No.
For nearly all cases, trying to impress others leads to issues.
This includes your boss. And I understand how this seems strange.
After all, your boss is the one with quite a bit of control over your financial well-being. They are in charge of making their company money. They’re in charge of how you help to make that happen.
The reality is that most people are mostly looking out for themselves. That’s how humans survive. It’s themselves, their families, their friends and their communities. If those are all really good then they go beyond that and start looking at larger communities like cities, states, countries and the world.
What Your Boss Wants
Your boss is trying to do a good job. To keep the machine of the business working well and improving so the owners can make a profit. That profit leads to wealth for the owners, but also for investment in more business and all kinds of good things.
Your boss doesn’t want you to try to impress them. They want you to do the job you were hired to do. They want you to try and make the business better so the stress on themselves is less.
Where Impressing Often Goes Wrong
My daughter isn’t quite there, but every once in awhile she’ll use the words, “Look at me, daddy…” or “Look at this, daddy…”. Obviously these are 99.9% of the time innocent little funny things.
She is experiencing so many things for the first time. She’s thoroughly amazed by the experiences and wants to share her feelings with me. And that’s an amazing thing.
On the other side of things, though, is the idea that it’s okay to love aspects of life for your own sake. Not necessarily sharing every excitement with others.
I read something recently that hit home with me. It was about a parent’s relationship with their adult child. They mostly discussed one topic when they were together. The child was kind of disappointed with this. Only one shared interest. But a friend of that child told them how lucky they were to have that one thing in common and a generally good relationship with their parent.
Trying to impress others – parents, spouses, children, siblings, cousins, friends, bosses, etc. – leads to generally unhealthy behavior.
Like a young child vying for the attention of a parent, it can lead to destructive behavior. In a work setting, that can lead to corners being cut, resentment being built up, and more.
Conclusion
It’s become cliché, but a good way to approach your work is to focus on how you can become increasingly better at your job and work overall. Not comparing yourself to your coworkers. Not trying to impress the boss. But trying to become better than you were in the past.
This brings fulfillment for yourself. You can look back and be proud of the steps you’re making. You can avoid unnecessary and unhealthy comparison to your coworkers.
If you’re getting better at your work, good things will happen in the long-term. You don’t need to artificially work to impress your boss. You can certainly talk to her about what they want and expect from you. Take that knowledge and work to do the best you can. As part of the company team.
Focus on yourself and as a result, your boss will be happy.
