Thank you to everyone who emailed me about last week’s Sasuga! Tips For You newsletter: How can you apply “less effort” in your work?
If you missed it, you can read it here on the Sasuga! blog or on LinkedIn articles.
One lovely lady wrote:
Thank you for explaining this concept so beautifully!
It made me wonder if it’s also about finding and leaning into those things that require less effort by you but could take others hours?
Absolutely!
When something requires little effort from us, we can mistakenly believe that it’s a breeze for others too.
But what’s easy and enjoyable for you may be tedious and time-consuming for others,
That may not be enough to convince you to immediately abandon your hard-working habits and lean into less effort though, right?
That’s because, if you’re like many of us, you were brought up being told that you have to work hard.
Perhaps you associate easy with lazy – and you don’t want to be seen as lazy!
You may have felt guilty when something was easy for you, but hard work for your colleagues?
Now, I’m not advising you to always avoid what’s difficult. After all, doing difficult things is how we step out of our comfort zones and grow.
But if you’re constantly stepping out of your comfort zone without giving yourself a chance to reenergize and without playing to your strengths, you’re going to end up in the burnout zone.
Have you ever considered that we’re often so unconsciously caught up in “what will other people think of me?” that we make our lives unnecessarily difficult and miss out on opportunities to let our true talents shine?
I’m definitely talking from experience here. I used to be constantly concerned about how others saw me. It’s only in more recent years that I’ve started to embrace
- devoting my time to work that I LOVE
- entrusting to others tasks that aren’t the best use of my time (still working on this!!!)
- taking time to rest in advance, so that it’s easier for me to do my work (because I have better energy, focus, and inspiration)
Remember: Whether something is less effort or more effort for you can also depend on the day and how you’re feeling. So listen to your body and take care of your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing to support your performance.
If you want to be more intentional about the type of work or tasks that you’re spending your time on, I encourage you to consider which “zones” you’re working in based on the fabulous book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks:
- The Zone of Incompetence
- The Zone of Competence
- The Zone of Excellence
- The Zone of Genius
You can find out more in Episode 171 of the Sasuga! Podcast, including
- What these 4 zones mean for you and me
- How to find your Zone of Genius if you don’t already know what it is
- Hints from your childhood about the best use of your time today