Working on Work
How do we work on work?
The idea of “Working on Work’’ is a highly relevant concept for any professional to understand and apply, but especially crucial for a creative professional who consistently shifts between different levels of authorship over their works - to be explored further in a different post. To more clearly define and understand this concept, we shall explore the four crucial “pillars” of work under a typical work setting: the discipline of work, the economy of work, the sustainability of work, and the meaning of work. Deep dive into these ideas will enable us to more effectively analyze and evaluate the importance of this concept called “working on work”.
Discipline of Work
Creating a steady and reliable rhythm is an important initial step for the process of “working on work”. Establishing a regular pattern of behavior can help us to consider our work from a new perspective, allowing us to be “working on work” from a enough distance for us to assess the situation. Waking up every day at the same time, following the same routine for our morning rituals, and traveling to work on a consistent schedule can be beneficial in forming a reliable base structure for us to begin the “working on work” on.
Economy of Work
As professionals, we are all striving to reach our goals in the most efficient and effective way possible. To accomplish this, it is essential to ensure that our workflow is both stable and reliable. To that end, we shall begin each day with an overview of the day’s work to clarify objectives and tasks in a given day and to plan out a schedule that allows us to optimize our efforts. By ensuring that our goals are well-defined and our means of achieving those goals are well-optimized, we can focus our collective efforts on identifying the most effective process to reach our intended result.
Sustainability of Work
As the demands of our daily lives become increasingly more complex, it is crucial that we take the necessary steps to sustain our routines. This means taking regular breaks throughout the day to counterbalance the mental and physical strain of our endeavors. It can also involve introducing a variety of tasks to keep things interesting and to prevent our routine from becoming monotonous. Finding a way to stay on track and remain productive is key to maintaining a prosperous and healthy lifestyle.
Meaning of Work
Once we become accustomed to our daily work routines and have reached a point where they are running with efficiency and sustainability, it is now time to take a step back and inquire about the fundamentals of work as a rhythm, process, and goal. Finding purpose in one's labor is a personal and ambiguous journey, but it is the central element of “working on work.”
When reflecting on the day, it can be tempting to simply shut down and close one's eyes; however, an extra effort must be taken to explore the nuances of the day's labor. Whether it is asking yourself a series of questions or seeking to understand the start and end points of the day's work, the act of inquiry is at the core of this methodology. Ultimately, it is essential to consider if your work is working on you or if you are working on your work - another topic to be discussed in depth later.
By revisiting our work routines, we can better understand our productivity and gain insight into the purpose of our labor. With this knowledge, we can make more informed decisions about how we work and how our work can more organically and meaningfully relate back to our lives.
