Here’s the thing, spending hours a day furiously responding to emails, tweeting, or updating your Facebook status, that’s not work. It makes you feel busy, important and “loved” but it’s probably not what you are getting paid for.
What do I get paid for? It’s a good question and this post resulted from me asking it of myself. Here’s the answer I jotted down several days ago: “Short intense bursts of creative thought surrounded by a lot of what may appear like loafing around to some but is in fact engaging in activities I have found feed the creative engine.” My output then, is “creative thought” and my job is creating an environment in which creation of creative thought flourishes.
What about all the rest of the “stuff” I do? Well, in order to be compensated for your output, you will have to transmit it to someone. In my case sometimes that means preparing a proposal which is then transmitted to my customer via email. That email will probably in turn result in a volley of emails that will go back and forth for as along as a week or ten days (your results may vary). While I have to read and respond to each of those emails, the act of doing so is not creating any more output or supporting the environment in which creative thought flourishes.
Your turn, what do you get paid for? The fact that you got this far in the post means that like me (a few days ago) you aren’t completely sure. Simplify. Look for outputs that are uniquely your own that somewhere down the line result in revenue to you or the company you work for. Anything not in that category is “a race to the bottom” and can be outsourced to India or China overnight.
What did you come up with? Come on, don’t be shy, share in the comments what you get paid for.
Problem solving, finding people and coordinating events are all part of my job… and doing those things via email, Twitter, and Facebook are all part of how I do my job.
I’m advocate for determining what actions provide the results you need. Finding that happy medium in ‘loafing’ and ‘working’.
The problem I’ve always had is that I work very hard to brand myself, network, create, etc. And the end results are always superb. Improving each day. Gaining traction toward larger goals.
But when someone asks me what I accomplished in 6 hours today sometimes it can be hard to explain as it’s not always something that progress can be seen in on a daily basis.
I like the callout you’ve made here. My paycheck aside, ‘loafing’ or emailing/tweeting/participating in forums/networking/etc is my attempt to bring attention to my cause, whether it’s Fit Milwaukee, Team Challenge, Roll Mobile, or my ‘personal brand’.
I definitely (especially recently) feel the need to be ‘producing’ or as you said in another post, ‘selling’. So when I make my list of what I’d like to accomplish for the day, I include the ‘loafing’ on the list and allow myself a limited amount of time to complete it. I also prioritize the tasks that will bring in revenue, completing those first. In some cases, ‘revenue’ means recruitment, or more clicks to a link, or a feeding a discussion.
But when it comes down to it, maintaining a user experience is my main objective regardless of where I’m ‘working’. Isn’t that what it all boils down to? It’s always about the customer.
*nods* You sir “get it”
Does it really matter if anyone besides you sees the progress? (for any single day). Ultimately, if you are doing the right things it will lead you towards the goal.
…and knowing who the customer is. Perhaps equally important knowing who the customer is not. It’s OK to help others but ultimately I feel your constituency/customers do need to come first.
Hmm. Ok you’ve given me something to think about. Don’t we cater to non-customers when we write blog posts and tweet? But if they are potential customers that needs attention, too. Obviously the customers you HAVE already are more critical to keep, than to seek out ‘new’ customers… but how do you determine where to draw the line? This discussion has me a bit lost. Maybe I’m focusing on the wrong things.
Hmm. We may have to settle this over coffee 😉 My point is I have several goals here. 1. Communicate with my customers, past, present and future (defined as people I will exchange financial value with). 2. Share my Journey. 3. Maybe along the way build a little community of people who care 🙂