Appreciating Your Own Work
I’ve had days where I worked non-stop – thinking, solving, fixing, pushing things forward that no one noticed but everyone depended on – and by the end of it, it looked like I had nothing to show.
No PRs, no posts, no clean demo, no “tangible” result.
Just a mind full of open tabs, changes and half-closed loops.
You know that feeling? Incompletion?
Where you’re exhausted and somehow still questioning whether you did enough?
Yeah. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit.
Invisible Work is Real – and It’s Heavy
It’s the decision-making.
The technical debt you preemptively avoided.
The hours spent thinking clearly so others don’t have to.
The notes you didn’t write, because it wasn’t the right time.
The bugs you traced to a source no one else even knew existed.
None of it gets claps.
But all of it matters.
Still, when no one sees it – you start to wonder if it matters at all.
The Worst Part? You Doubt Yourself
You’re doing the work.
But it’s buried under interruptions, shifting priorities, and five mental threads you’re juggling at once.
Still – when a deadline slips, when the result isn’t clean or finished – you don’t just feel behind.
You start to feel like maybe it’s you.
Maybe you’re just not good enough.
Maybe you’re the problem.
And that spiral hits hard – because deep down, you know how much effort you’re putting in.
But effort without visibility feels like failure.
That’s Not Why I Built DeadlineTrack
Let’s be clear:
I didn’t build DeadlineTrack to solve emotional burnout or invisible work.
I built it because I wanted a way to make deadlines shareable.
To create public pressure.
To give others – managers, clients, collaborators – a sense of structure and confidence without having to constantly explain myself.
It was tactical. Cold. Practical.
There’s a separate post on that use case → “Visibility Isn’t Just for Views – It’s for Your Work Too”
But once I started using it, I noticed something I didn’t expect:
The moment I shared a deadline,
the moment I started tracking my updates in the open –
my own fog started to clear.
It wasn’t just about making it visible to others anymore.
It started making it visible to me.
I could finally see my own pace.
See the buildup of effort.
See the pattern behind the delays.
See the progress – when it was working – and the excuses – when it wasn’t.
What began as a tool to build trust externally turned into a system that helped me trust myself.
Not what I set out to build.
But maybe what I needed more.
Being Invisible Isn’t Noble. It’s Unsustainable.
The work matters. But it only matters if it’s seen.
Not because you need validation – but because you deserve clarity.
Let people see what you’re doing.
Let yourself see it too.
Because you’re not falling behind.
You’re just buried under the weight of things no one else is tracking.
Make it visible. Give it shape. Own your time.