So much work writing and conversation about work is filtered through the moral industrial lens of being a “good worker.” It’s as if our sole purpose on this Earth is to serve the GDP gods. But this ignores the messy reality of being a human in the year 2023 and more importantly, ignores that being a good worker does not mean that you will be blessed with good work.
To have lots of good work you can spend your time on, you need to weed out the wrong work and learn to trust that good work will eventually emerge in the space that you create.
At my last job, I created so much work for myself. I basically assigned myself a secondary outreach position because it was work I wanted to do. I volunteered for, no, sought out projects in other departments that sounded fun, like designing interpretive signs for parks. I initiated and built relationships with community organizations of my own volition, not because anyone asked me to; I partnered with the local technical college and sat in on evening classes to help mentor environmental creative work. I volunteered for committee jobs and responsibilities, I started up events that hadn’t existed before, I managed projects that needed to happen because no one else wanted to, I invented and led new programs, I coordinated across silos because no one else was doing it.
Lol, all that and I still couldn’t get a raise 🙃 Why did I bust my ass for so long? Probably because a lot of it was good work. But man, no wonder I burned out!
It never occurred to me I could simply… work to rule. Only do what I was instructed, what was expected. That I didn’t need to fill every moment of every workday. That I didn’t have to always be adding something new, that I could just do the same as always. That there could even be value in leaving space during the day.
