What is your work?

A smashed bottle cap somewhere in Texas. What can I say, I find these things beautiful . . .

What is your work?

Have you thought recently about what is essential and what is trivial in the context of your goals for your life?

Driving across Texas will spur thoughts like that. Long hot miles under an unrelenting sun will have you questioning the underpinnings of your existence. By mile 300 you’ve entertained every little thought your mind can conjure . . . by mile 400 you’re on to the important questions . . . Texas is just getting started at that point . . .  you have 500 more miles to ponder.

Laura Vanderkam in 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think defines work as activities that advance you toward the career and lifestyle you want. 

Everything else is not work.

That’s a refreshing reduction. There’s no room for padding. That half an hour spent floating through the internet like an invisible butterfly . . . not work. Even if you’re at work. Those emails you get tangled in that have zip to do with your purpose. Not work. 

How much of what I think is work is unnecessary?

It’s good to play. It’s healthy to create a rhythm of on task, off task. Still, Vanderkam doesn’t allow you to pretend you’re working more than you actually do. 

I don’t know why I’m saying you when I really mean me. 

As I near the end of an epic road trip — five plus weeks — I am eager to redefine work for myself. So I know what not work looks like. So I can recognize when I’m doing it.

With pretend work it’s easy to be lulled into feeling pretend overworked. 

Identifying pretend work liberates me into meaningful work. The work I’m meant to do.

(From there, when the work is done, it’s a simple hopscotch into meaningful play 😉

For you —

Evan Griffith
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