Showing that you’re working is just as important as actually working.
Imagine this:
Natasha and Nicolai are fresh hires in a company, each with a different boss. Each boss gives them a task at 3 p.m. that day - finish a massive Powerpoint presentation for the next morning.
Natasha gets to work in a panic. To her dismay, she still isn’t done come 6 p.m., the official end of the workday. Preferring to work from home than the office however, she says bye to her boss, and walks out.
Once home, she works straight until 1 a.m., but is still unable to finish the presentation. She vows to wake up early the next morning to make up for it.
Natasha, workin’ hard…
The rising sun finds her at the office at 7 a.m. the next day, where she finally finishes her presentation at 10, right when her boss asks for it.
Her boss is impressed.
Unaware that she has worked all night however, he calculates that Natasha can do a presentation in 4 hours (3 pm to 6 pm, 9 am to 10 am). He therefore schedules two more presentations for that day.
When Natasha (obviously) fails to deliver, he sees her as unmotivated. Natasha gets a bad performance review (if she hasn’t quit already from sheer exhaustion).
Nicolai, meanwhile, takes his time to study the task. He works until 6, notices his boss is still in, and decides to stay in the office a while longer. He checks out Facebook on his phone until his boss gets up to go, at 7 p.m.
Nicolai tells him he’s still working on the presentation, and will have to stay in a bit late to get it done. His boss nods approvingly.
Ten minutes later however, Nicolai is out the door and on the way to a bar to meet with his friends. He has a few drinks, gets home at 1 a.m. and sends his boss an e-mail:
“Sorry boss - didn’t manage to finish the presentation. Hope to get it done tomorrow.” When the boss receives it the next morning, he’s even more impressed. Nicolai was still working at 1 a.m.!
Douchebag Nicolai, workin’ hard…
The next day, Nicolai comes in at 9, works until 6 to finish the presentation and sends it off - a full 8 hours after Natasha.
His boss’ impression though? Nicolai works hard to get things done - up until 1 am in some cases - and delivers! Furthermore, the next time he gives Nicolai a presentation, he schedules in more time for him to finish it. Nicolai never has to overwork again (but he might pretend to!)
Nicolai gets a great performance review, and eventually gets promoted.
I’ve seen this way too many times in the workplace. The best workers assume that their work will be recognized, but consistently fail to showcase it. The worst ones, meanwhile, showcase minor accomplishments as major achievements - and get rewarded for it.
Interestingly, I’ve also found that in most cases, the former group has way more girls in it than the latter…
People, when you work hard, don’t forget to show that you work hard!
It’s just as important.