Creating Value vs. Working Hard
Am I creating value or just working hard?
I think about this often. Its normal to check a lot of things off my to-do list and spend a full day in meetings, on calls and at my desk getting a lot of things done. But its also normal to realize at the end of the day that I didn’t do much that really mattered or that created any real value.
Get LLL’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Henry David Thoreau said: ‘It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?’ Don’t confuse activity with results. There is no reason to do a good job with something you shouldn’t do in the first place.”
The saying “if something is worth doing, its worth doing right” is a good rule of thumb but the opposite is also true. “If something isn’t worth doing, don’t even do it”.
We do a lot of things that make zero impact on our long term goals or that don’t move us closer to taking advantage of an opportunity we see. Maybe this is why its so hard for Organizations to follow through on new initiatives. Everyone is working hard on whats in front of them, their inboxes and to do lists that we never get to the hard stuff that actually makes a difference. It takes a lot more effort to get on with the new and ironically, it feels like we might be wasting our time or spinning our wheels because creating value brings a lot of ambiguity with it.
I feel this now with some initiatives I’m involved with. Its clear some things need to change but its far from clear how we need to change them. Its easier to carry on with what we are doing and just try harder than it is to step back and figure out how we can truly solve the problem. It takes less effort to just work hard than it does to add value.
