Coffee Thoughts
In our always-on world of social media, news, and ads, it’s easy to be caught up in a flood of stimuli.
To help us process all the inputs, we develop mental models, or a set of assumptions. They act as shortcuts to organize and interpret information.
They can even bounce incoming signals that don’t conform to our perception. In that sense, assumptions are vital to our survival in the age of information overload.
Yet there are times when they can prevent us from discovering new perspectives. That’s especially true for ideas we pick up early on in life, since we don’t always get a chance to reevaluate them.
One such idea I want to consider is this—hard work is good work.
If this statement aligns with your own mental model, you may have nodded in agreement.
Hard work is good work, but…
Is that really true?
Perhaps some of us are conditioned to think that working is meant to be hard. That only through hard work can we contribute something or help someone. That doing hard work is a sign of a professional. I’ve certainly believed this for the longest time.
But if you know where to look, there are also people out there who say that their work makes their hearts sing. That what they do for work comes naturally to them and energizes them. That they can’t get enough of it. That it makes them come alive.
You can make a living by doing what feels easy to you.
If this sounds too good to be true, you’re not alone.
Sure, we don’t often get to see the kind of people who are breezing through their jobs. But this could be happening because our assumptions reject any contradictory information.
If we believe that hard work is good work, we shut ourselves off from the evidence that could prove us wrong.
Guided Introspection
Let’s play pretend. Let’s assume that good work is easy work, that a good job is an easy job. What would that look like for you?
A job where you just talk to people all day long.
A job that’s all about keeping things tidy.
A job where you read book after book and pass on the knowledge.
A job that involves sharing what you have experienced through words or pictures.
What kind of job would be a good job for you?
What kind of job would be an easy job for you?
Take it easy,
Anna Foucault