Looking busy while doing nothing is an essential job skill for everyone, which I learned (I should rather say some smarter guy taught me) when I was still in high school. At that time, we often had to do labor work, like getting rid of weeds in the field. As I knew nothing about this skill, I tended to work very hard for a while, and took a brief break afterwards. By doing so, I often gave an impression to others including my supervisor as some one who was lazy and did not work hard enough. One day, a friend of mine told me that when you work, try to conserve engergy; when you take rest, you should appear exhausted by wiping sweat off your face (even if there is no sweat on your face). I followed his advice faithfully, and the lazy impression that I had previously presented also changed.
A creative way to apply the aforementioned essential job skill is when you are in job situation where you have time to kill, you can always find some job-related books to read and further improve your skills. This will make you look busy and also give others an excellent impression that you are a diligent worker.
