I'm never sharing my work hacks with coworkers again
I work at a company I genuinely love, which made me even more afraid of losing the job. I kept worrying that I wasn't good enough and that sooner or later, my boss would realize it too. So I threw almost all my time into work. I tried to learn as quickly as I could and kept looking for ways to make the process faster and more efficient. I wanted to catch up, but more than that, I wanted to prove that I deserved to be there.
Eventually, it paid off. I not only caught up with everyone else, but also received a performance bonus.
A coworker joined around the same time as me. We weren't close, but recently she started inviting me to dinner and asking how I got so much done. I knew what it was like to feel behind, so I shared pretty much everything with her.
The next day, my boss asked to speak with me.
Apparently, someone has told him that I relied entirely on AI and didn't deserve the bonus.
He asked exactly how I used it, so I walked him through my workflow. I use ChatGPT to clean up my thoughts and wording. I used WorkBuddy to research, break larger tasks into steps, organize documents, and track progress. I also automate some repetitive tasks, then move everything back into the company's standard tools for delivery.
I still verify the data, check the sources, review final output, and make the actualy decisions myself.
My boss didn't have a problem with ir. His main concerns were that I wasn't sharing confidential information, that I checked the output myself, and that I took responsibility for whatever I submitted.
Then he asked me to document the workflor and identity other repetitive yasks the team could handle the same way.
So it worked out. I kept my bonus, and the workflow may now be adopted by the rest of the team.
But I'm def done giving coworkers the full breakdown of how I work.