Ep. 43 - Real Work > Fake Work

Real work > fake work likely seems obvious. Clearly real work is more advantageous than fake work. But I’d bet most of us do more fake work than real work.

What do I mean? Well, let’s look at some classic fake work activities:

• Making a to-do list. This is a classic, people will spend more time preparing their to-do list than doing the tasks on the list. Put it in your calendar and then do it. No need to have multiple lists. And there is especially no need to color these lists…
• Scheduling ‘check-ins’. Is there anything to discuss? Checking in is nice, but it’s usually a waste of time. And you’ll likely head into that call with no ‘to-dos’ and leave the call with a laundry list because your manager, mentor, or the like will think they need to do something. Naive interventionism at work.
• Diving without looking. Diving into a task before looking at the big picture. Instead, take a step back and think, what can we do without? Can we automate? Can I delegate? Devise a plan, then attack. Don’t go in blind.
• Responding to emails. Of course, there are some we need to respond to, but the majority of them we do not. If there’s no direct call-to-action, then it’s left alone. They will follow-up if they forgot to include a call-to-action.
• Reviewing for the sake of reviewing. Reviewing emails, work completed, schedules, etc. Review it once, maybe twice, and then trust yourself. The rest is just a waste of time.

As you can see, if we eliminated these activities our days would be much clearer and likely less stressful.

As society settles into remote work eliminating fake activities and only focusing on real work frees up a lot of our time. If your day turns into four or five hours instead of the ‘typical’ eight hours, then great! You’re being paid for value, not time.

As an aside, if your company is not offering remote work and/or are focused on hours in the office [not value] I’d consider this a major red flag for multiple reasons. First, it may mean they don’t have the infrastructure in place, which is concerning. Second, it may be because they don’t trust their employees [even more concerning]. Or third, they want control over your time. All of these factors should be warning signs.

The 2020s will be marked by a shift into asynchronous, remote work. Focusing on real work, as opposed to fake work will create much more free time to work on side hustles, enjoy hobbies, or just have fun and relax.

Real work > Fake work.