Show Your Work

I hate showing my work.

It was in chemistry class when I first recall having such a distaste for it. Our teacher would require us to show the steps we took to convert molecules during a reaction.

AB + XY = ?

A2Y + B2X

Would be my answer with no written explanation. If you understood chemistry though, you don’t need a trivial explanation I thought. So when our teacher would give me a B for not showing work, I was livid. Why must I show my work??

For years, I carried this resentment. In my mind, the outcome was all that mattered. The elegance of the solution spoke for itself. Why waste time documenting what seemed obvious to me?

And now here I sit, several years later with a memo from Seth Godin saying "Show your work". Something that Austin Kleon in "Show Your Work!" also extols.

At first, I dismissed it. Another hoop to jump through. But then something clicked.

Why? What is so important about the work itself?

After pondering that very question, I realized it's tied to a fundamental human trait: our need for Story.

Imagine the Bible was told as: God made man. Man messed up. Jesus was born. Jesus died. Man is saved. The end.

While you get the "answer", we don't get the story that makes it memorable. We don't see the struggles, failures, long-term consequences, or redemption in the same light.

How about Harry Potter: Harry's parents are killed by Voldemort. Harry grows up and kills Voldemort. The end.

Boring and not worth $1B in sales or a theme park. There's no magic.

But showing your work isn't just about storytelling. It's about:

Authenticity - When we share our process, warts and all, people trust us more. They see we're not just pretending to have all the answers.

Teaching - Your "wrong turns" might be exactly what someone else needs to see to avoid the same pitfalls.

Innovation - When you show your work, others can build upon it. Your half-formed idea might spark someone else's breakthrough.

Connection - The sharing process creates community. "Here's how I did it" invites others into conversation in a way that "Here's what I did" never can.

Showing our work is literally where the magic is. And ironically, reading work is where we experience the magic as audiences. We cannot be taken to new worlds and whisked away by hurricane-force winds that pummel us if we only see the destination. We need the process to entertain, delight, and celebrate the ending.

Just because you have the answer does not mean people care. They care about how you got there. They care about the pitfalls and successes. They care about the story.

In my chemistry class, I saw showing work as busy work. Now I see it differently. The teacher wasn't asking for the steps to verify my answer. She was teaching me that in real science—and in real life—the process is often more valuable than the conclusion.

I'm still learning this lesson. When I publish only polished work, I rob others of seeing the messy reality of creation. I build walls instead of bridges.

So show your work.

Not just the highlight reel. Show the deleted scenes. The bloopers. The alternate endings.

Because your process isn't just how you got there.

It's the most interesting part of where you've been.

As always, thanks for reading,

- Bradley Wargo