Monday, February 22, 2016

Doing the Work You Don't Like

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We all know what work is our least favorite, the jobs of life that we most readily avoid and have to push ourselves to complete. For me, taxes, saving and submitting receipts, collecting field trip money, and a number of other detail-related routines at work and at home top the list. Fortunately most of the jobs of the life I live and the work I do, I enjoy, and for that I'm grateful.

Yet, with regard to those jobs I don't like, it's imperative to weave that work and effort into the pattern of living and working. If we don't make time for those jobs, they pile up and become a point of tremendous stress and worry. So, rather than avoid or procrastinate, it's good to get underneath those tasks by thinking through the reasons why the tasks are so onerous and figuring out how to make the jobs more doable.

So as I sit down this morning to complete a few tasks that I've procrastinated on, I'm mindful that someday in the near future, I'm going to privately list all that I avoid, and figure out a better way to complete that work. The carrot is that less avoidance will mean more time, and time is right up there with the list of life's gifts I value most. Onward!