I’ll try not to go into too much boring detail about the specifics of this particular scenario, but today I learned that sometimes you just need to suck it up and bite the bullet. It’s usually never as bad as you think it will be.

I had a task at work to complete that had been hanging over my head for a few days. I was first told about it on a Wednesday. I was only told about it in passing in the kitchen though and my boss told me what to do. It made sense, or I thought it did anyway, but without actually seeing it I didn’t totally grasp what was required. It was due Monday. I had to get a powerpoint pack sent from a colleague (which took two days and I had to chase up on the Friday). So I got cracking, but being late on a Friday afternoon, I kind of decided to go home instead. ‘I’ll get it done on Monday,’ I thought to myself.

Monday rolled around and I had some computer issues. Then my boss came up to me in a visibly displeased manner due to the fact that she hadn’t received the finished product yet. I’m pretty passive at work and don’t like to rub people the wrong way or cause conflict so I just apologised and said I would get it to her before I left the office that day. I had to wait until a friend left the office for the day at 5:30 so I could borrow his computer to get access to the files I needed. I was at work for almost three hours and I felt like I was bashing my head against a brick wall. The spreadsheet was so big that it kept crashing whenever I tried to manipulate the data. In the end, I got to the point where I seriously couldn’t do it anymore. I had told my boss that I would have it to her that day, and there was no way I could do it. I honestly didn’t understand what she wanted. Looking at the data I had and looking at the graphs my colleague had produced, I just couldn’t see what she wanted. I was honestly getting a little worried, almost scared… I knew she already wasn’t happy with me, and me not delivering this piece of work wouldn’t help that! I thought about just ignoring it and going home and trying again in the morning, but I decided I had to just bite the bullet and tell her.

I sent and email detailing what it was that I thought she wanted, what I had done to that point, and where I could see it going. I finished the email with an honest statement explaining my situation. I said something like “I’m really not sure what this is meant to look like. A little more guidance would be greatly appreciated so that I can delivery exactly what you want as soon as possible”.

I walked in to work the next morning to an email along the lines of “come and see me at my desk at 9am”. Having seen my boss’s discontent the day before, I was more than a little scared as to what this meeting would entail! I thought I was in a bit of trouble… But my boss gave me a nice cheery “Good morning” and a smile and I was instantly relieved. We only had to spend 3 or 4 minutes sitting at her desk. She was able to clearly articulate exactly what she needed done and how she wanted it to look. I was able to go away and complete it quickly and accurately and got it back to her that day.

It was in her best interest to support me so that I could get the job done, and my honesty and humility allowed me to show her that I needed help, which she was more than happy to give. I was pretty scared sending that email telling her that I hadn’t completed the task, and I was a little worried heading in the next day that I might be on the receiving end of a bit of harsh feedback. But in the end, there was nothing to worry about! I was able to get the instruction I needed, I was able to get the job done, and it was no where near as bad as I thought it would be!