How to Look Like You Are Working Hard at All Times

Whenever you are stepping away from your desk for a break, or to take a nap, or maybe just to hop out for a movie, always carry a notebook and pencil conspicuously. There's something about a pencil that suggests a perfectionist workhorse--it says "I will be working out theorems and ideas and constantly refining things; I am a damn scientist." Plus, with a notebook and pencil, it always looks like you are going to a meeting. Start scribbling in the notebook as you walk away from your desk.

Stay out for as long as you like, but when you walk back into the office, be furiously scribbling in the notebook. Those who saw you walk away initially will generate a continuity in their mind--since you walked away writing and are coming back writing, it must mean you were writing and working the entire time you were gone. Those who only saw you walk away or only see you returning will guess that you are on your way to or back from some intense work project.