Popular vs. Important Work: How to choose what to do
I’m done writing my book, “Personal Finance in a Public World”. It was very important work. Now, it’s time to relax!
Not!
It could be easy to lose focus and rotate into a less productive mode. I don’t mention this to promote my abilities. It’s to illustrate the contrast between the usefulness of the work that us impactmakers participate.
I’m actually here to acknowledge that some of the work that we do is completely useless. Or, at least it’s completely useless to our impact projects. This is okay. Taking breaks is very important. E-Impact 59 told you how to take a “nap”. Unfortunately though, there are times that when you think you’re being productive you’re really wasting time. I think this a big issue in the impact space.
The “Work-Flow” of Distraction
Impactmakers, leaders, CEOs, founders, and highly driven people need to be working towards something consistently. It’s a personality trait and sometimes a flaw. Here’s how it works:
You want to “do”. (Your natural inclination)
You want to “do good”.
You accomplish something.
You get bored.
You want to do more but your original accomplishment didn’t completely solve the related problem.
You get distracted.
You work really hard toward something else that grabs your attention.
The conundrum with the above progression is that you are trying to do well. You want to use your positive energy to continue to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, your original efforts can suffer and your new efforts can be misguided.
Face it. The early stages of an impact project, non-profit organization, and even a business take a lot of grinding and passion for a cause. As an aspirational person, you want more and better. Once you taste success and the more advanced stages of something, it’s very hard to go back. You’ve already been there. It would be torturous to start from the beginning again. It’s natural to latch on to something that seems important and already has momentum.
There are two main things that must be considered. First, you don’t want to let your team down. Second, you have get back to basics where appropriate.
The Mainstay
I recently saw a social media post about the retirement of my high school football coach. He hasn’t been the head coach in some years and had served as the Athletic Director for quite some time. George Smith is a legend in the community and known for being a great man even more than a coach. St. Thomas Aquinas (STA) in Ft. Lauderdale is known for having more National Football League (NFL) athletes than any other high school. George had a lot to do with this.
We used to say, “Pride on ‘A’, S-T-A Pride!” to break down our huddles. Coach lived that pride. Someone that successful at the high school level could have easily tried to advance his career to college or even beyond. You could argue that that level was perfect for him. Maybe it was. But, I think there was a great sense of loyalty, a desire to keep the winning tradition going, and most importantly, the want to keep helping young men mature. He didn’t want to leave his team.
George is definitely an impactmaker and a mainstay in the community. I think there are three ways his legacy could have gone in the late 90s or early 2000s. One is obviously how it did. He stayed where he was and kept the tradition going. The second thing is he could have groomed the next generations of coaches and let them take over when he left for bigger and better things. This is certainly a legitimate option. One I believe that many of us will face. The final option though, is what needs to be avoided at all costs. DO NOT leave your team high and dry because you are bored with what you’re doing or want more. These feelings are normal. But, just substituting popular work for important work is unacceptable.
From the Top
Before I became the star (by “star” I mean amazingly mediocre) drummer that I am, I always wanted to start a song with “From the top…” like Barlow Girl’s “Let Go”. It means starting from the beginning of a song and is used to single a band when practicing. By the way, I heard Barlow Girl sing happy birthday to someone once - best A capella performance of any song I’ve ever heard.
Sometimes, you don’t want to start from the beginning of the song. You’ve practiced it a million times or just need practice on one part. This is similar to what happens when you’re working on an impact project for a while. Could you imagine having to start all over again?
Another example in my life that makes me feel the same way is when you drive half way to a destination only to realize you forgot something. You have to drive back home and start over. Ugh! So frustrating.
When you get the “impactmaker boredom” you can’t forget what sparks a successful organization.
Don’t be afraid of getting back to basics. If you decide that you should take on additional effort or even step down from your existing position, you can’t expect to fast pass to the front.
Impactmaking is not not a theme park ride!
My Next Project
I mentioned that I am done with my book (Actually, I am only finished with the revisions part. There is a lot to do before publishing.). I am going to have some more time in the mornings of my day now.
My aspirational mind wishes that I could start the next book at the revisions process and skip all the time put into the rough draft manuscript. That was an incredibly arduous process. While I haven’t decided if and when I am going to write another, I am leery of the effort it will take.
It might indeed just be time for a break. If that is the case, it should be truly a break - not just a break from writing. In contrast, I may, by the end of this weekend (which I suspect will be the case, I normally write on Saturday mornings), find the energy to start something new. I MUST refrain from jumping to conclusions on the latest, greatest idea. It’s too easy in today’s world to get distracted by what is popular.
It would be really easy for me to scroll Tik-Tok or Instagram to find something to do. It’s hard for me to say this, but charitably minded organizations and people are fighting for our attention as well. I don’t intend to undermine any positive causes out there. But, they’re all not for everyone. Do your homework. Find out where your gifts and skills might fit best.
Free Agency
It’s time for another sports example. We are almost thirty years from the introduction of free agency into the National Football League (NFL). It was a momentous occasion and changed the trajectory of the league.
The NFL’s system is certainly not flawless but it has allowed players to move around to different teams more freely throughout their career. It’s turned the offseason into an amazingly entertaining experience for a fan. You can significantly change the make up of your team in one offseason.
One drawback of free agency is the possibility of over spending for a player that does’t necessarily fit the makeup of your team. Coaches and team owners might spend quite a bit of time and money to court a great player in competition with other teams. It might seem worth the effort at the time because they get caught up in popular opinion. There are numerous examples of teams that were hyped in the offseason only to fall flat when the season starts.
Great people doing awesome things in the world are free agents!
You are worth a lot and you might feel like shopping around your services (whether literally in the business world or figuratively in your mind) to different teams.
Picking the Right Work
Even after all the warnings, there’s great news. You don’t have to worry about being distracted by what is popular. The reason is that you are a master of priorities. You would not be in the position you are today if you didn’t know what is most important to you and this world.
I suggest that you make a list of the things that you have accomplished in your existing position. Take five minutes and write everything down. EVERYTHING. Don’t hold back. This is restrictionless brainstorming.
It’s okay to start with a huge list but it has to be paired down.
I think you’ll be surprised all the thing you’ll come up with. Once you have that list, pair it down to five things. It’s okay if you can’t quite get to five or if only four stick out. In other words, don’t cut out something important just to get to five or keep a distant number five around that isn’t nearly as important as the others.
When you have your list of accomplishments, take a moment to celebrate (see the July 21, 2020 E-Impact Blog entry). The reason for this is to potentially reignite a passion for your current work. I find that a quick reminder of the success you’ve had can often motivate you to get back to the important work that you are already doing. That could be the best choice you ever make.
If you don’t find motivation to stay put (and you don’t leave your existing team behind without give them the needed support to push forward with positive impact), it’s time to breakdown those accomplishments and highlight the important steps and activities along the way. Write them down with a detailed description of what you did. Ask yourself, “How was this accomplished?”
The descriptions can be a paragraph or two or even a graph/picture of some sort if you’re more of a visual person (I suppose an audible version could work too if that’s your style). Most importantly, you are recalling your methods for success.
You’re practically done once you’ve laid our your methods for success. You may not realize it, but you have laid out how to use your gifts and skills for positive impact. You have documented your world changing process (see World Changers by Audio Adrenaline, great music in this entry, huh?).
Your successful process and skills are way more important than anything else. Simply apply them to the new “teams” or options that you have as a free agent. How can you use what you have proven to be successful to make an impact in another place?
You won’t skip the early stage hard work. But, you will skip a lot of the early mistakes. You can get right to making a positive impact in your new role.
The early stages of impact are not the most popular but they are the most important.