I need advice from people who are 'making the most' of their office environments and doing their own thing on the clock.
Just got a promotion after a nightmarish last year that involved some mental and physical consequences due to stress and burnout. Thankful to be out of the old position as everyone in the new one says that it's got more down time, fewer expectations, and ironically, better pay. I'm excited to have time to actually breathe at my desk and want to make the most of it. I've wanted a job for SO LONG where the main complaint is that 'it's boring and I don't do anything some days ugghhh'.
It's fantastic, and maybe I'm greedy for wanting to optimize this for my own purposes, but I've fallen WAY behind on my personal writing schedule and need to get, you know, caught up without anyone noticing that I'm essentially leeching off the company time. I do think I could use a few weeks where I just enjoy the occasional 'do nothing at all' day but down the line want to make some healthy progress.
How can I avoid the all seeing eye of my employer, get the necessary minimum done, and make progress on my personal projects in an office environment? How do I sneak a laptop/workstation into my cubicle/office and do stuff while looking like I'm productive? How can I appear 'professional' while secretly churning out smut on the clock?
I want to be able to write for hours a day, not counting my lunch breaks. I want to be able to greet employees that visit my desk, look good for my boss, occasionally interact with clients that drop by. I want everyone to think, 'gee, this dood deserves a raise, he looks so, you know, stressed and focused over there. He's so dependable', while I'm simultaneously single minded on whatever new project I've got going on. I've considered bluetooth keyboards hooked up to my phone, locking my office door, the position of my personal laptop, having excel docs that I can pull up to cover my work, etc.
TLDR Does anyone have tips on looking busy while doing your own thing? how to be totally undetected? Experiences? Stories where it worked/didn't? Things to watch out for? Time saving tips i.e. chatgpt for writing all of your emails?