lessons I learned the hard way in my first corporate job

I started my new job a few weeks ago and these are some of the lessons that I wish I knew before starting my very first one. First is that you're not always going to have someone telling you what to do all the time. I had a pretty hands-off manager and at first, it felt like I didn't have to do much because nobody was checking on me. But eventually, when I went into performance reviews, I realized that even if your manager doesn't give you a lot of work and doesn't give you a lot of direction, you're still the one who has to explain how you've been using the company's time and what you've been doing to stay productive. So I learned that even if you have a hands-off manager, ultimately, you're still responsible for managing yourself and the work that you do. The second one is that your image does matter. At the beginning, I wanted to be the fun and likable co-worker and I quickly had to realize that once you establish that image for yourself, it's very hard to walk back from that. And people will subconsciously take you less seriously if they feel like you are just fun and likable. But now I understand more that it is a conscious effort to manage the image that people have of you. Especially if you want to be seen as someone who is very organized, very reliable, and the kind of person that should be promoted and be getting opportunities. And lastly, is that your work does not speak for itself. I thought that if I did a good job and I got everything done in a year or two years, I would be good for a promotion. But I didn't realize that good work is not enough in itself. It also has to be visible. And now I know that if I want to get promoted and I want to get those opportunities, I also have to be making sure people know what I'm doing so that when it comes down to it, I have people who can advocate for the things that I've done.