A Slice of Workday Pie

I don't know about you but I spend a lot of time at work, over half my waking day (which means most of my conscious life) at my job.  What we do for our work is part of God's plan for us.  Our work helps us move through life as beings created in His Image.  So what we do for a living, and even more importantly, how we do it, really matters.  I've been thinking a lot about my work these days and trying to decide the best way for me to do my work well.  Here are some activities I want to make sure I am doing every day to become better at my job: 

Learning
I've found I need to spend regular and intentional time learning, whether that's through traditional educational pathways (like college or trade school) or through books, articles, videos, social, or other online content.  (I've been amazed at what's available from a variety of teachers who share what they know online for free).  I  also learn from spending time in community with others in my profession.  This can be facilitated by attending seminars and trade shows or just going out to lunch with a colleague. There are many ways to learn and regardless of your learning style, time spent on education is time well spent.

Planning
I do pretty a pretty good job of improvising or "thinking on my feet," but I find I'm at my best when I have a plan for the day, the week, the month.  First, because it helps me prioritize the things that matter most.  In the whirlwind of a busy day, I can quickly find myself doing a lot of good things, but not always the best things.  Carving out the first 15-20 minutes of my day to determine the most productive route can make all the difference.  Second, planning my day helps me measure my progress.  I feel better when I know I am productive.  If I don't have a clearly defined plan, it's possible that I will end my day without a feeling a strong sense of accomplishment.

Doing
OK, this sounds funny, but I know a lot of people who don't actually do much work.  Do you work with anyone like this? Sometimes these people "delegate" work using their persuasive personality, or they play the "I don't understand this, can you help me?" sympathy card and someone else ends up handling it.  I had a mentor call that activity, "shuckin', jivin',and high-fivin'?"  You know, I've found that some people actually enjoy figuring out how to do as little as possible and get paid for it.  If you've seen the movie "Office Space," you've watched the main character try "to live out his dream of doing nothing" in a pretty funny way!  But the truth is, I believe most people really want to do good work.

Doing the work is a great place to spend most of your time. The work is where the rubber meets the road, where promises are fulfilled, and where what's on paper becomes reality.  Doing the work is where I gain the deepest understanding of my vocation.  The work is where I get to serve others.  My personality makes me prone to want to sit down for a coffee with a colleague to theorize and dream and pontificate, but doing the work is where I find I get the most satisfaction.  It just feels good.  However, like any of the other areas "doing" too much can pull you way off track.  In fact, I would say that overdoing leads to decay.  If you're working too much to keep learning, you're working yourself right out of a job.

Evaluating and Improving
After I've gotten the work done, I should evaluate it.  Was the customer happy?  Was the company happy?  Am I happy with the outcome?  If I'm working within the context of a team, a retrospective session after a project is a great way to figure out which things could have been done differently and which things should be repeated.  In our frantically paced workplace, evaluation is often overlooked to get on to the next project.  Of course, without evaluation, it is pretty difficult to improve, at least not improve proactively or reliably.  And who doesn't want or need to improve?

Sharing
I think we have a moral imperative to share with others, to a degree, the things we've learned.  The open-source movement will attest to this.  I would bet that just about every one of us uses and benefits daily from a service or product that someone gave away for free.  How you choose to share what you've learned is largely up to you.  There's a myriad of ways:  blogging, social media groups, You-Tube videos, pubic speaking, writing books and trade articles, or even mentoring an inexperienced co-worker.  All of these activities add value - and not just to other people - but to yourself.  You want to really learn a subject?  Just commit to teach, write, or lecture about it.

Innovating
This is time spent dreaming about something new and different and better for your industry or your company.  This is one of my favorite parts of work.  There have been times in my career where I've been paid to do a lot of this and that was pretty cool.   But honestly, even if innovation is not part of your job description, do it anyway. You have something to add, a unique perspective, and a wonderfully creative mind.  No one looks at problems and opportunities in the exact way you do.

I'm sure there are some things I've missed, but hopefully these areas cover most of the high-level activities I do at work.  The trick is making sure I give time to these activities in the appropriate measure.  I think our natural tendency is to give our time to those areas we like doing the most, which is great, but is can be problematic.  It's a pretty basic concept, but one I think it's worth stating, that time for work is finite and if I'm spending all my time planning, I won't have enough time left to do the work.  Likewise, if I spend all my available time doing the work, I have no time to innovate, plan, etc.  I thought I would make a chart of where I think I should be spending my time.  It's not done yet, but this is my best guess for my workday in a good ol' pie chart:


I'm sure the size of the pieces of my workday pie will changeover time and in various vocational seasons, but I think that regardless of their size, none of the pieces should ever go away completely.