“Hard work” vs “valuable work”

Last week I mentioned a few things that can sap your creative relationship-building efforts.

Things like “the puzzle trap,” insisting on certainly, and interruptions from colleagues.

Of course, I can hear the push-back:

“But Allen, those are things I have to do! I can't just decide never to tackle a tough technical problem, or to live with constant uncertainty, or to ignore incoming questions!”

Of course you can't.

Working hard at those things is a valuable use of someone's time, and that someone will be you, at least some of the time.

But ask yourself...

• Does it always have to be you?

• Is it the most valuable thing you can be doing?

• Is it worth all of your time?

The answer to all of those is ... (wanna guess?) ... "No."

You can divide the work.
You can prioritize long-term creative effort.
You can set aside time for work that's more valuable.

It won't be easy at first.

But you can.

And if you care about really helping your people to progress to the next step, you must.

If you don't, you'll always be “working hard” at tasks that don't really advance your mission. Treading water. Swimming upstream.

Wouldn't it be better to work hard on creative efforts that actually better your relationships, move your people forward, and improve your mission effectiveness?

All the best,
A.