My general career advice for people in their 20s

- Figure out what you want to be when you grow up

- If that's too hard, figure out where you want to be in 5 years

- Work backwards from there, what's the best next move that gets you closer to that goal

- Optimize for 1 thing at a time; optimizing for multiple things usually leads to worse near-term decisions

- Avoid side quests rationalizing the optionality or ability to return the main quest later

Most people explore when they are young, and exploit when older. 

I’ll pick an even shorter time frame (1 to 3 years) when < 30 years to figure stuff out, and do 80:20 main work: side quest