Pro tip: I got passed over for a promotion in Denver because I never wrote down what I actually did all year

Oliver Wilson · 2026-09-22T17:50:03.580614+00:00

I worked at a marketing firm in Denver and busted my butt for 14 months straight, staying late, fixing other people's messes. Then in my review my manager pulls out this sheet and says nobody could really remember what I handled besides the big stuff. I sat there and my brain went totally blank, I could not name half the campaigns I saved. So I started keeping a plain notes doc on my phone where I drop one line about anything I finish, like who it helped and what it fixed, takes 10 seconds. Six months after that I walked into the same kind of meeting with 47 specific wins written down and got the raise without even pushing. The hard part is nobody teaches you that doing the work is only half of it, the other half is having receipts. Managers are busy and they are not watching you as close as you think. Does anyone else keep a running log or am I the only one who had to get burned first?

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Pro tip: I got passed over for a promotion in Denver because I never wrote down what I actually did all year | Career Advice - The Design Community Hub