In a world of back-to-back meetings, lightning-fast emails, and output-driven performance reviews, it is easy to lose sight of how the work is being done. Somewhere along the way, the process became invisible. The only thing that matters now, it seems, is the final slide, the clean dashboard, the revenue impact, or the green tick on the to-do list.

But good work is more than just deliverables. It is how the work was approached, how it evolved, the thinking behind it, the principles upheld, and the legacy it leaves for others.

This is the core of Showing Your Workings.

It is not about overexplaining or seeking validation. It is about making the process transparent, thoughtful, and repeatable. It is about sharing the method, not just the milestone. It is a professional philosophy - one that finds its roots in the ancient but enduring principles of Stoicism.

The Stoics, active some 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece and Rome, were not concerned with the approval of others. They focused instead on how to live a good life. Their teachings centred around the cultivation of four cardinal virtues:

• Wisdom: The ability to reason clearly and make sound decisions

• Courage: The strength to act rightly in the face of fear, hardship, or opposition

• Justice: The commitment to fairness, honesty, and social responsibility

• Temperance: The discipline to practice restraint, balance, and moderation

These principles are timeless. And in the context of modern work, they form a powerful blueprint for how to become not only a productive professional but a respected, reliable, and ethical one.

Wisdom: Clarity of Thought Leads to Clarity of Action

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” – Epictetus

In the workplace, wisdom is often confused with intelligence or seniority. But true wisdom has little to do with titles and everything to do with judgement, humility, and clarity. It is the willingness to seek understanding before making decisions and the ability to distinguish what matters from what doesn’t.

The wise worker does not chase tasks blindly. They pause to ask:

• What problem are we trying to solve?

• What assumptions are we making?

• Is this the most effective use of time and resources?

• Have we done this before? What did we learn?

A wise worker doesn’t hide behind jargon or complexity. They articulate their reasoning clearly and allow others to follow their train of thought. They leave behind not just answers but a path for others to trace.

To show your workings through wisdom is to respect the process, to invite reflection, and to create transparency around why decisions were made. It is a generous act of leadership, regardless of role or rank.

Wisdom also means knowing when to stop. Not every path leads somewhere. Not every idea needs to be executed. The wise worker applies critical thinking and knows when the pursuit of perfection gets in the way of progress.

Courage: Let Yourself Be Seen, Even in the Middle of the Mess

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” – Seneca

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of fear. In the context of work, courage means showing up authentically, taking responsibility, and speaking up - even when it is uncomfortable.

Modern workplaces often reward confidence and certainty. But most valuable work involves uncertainty. The best ideas are rarely fully formed in the first draft. Mistakes will happen. Questions will go unanswered. Progress is never perfectly linear.

Courage is required to:

• Ask for help without shame

• Present unfinished work to gather feedback

• Admit when something went wrong

• Challenge poor decisions, even when they come from above

To show your workings through courage is to say: “Here is where I am, here is what I know, and here is what I am still figuring out.” This opens the door to better dialogue, improved outcomes, and a culture where others feel safe doing the same.

Without courage, there is no real collaboration - only performance. And over time, that performance becomes exhausting and fragile.

Courage brings resilience. It allows a team to grow together rather than compete in silence.

Justice: Work Transparently and Leave the Door Open Behind You

“What is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bee.” – Marcus Aurelius

Justice, in the Stoic tradition, refers to fairness, responsibility, and a duty to the greater good. In the context of the workplace, it means thinking beyond individual gain and working in a way that benefits the team, the organisation, and the broader community.

A just worker does not hoard knowledge or protect their process out of insecurity. They work transparently, so others can learn and contribute. They credit colleagues when ideas are shared, and they speak up when something feels unfair.

They also document well. They leave notes, templates, version histories, and insights so that others do not have to start from scratch. They do not make themselves indispensable by hiding how things work. They do it by empowering others to succeed.

Showing your workings through justice means:

• Sharing not just what was done, but how and why it was done

• Making your process understandable to others, even if you are not in the room

• Lifting others by giving visibility to their contributions

• Building frameworks that others can inherit and improve

Injustice at work is not always loud or visible. It is often found in small acts of exclusion — when information is withheld, when credit is misallocated, or when processes are made deliberately opaque. Justice in action restores balance and trust.

It creates a culture of shared progress instead of individual survival.

Temperance: Slow Down to Deliver What Matters

“No man is free who is not master of himself.” – Epictetus

In today’s always-on culture, where inboxes never sleep and busy schedules are worn like badges of honour, temperance is perhaps the hardest virtue to practise - and the most needed.

Temperance is the virtue of self-discipline. It is the ability to say no to distractions, to work steadily instead of frantically, and to choose quality over quantity. It is not laziness. It is restraint in service of clarity.

A temperate worker:

• Knows their limits and respects them

• Avoids overcommitment and multitasking

• Sets realistic timelines and communicates clearly when priorities shift

• Focuses on doing a few things well, rather than chasing every possible task

When workers practise temperance, they are more consistent, more trusted, and more respected. Their work has depth because it was not rushed. Their decisions have weight because they were not reactive.

Showing your workings through temperance means giving the process enough space to unfold properly. It means creating documentation as you go, not frantically retrofitting it later. It means resisting the urge to skip steps, knowing that shortcuts often lead to confusion down the line.

Temperance leads to sustainable excellence. It is the art of maintaining momentum without burning out.

Work as a Reflection of Character

Showing your workings is not about compliance. It is not just about audit trails or version control. It is about who you are and how you work.

It reflects the discipline of wisdom, the humility of courage, the generosity of justice, and the self-respect of temperance.

It is not always the fastest way. But it is the right way.

And in a world where quick wins and surface-level success are increasingly common, this way of working stands out. It creates clarity where there is confusion. It builds trust where there is suspicion. It invites others to contribute rather than compete.

Those who adopt this way of working do not just get things done. They build foundations. They grow others. They set standards. And they leave behind not just results - but a legacy.