There are a lot of people out there who are unhappy in their work. The bemoan that they have missed their purpose, that nobody understands how creative they are, that their talents are overlooked. Now, there certainly are people in shitty jobs, where there is minuscule chance of satisfaction, promotion or joy. But I suspect that at least half the people who hate their jobs have one thing in common: they’re not very good at it. Pay attention – this could be you. For a while, it was certainly me.
Now, I’m not saying you’re lazy. You could be doing a lot of things, you might just not be doing them very well.
Apart from Deep Work, Cal Newport wrote another important book: So Good They Can’t Ignore You. Whilst you may initially think of this as a book about success, it is really about a more important issue – life satisfaction. He makes the very important point that following your passion is often a terrible idea, especially when that passion is an idealized version of something you are not actually very good at. This is why you should not quit your job as a civil engineer to open a Crossfit box.
When you think about it, when do you find something fulfilling and enjoyable? If you like chess, you may spend time occasionally playing a friend at about the same level, or sparring against a computer at a low setting. But if you could only play Grandmasters, your enthusiasm would quickly wane, because your ass would be kicked up and down the board, continually. (I recently found this out when I played a new chess program on my computer with Stockfish set to the highest level. It was carnage.) You would be so outclassed that you probably wouldn’t even achieve any real progress.
On the other hand, the things you are really good at usually turn out to be pretty fun, but only if you do them at the right level. Playing chess against your three-year-old will get boring fast (unless she’s some kind of prodigy). Playing against someone slightly better than you is much better, and the occasional win keeps you coming back for more. But staying at that level is not satisfying, especially when you see the magnificent games other people are playing…
What I’m saying is that your job could get more enjoyable by you getting better at it. Don’t try to be the best there’s ever been: that’s an external and discouraging focus. Pick small challenges. Improve in little ways (this is where flow’s challenge/skills balance comes in). I increased my own job satisfaction by, for instance, learning to type properly and quickly, and by learning enough coding to automate some onerous tasks that I had to repeat again and again. People start noticing your increased proficiency, you start taking some pride in your work, and little by little, satisfaction increases. Small wins accumulate. Soon, you’re ready for bigger shifts…
On the other hand, sometimes you’re not successful at what you’re doing because you’re doing completely the wrong thing. That is a much more complex topic, which we will leave for later.
The Flow Diaries 