How to Do Meaningful Work
Getting more from what you put in.
Think about it…
You wake up everyday.
You feel behind.
- Other times, tired.
You’re stuck at work.
You’re unproductive — You label it as “busy.”
- Because if you were productive, you would’ve felt accomplished.
- Yet you didn’t.
You have no goals.
- You have no systems.
- You have no clarity.
Your to-do list is Mount Everest — You never reach it.
Distractions are everywhere:
- 37 unread emails
- TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat
- Arguments with your colleagues
- Fantasies of your 12:03 PM lunch
And so on.
This is not your life.
You’re better than that.
I know it.
I believe in you.
You can achieve much more with much less effort if you have the right methodology for doing things.
This is your life.
Take control of it while you still can.
Stop working for work’s sake.
And start working for the meaning of it.
Bottom line…
Start prioritizing meaningful work.
How?
As seen below.
1. Identify what you’re working on
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re wasting your time, energy, and resources.
2. Assess your time
Assess how much time you have.
Your time is limited.
It’s finite.
It’s money.
It’s dollars.
Dólares si Español.
Time is dollars.
Once you realize how much time you have,
you can’t waste it working inefficiently.
3. Work in sprints
Apply the Pomodoro Technique.
Divide your work into 10-minute sprints.
(It’s a “sprint” because you should focus on one task in a short time.)
Work intensely in those 10 minutes.
Accomplish the most in those 10 minutes.
10 minutes is good enough:
- Long enough for meaningful work.
- Short enough for your attention and urgency.
“We practice improvement through work, work through improvement, one sprint at a time!”
~Agile Actors, Medium.
4. Aim for speed
Solve problems fast and efficiently.
Don’t overthink.
Don’t be perfect.
(You’ll never be anyway.)
So drop the act -
The act of perfectionism.
Speed.
Not haste.
Speed optimizes for efficiency and output.
Haste does things haphazardly.
“More haste, less speed.”
5. Eliminate distractions
Time is short.
Just 10 minutes.
You can’t spend it on distractions.
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6. Focus on the solution
Focus on the solution, not the problem.
The time you take dwelling on a problem
is the same amount of time you take solving it.
So you might as well solve it anyway.
Recall that time is finite.
Solutions, not problems.
7. Push the needle
You have only so much time:
10 minutes.
You can’t afford to spend it on meaningless tasks.
Focus on the things that push the needle the most.
Incorporate Pareto’s Principle:
80% of the results come from 20% of the effort.
And 80% of the effort goes to the last 20% of the results.
Focus on the things that matter.
There are a few.
You think you need 10 steps to accomplish something?
Nope.
You need only three.
Find those three.
Focus on the things that matter.
8. Reward yourself
After 10 minutes of work, have 10 minutes of play.
You put some serious effort in the last 10 minutes.
Reward yourself.
Enjoy yourself.
But also enjoy it in moderation.
Don’t over-enjoy too much that it doesn’t reciprocate your hard work.
Similarly, don’t work too hard that you can’t enjoy yourself after.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Don’t be like Jack.
Be like Jude.
And score goals.
9. Assess your work once done
Before you realize it,
Subconsciously,
You’ll have accomplished your desired outcome.
You’ll stun yourself.
“That’s it?”
You thought it would be hard.
It’s easier than pie.
Simpler than the alphabet.
Easier than you thought.
Congratulations.
You’ve done meaningful work.
All the best,
.
.
.
~T.K.K
- Originally written on Carerra’s Chronicles.
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