Nobody notices a hem until it’s crooked. Good work is invisible right up until it’s missing.

Good work is mostly defined by the absence of problems, which makes it invisible by design. A straight hem, a clean handover, a shift where nothing went wrong: none of that gets commented on, and all of it took effort. That is discouraging if you were hoping for credit, and it is also a fair description of most skilled work. Being noticed is not the same as being good.

Choose one invisible standard and hold it this week without mentioning it. Then look for other people’s invisible work and name it out loud to them. Being the person who notices is rarer than being noticed.