Friday, March 12, 2010

Comfortable Good v Uncomfortable Great

A recent post on Zen Habits from guest poster Michael Bungay got me thinking.
His post starts
Imagine everything you do could fall into one of three buckets:
1. Bad Work.
2. Good Work.
3. Great Work.
I’m not talking about the quality of the work you deliver – I’ve no doubt that’s fine. I’m talking about the meaning the work has for you and the impact it makes.


Briefly :
Bad Work is the soul-sucking tasks you hate to do
Good Work is the necessary and enjoyable stuff you do most of the day to keep things moving along
Great Work is the stuff that simply lights you up and fills you with joy. You find it meaningful and challenging
(read the original post for more in depth descriptions)

Although Michael's post was refering to the broader tasks that fill the day, I starting using the descriptions to compare just my creative tasks and the various products I make.

  • What things do I HATE making, but I make them because they are profitable or popular or because I always have?
  • What are my conveyor belt creations that keep the business chugging along?
  • What do I find easy and comfortable?
  • What do I find challenging?
  • What sets my soul soaring?

Once I have identified the Bad Work, I'm hoping it won't be too hard to give it up...or at least outsource it! But I'm going to have a hard time cutting back on the Good Work.
  • I enjoy it
  • Other people enjoy it
  • I'm good at it
  • It's easy
  • I feel productive
  • I am comfortable
But some of it will have to go in order to relish the exhilarating adrenaline rush of working without a net; the fear of failure tempered by the fun of discovery; the buzz of learning and creating something new, rather than recreating something I know how to do.

Time to get uncomfortable

So what Busywork can you eliminate to free up some time to set your soul on fire?
Posted by SOMA Artisan's Guild at 4:43 PM

2 comments:

  1. McLachlan Design StudioMarch 18, 2010 at 1:50 PM

    Great article, really got me thinking. The work I dislike most is the kind where I go to someone Else's office and they tell me what to do, it's also called a j.o.b. (But it pays the bills) The work that I do as a jewelry maker is my favorite, I could sit at my work bench for hours and it feel like minutes because I enjoy it so much.

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  2. SOMA Artisan's GuildMarch 23, 2010 at 11:25 PM

    hey denise, I'm with you on the j.o.b, but are there aspects of your jewelery making that feel more like a job? Are there products that you continue to make that no longer light up your soul? Could you use that time to be making something great instead?

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