‘Hidden jobs’ | 4 ways to have difficult conversations at work| How to tackle ‘fauxductivity’

septembre 23, 2024

Why it's time to start saying "we" instead of "I" to describe our accomplishments

A letter from editorial director Lisa Smosarski.

How often do you say "we" at work when you actually mean "I"? "We" is up there alongside "no worries if not", "sorry to ask" and "I've been lucky" as one of the phrases we frequently use to diminish our own power. It is particularly effective at under-playing how hard we work and downplaying our personal accomplishments.

It's no surprise we do this when we are told as girls and women not to show off, brag or steal the limelight. We are taught "being humble" or polite is good; "we" makes us team players and stops us being thought of as bossy. Perish the thought. In fact, for many women, the only time we don't say "we" is when we're taking the blame for something. When the shit hits the fan, we're suddenly all "me" and "I". We are impressively collegiate, even at the expense of our own progression. "My bad", "I take accountability", "I'll sort that out".

But guess what? Men aren't playing the same game. Men are talking about their accomplishments and quite loudly too – "I" is a shorthand to making sure everyone knows what you contribute and how good you are.

In no way am I suggesting you steal the glory, it's important to praise and give credit where it is due, but I am asking you to respect yourself too. So, I'm setting you a challenge this week: try interchanging one of your positive "we" statements for an "I".

"I am delighted to have hit budget", "I stayed late to finish that for you", "I won a new client." It may feel uncomfortable at first but you have the power to be your own biggest advocate, to champion your own work and to advance yourself too, and one little letter really can make the most enormous difference.

Work smarter: make your commute something to look forward to

Acting digital content director Ellen Scott shares insightful hacks to make work that little bit easier.

Lots of us see our commute as either pointless dead time or time that's actively unpleasant. It's an hour that we just have to grit our teeth and get through, whether we're cycling in or getting the Tube, an unavoidable time price we have to pay in order to get to the office. That's a shame, because our commutes can take up hours and hours of our weeks… and so a decent chunk of our lives is spent in a way that makes us feel frustrated, bored, or just plain meh.

Sadly, few of us can rid ourselves of our commutes entirely or just magically make them shorter. What we can do, however, is make them a lot more enjoyable. The way to do that? Plan commutes with intention. Specifically, have something to do during your commute that you can look forward to.

Download a podcast you've been looking forward to and keep it just as a commute treat. Get a book that you only read when you're on the train (something plotty with lots of twists and suspense is ideal). Make yourself a fancy coffee in a to-go mug. Start making your commute feel more like a treat.