Shhhh...Keep Those Secrets
No this is not some misinformed marriage counselor.
Lately I've come to the personal conclusion that some things are just better off being revealed at the end. Let me explain:
After a long day of work at the office, dealing with finicky clients, you eventually reach home after 2 hours even though the commute should be just under an hour. You immediately think to yourself, crap, I've got to cook dinner on top of all this. But as you are about to walk in the kitchen you get a wiff of something delicious....SHEPHERD'S PIE!! "Wow honey, I didn't know you were cooking dinner tonight." WHAT A SURPRISE. "Thanks so much, why don't we call Timmy and Kaitlin down for dinner?"
What I am getting at here is that events/ongoing processes (large or small) often have a much more pronounced effect when they are revealed after completion. Had "Joe"'s wife told him three days in advance that she was going to cook dinner and then reminded him several other times, the overall feeling of impressiveness and surprise would have greatly diminished. (It's still an incredibly nice gesture though.)
Another example:
I recently became interested in obtaining a virtual intern position with web startups. I began searching the internets for a virtual intern "career" board. After finding a great one ( on Urban Interns), I posted a bio, resume and applied to several positions. The next day I heard back from a company and began conversing by email. Half a dozen emails later and I was hired. I was ecstatic because this would give me an opportunity to apply some skills and not have to report to a physical office while going to school full time. Later, I told my mom casually that I had been hired as a virtual intern and she was shocked. (SURPRISED). She was curious about all the details and how I was going to handle it while going to school, working....
Had I given her updates that I was searching for a virtual internship, finding a directory and conversing by email, the sum effect of telling her I got a position would have been next to nill.
Why wait to reveal certain things?
- It becomes much more of a shocker, hopefully you reveal good things
- It usually leads to the other party asking more details/questions about your accomplishment rather than having them simply say "Wow" to your first update and never again bring up the subject
- Shows a sense of independence and ability to handle things on your own
- Demonstrates that you've got stuff going on in the background and thus people won't later assume that your not working/learning/studying when not in their presence
See, I didn't tell you that I was writing this blog post and now your jaw is on the floor after reading such a great post...jk
Thank you very much for stopping by my blog. I encourage you to leave any comments, questions, or suggestions below. Feel free to email me at [ryandawidjan@gmail.com]
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010
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