these are just my hobbies and I don't want to turn them into a 'job' or try to monetize it. I can't say that I'm passionate about auditing but I've discovered parts about audit that I'm passionate about, like building and working on spreadsheets. I take pride in a well-documented, OCD-approved Excel or Google spreadsheet. Seriously. I am thankful because audit is a stable job and it pays well. Based on my personal experience, I certainly prefer the realistic Asian approach, get a degree that will secure you a job first, pursue your passion later or enjoy it as a pure hobby. By working for money now, we're setting ourselves up to pursue our passions 'full time' later on with no financial stresses. That's a far more durable blueprint for career success and life happiness. 

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3. Side hustles
Side hustling can help us make more money and speed up our path to financial independence. However, our jobs take up a lot of time and energy so we don't have a lot of capacity and headspace for side hustles. The one easy side hustle that we have been doing is plasma donation because it's easy, quick, and effortless.