Ask Your Manager What Success Looks Like — Don't Guess

Too many people spend months working hard on things that don't matter to their manager, then feel blindsided at review time. The fix is simple: ask. "What does success look like in this role over the next six months?" That one question aligns your effort with their expectations and gives you a clear target to aim at.

Don't assume you know what they value. People are surprisingly bad at telepathy, and surprisingly good at answering direct questions.