Ep. 31 – The Right Work
5 Minute Rants by THE a.m.
A podcast predicated on the journey of business and life.
Ep. 31 – The Right Work
Sometimes when we are challenged or stuck, it’s not so much that we can’t overcome, its finding the work
The impossible only seems impossible.
Lack of clarity is often confused with lack of motivation.
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Sometimes when we are challenged or stuck, it’s not so much that we can’t overcome, its finding the […]
July 14, 2023
Episode Transcript
Michael Abernathy 0:00
Hey what’s up everybody? What’s up? Welcome back to 5 Minute Rants guys, welcome back to THE a.m. I’m your host, Michael Abernathy, and this is the podcast where we talked about anything and everything predicated on the journey of life and business for whole five minutes.
So cool, cool, cool, cool. Well, I want to talk about finding your work. So oftentimes, we don’t own overcome problems, and we don’t overcome challenges in our life, because we’re actually doing the wrong work to solve them. So let me give you an example. I was just talking to a friend of mine, and they were talking about how there’s no point to organize certain things in the house, like junk drawers or like the shed, because everybody just goes in there and messes it up, makes a mess again, and then the organization is just completely and done. So we actually had a conversation, it turns out, like, hey, listen, you’re actually in technical work, you’re not in managerial work. So you actually haven’t made a process for the whole house to be aligned in, so the shed never gets messy again. You’re doing the technical work, which is clean up.
And so as we talked it just became apparent like that, to me seems to be a theme in all of our lives, and a mine personally. That oftentimes I get stuck at a problem, and I get stuck in growth because I’m actually not doing the right work. But I’m working!? And that’s the trap, right? That seems to be the problem, “I’m working, why doesn’t it get better?” It’s I’m actually not doing the right work. I believe Albert Einstein said that, in order to find the right answer, you must ask the right question. And that in my conversation yesterday with my good friends seem to apply to this. In order to find the right solution. and to move forward and work, you must do the right work.
So if you go back to some of the episodes, earlier episodes, where we talk about the different types of work are three types of work. There’s technical, there’s management, or managerial. and then there’s rhythm. Technical, Process, Rhythm is what we normally call them. And so what happened is, my friend was doing technical work cleaning up, but what needed to happen was Process work. Let me make a process, and let me make a system for the whole house to be agreed upon and for us to communicate so that the shed never gets messy again, and the shed stays organized and is easier to clean for everybody.
And so that’s how it is in business, and I realized, that’s how it’s been a lot in business for me. Like, “man, I’m stuck.” Why aren’t things moving or growing in the direction I want them to grow? I’m doing the wrong work. Just like I would be asking the wrong question. It’s interesting, because algebra is such a good form of math, because it helps you to think, in the right way to ask different questions to get different answers. So like, if you’re a developer, you’re super fond of StackOverflow and you’re super fond of Google, because most development is being really good at Google. I have friends who have PhDs. We’ve got employees who are developers. and listen, that is like one of their number one friends, is Google. Googling the problem, seeing it differently, and then be able to enact a solution because now they’re doing different work.
And so I’m saying this, because I think oftentimes, when we’re doing the wrong work, we seem to have a lack of motivation to do it. In really, it’s not so much a lack of motivation, it’s a lack of clarity. I guess you could say it like this, simply put, oftentimes, when we’re at work, or when we’re doing work, we mistake a lack of clarity, for a lack of motivation. So we’re like, “oh, I’m just not motivated to do it,”‘ and that’s really not it. It’s I don’t know what to do or how I should do it to solve this problem and then I find myself demotivated. I Don’t want to approach it. I Don’t want to touch it. I Don’t want to do anything with it and so as a result, I don’t do anything about it. And that was part of my conversation yesterday, “oh, it’s pointless. It’s pointless to keep the shed clean.” Wow, it’s pointless to keep the shed clean. Why? Wow, because the work isn’t actually going forward, there’s no progress and improvement. There’s actually just a… and it’s not that like the shed is not clean, because it would be cleaned. It’s the fact that we, I, don’t see how to make sure that the shed stays clean. I’m not clear on that. So as a result I’m demotivated to actually move forward in any of the work.
I found that a lot in the businesses, I found that a lot in the company working in different places like wow, I’m not motivated because I don’t see the goal. And I also don’t see the work of how to get me to point A to point B. You know, just thinking about it and reflecting.
Anyways, just wanted to throw that out there. So that last key point, guys, is really this. Don’t confuse a lack of clarity with a lack of motivation about your work. And sometimes if you don’t have the solution and work that you need to have in order to move forward, you’re probably doing the wrong type of work. Look at it from a different perspective. Look at it from a process perspective or technical perspective or a rhythm perspective.
Anyways guys hope y’all have a great day. and I’ll talk to y’all later. Peace