2-3-4 Friday 3 May

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Happy Labour Day.

It’s strange that we have a day to celebrate how hard we work. What if we could start celebrating how well we worked?

That might look different.

One of the hardest things in a knowledge economy job - like social work, is that it’s hard to tell what exactly the output is.

So we end up doing what Cal Newport calls pseudo-productivity, where we answer emails, type quick replies to our bosses, and colleagues, and we end up thinking that counts for work.

I used to think that was the biggest marker of my relevance at work too. Things like:

1. How fast I would reply to an email or WhatsApp message
2. How many clients I met that month

But then I began to realise I was counting it all wrong.

Count the wrong things, and you will work on the wrong things, that lead you to the wrong place.

So here’s a question,

what’s the marker of your productivity?

Don’t know?

Well, sit down and think about it.

Start from this question.

What’s your biggest value-add to the organisation?

In other words, why does the organisation need to hire you, rather than someone with no degree or specialised training?

Let’s take the social worker example again.

Slowly I realised it was because:

1. To get clients the outcomes that they wanted, but were stuck with
2. To help get more resources to clients

This meant that when I began to measure:

1. The number of clients that got the outcomes they desired, and how quickly that happened,
2. And how much money I raised for the charities,

I saw a clearer sign of what value I brought to the organisation.

Don’t get me wrong.

It’s not productivity for productivity’s sake.

But as I speak to more and more people, I begin to realise that we are jaded, tired, and burning out.

We’re all tired of trying to achieve more with the little that we have. We’re fighting to answer more and more emails, texts, and we don’t know how to keep it up.

So it’s time to make a little difference in how we do the work, so that we can begin to do better work for what really matters.

1 talk

“We've become so used to the idea that the only reward for getting better is moving toward higher income and increased responsibilities that we forget that the fruits of pursuing quality can also be harvested in the form of a more sustainable lifestyle.”

• Cal Newport, Slow Productivity

1 tip

Here’s a story.

When I first moved from Singapore to the U.K., like any hardworking Singaporean, I would work 7 days a week.

Even on weekends, I would be in the library, studying from 10 to perhaps 7pm. But I slowly found myself unable to continue and not too sure how else to move.

So I stopped and started setting aside a day to rest. It was uncomfortable, scary and outright stupid. I had more work… what was I doing?

It seemed like sheer stupidity.

But suddenly, I found my results improving, by up to 20%.

You can too.

If you find yourself jaded, sway back into the rhythm of rest. Systematically take a day off.

Drop work after 6pm and walk home. Scared you won’t finish your work?

See the magic happen.

Because work is infinite, whilst time is finite. 

Work fills the time you allot it.

Put aside less time for work, and you suddenly focus on the most important work, rather than just pseudo-work.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Think others might benefit? I’m counting on you. Forward this on.