What kind of work are you doing? Not the tasks themselves, but the quality or nature of your work? Are you doing good work? Not so good work? Bad work, even? Or are you amping up the meaning of what you’re doing so that it becomes Great Work?
The book being featured this month as a self-help book summary for members at PersonalGrowthPrincess.com is Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier. In this, his latest book, Michael sets out a course, or a path, to identifying what your Great Work might be.
Great Work is meaningful work. It is work that you know makes a difference and it makes you feel good – maybe even proud – to be doing it. It “inspires, stretches, and provokes” you. In short, it is work that matters – to you, first and foremost, and ultimately to others (even if they are oblivious to the work you’re doing, or of the need for it). When you are doing Great Work, you feel fully engaged, like you are “in the flow”.
But Great Work also brings with it paradoxes. It often has the quality of uncertainty and discomfort along with the thrill and flow. It is frequently new and challenging (discomfort) and may have possible risks (uncertainty). But this is also what drives innovation and evolution.
Everyone is capable of Great Work, but the 6 Great Work Paradoxes explain why it’s easy to be ambivalent about doing it – as well as why it’s hard to stick with it.
#1 – You don’t need to save the world…and…you DO need to make a difference.
You may have a grand vision or powerful purpose, but you don’t need to be a martyr, give up your friends, quit your job, embrace poverty, etc. in order to do Great Work. You also don’t have to attempt to save the entire world or solve all its problems. Sometimes changes on a small scale can make the biggest difference.
The desire to do Great Work is simply a call to do more meaningful work. It can be very simple or subtle. The point is that if/when you feel called to do something meaningful, you design your life so that you can.
#2 – Great Work is private…and…Great Work can be public.
Doing Great Work isn’t about getting recognition or winning awards – though that can certainly be a by-product. If you’re doing the work for the accolades, you can pretty uch be assured it’s not going to be Great. According to Michael, “because it is a subjective matter – Great Work is what is meaningful for you”. Often the reward or recognition is a private, internal one. YOU will know you’ve done something that matters. Others may or may not know it.
#3 – Great Work is needed…and…Great Work isn’t wanted.
The desire to do Great Work often comes from a personal sense of “I must change this.” Maybe it’s changing the status quo, maybe you just can’t stand by and watch the way something is being managed. Maybe the cost of tolerating something has become too great. Michael says that “Great Work shows up at the intersection where what needs to change in your world meets what’s important to you”.
The paradox is that sometimes Great Work is not wanted. You might be rocking the boat. Sometimes people doing Good Work feel threatened by someone doing Great Work. It can be a challenge, but because it is needed, you need to step up. (I remember being asked by a former boss to start doing things more half-way because I was making everyone else look bad. Shocking, yes? And clearly a sign that Great Work isn’t always celebrated by others.)
#4 – Great Work is easy…and…Great Work is difficult.
The ever annoying paradox. Many times when you are doing Great Work you’re in flow. You lose track of time, things come together as if by magic. But, lest you think it’s all wine and roses, Great Work can also be a grind. There’s a fair amount of discipline involved – you have to keep at it even when the flow is dammed up. It means dealing with things not working, with other people’s negativity, and all the other tests that life puts you through. (In the book, or in the book summary, you will learn about ways to manage this.)
#5 – Great Work is about doing what’s meaningful…and…Great Work isn’t about doing it well.
Great Work, by definition, is new and uncharted territory. You haven’t done it before, at least not at this level of meaningfulness. That means it won’t be perfect. But it isn’t expected to be. The impact you have, or the meaning the work has, is far more important than whether it is delivered perfectly. In order to do great work, you have to get comfortable with making mistakes,
#6 – Great Work can take a moment…and…Great Work can take a lifetime.
Sometimes great work happens in a single moment – a moment of you being at your best, a singular moment of impact. It can also be what looks like a single moment that is really the culmination of years of dedication that coalesces in that one beautiful moment. It can also be a life-long project, something that develops over time. Remember that Great Work can be difficult, so not every moment along the project will feel great, but what it all adds up to is Great.
If you’ve ever done work, or tried to do work, that is extremely meaningful to you, you have no doubt run up against one or more of these paradoxes.
How did you handle it? How did it stretch you and help you to grow?
Leave a comment below and let us know. Maybe sharing your experience here will help someone else…now that would be Great Work.
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Thanks for setting the book up so gracefully, Nina – I’ll look forward to hearing any insights, questions, actions that coming out of this month’s study.