Doing The Right Work

I’ve heard from multiple sources that it’s not important that you do the work right, but whether you are doing the right work. For example, as mentioned before, Richard Hamming states that when people work with their doors closed they may be doing research but by not being open to new ideas they may not be doing the right research. This also falls under that category of working smarter not harder. If you are focusing all of your energy on doing your work right, you might be wasting all that energy if it’s not getting you where you want to go. Let’s think of this in terms of weight loss as explained by Elizabeth Benton in the book Chasing Cupcakes. If you are trying to lose weight and you focus only on working out and eating right you are doing the work right but might not be doing the right work. You need to focus on the reasons why you gained weight in the first place and work on that or else you will fall back into the same patterns again. Another way of looking at it is I may want to be a motivational speaker, and even though I’m doing the work right such as blogging all the time to develop material, I’m not doing the right work which is practicing my public speaking. I need to get comfortable with talking in front of an audience more so than working on my message. So take a look at where you are trying to improve in your life or what goals you are working on. If you are working on the right things then the path to your goals will be easier and more productive than if you are doing the work right on the wrong thing.