Aries at Work: Always Racing to Be First
Aries is first to raise a hand and first to hand in a draft, and after a loss they'll work twice as hard to win it back.
Monday, 9:30 a.m., and the projector in the meeting room has barely warmed up. The manager says, “The new client wants a rough proposal next week. Who wants it?” Before the sentence is even finished, Alex by the door has his hand up. “I'll take it.” He's already running two other projects, and his coworker shoots him a look, wondering if this guy ever sleeps.
Less than an hour after the meeting, Alex drops the first outline in the team chat. It's rough and full of typos, but he's first.
For them, getting there first is a way of working
The speed Aries shows at work often makes people think they're showing off. But for Aries, moving is how they think. They fix things as they go. Instead of three meetings about direction, they'd rather put out a version and let everyone pick it apart.
That has a lot to do with their ruling planet, Mars, which drives competition and push. An empty spot makes them want to step into it. As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries feels strongly about beginnings. A project kickoff, a brand-new team, a product launch: that's often when they shine brightest.
Lose once, and they'll want to win ten times
Aries' competitive side is easy to spot at work. Lose a pitch to the team next door and they'll say, “Whatever,” then stay until ten that night studying the winning proposal page by page. If a peer beats their sales numbers, next month they double their client visits.
That refusal to lose helps them grow fast, and it also wears them out. One Aries salesperson said she spent every weekend for three months meeting clients to get back to number one. She made it, then came down with a fever on award day, and a coworker had to accept the prize for her.
Fast enough to leave others behind, fast enough to trip
Speed is their strength, and it's also where they stumble most. Their work often has small slips: numbers that don't line up, a missing attachment, an email to the wrong person. They fix things fast but don't love going back to double-check.
The other issue is teamwork. When they're out in front, they don't always look back to see if the team is keeping up. A coworker is still digesting the brief while Aries is halfway done, and might blurt out, “This is easy,” which doesn't land well.
They also really need recognition. If the manager says at the weekly meeting, “We got this proposal out so fast thanks to Alex,” he'll be wound up and running for the next month. But if he pushes hard and nobody notices, or someone else takes the credit in one sentence, that stings more than losing a pitch.
How to work well with an Aries coworker
If you manage an Aries, the best setup is to hand them the start of new projects and pair them with a detail-minded partner who finishes things off. Aries pushes out version one, the partner checks and polishes, and you get both speed and quality.
If you're their coworker and want them to slow down, don't say “You're rushing,” because they'll hear criticism. Try, “Your draft's direction is great. Let's spend ten minutes checking the numbers together so it looks even better.” Give them a specific time to review, and they'll usually go along with it.
The first time Byeol Bunny ran the relay at the forest sports day, he shot off the line at top speed, overran the handoff zone, and dropped the baton. The next year he learned to ease up one step before the handoff, and his team took second place. Byeol Bunny says those were the best celebration carrots he's ever eaten.