A Work Worth Living – A Manifesto
What it all comes back to, is a work worth living. Every decision, every change and shift, every transition of the business model, every challenge undertaken, every yes that should have been a no and every no that should have been a yes – all of them were in hopes of making a work worth living.
Because that’s what we want. A work you love that supports you towards the life you want to live. The exact specifics of what that looks like will change from person to person, and also from season to season in one person’s life. Whether you are chasing six figures, side-hustling, easing back your work load, changing what you do, you are doing the same thing – going after a work worth living.
A work worth living says no to: striving energy, guilt for whatever it is you feel guilty about this week, overriding your personal boundaries and non-negotiables, doing things you know aren’t what you want to do, toxic busy-ness and schedule stuffing, breaking your own heart.
A work worth living says yes to: making intentional effort, staying in the lane of your magic, gently navigating the emotional experience of sharing work online, doing only what is efficient, impactful and joyful, space and breaks to do what’s important to you, keeping your promises to yourself.
Creativity, Process, Belief
The three pillars of A Work Worth Living are Creativity, Process, Belief. This is what it stands upon, and they are the three things we need to keep strong in our work and businesses in order to grow and maintain our work worth living.
Creativity is what ensures you are having great ideas and making them happen. It is what keeps you interesting and engaging to your audience and keeps your work interesting and engaging to you. It’s what keeps you pushing boundaries and developing. It’s what enables to dream even bigger, and what makes you feel fulfilled.
Process is what gets things done. It is the engine. It is what makes the plans, sets the routines, creates momentum. It is what makes things flow. It is what helps to manage the emotional ups and downs while keeping things moving. It is what ensures the is time and space for what makes your work worth living.
Belief is what gives you the confidence and bravery to keep showing up. It is what enables you to enjoy what you’re making without (too much) overthinking or guilt or comparison. It is what manages and maintains a positive and happy relationship with yourself. It is what makes you carry on.
Big Picture & Day to Day
A Work Worth Living is made in two places: in your big picture and your day to day. There must be a big picture vision of where you’re going, a clarity over what you want, a certainty about what your work worth living feels like. There must be goals about what you want to have and how you want to be, clarity over the numbers it will take and the output required to hit those numbers. There has to be a sense of direction. And that direction is headed in in small steps taken every day. In action taken every day in a manageable, intentional way. In space made and rest taken and making your own priorities – because how you live your days is how you live your life.
This Is Urgent
A Work Worth Living may seem like a nice to have, something to get around to sometime in the future once you’ve got all this stuff done. But taking this approach to your work is actually integral to its success.
It means you get very clear on what you want and what that’s going to take. This makes you focused, less likely to spread yourself thinly across various should do’s because you are empowered and confident to prioritise your time and activities. You make decisions more quickly because your non-negotiables are clear. You have better, more generative ideas because your creativity is stimulated. And this is all means, you can make more money.
But you are not making more money and then collapsing in burn out, or looking around you wondering what it was all for. You are doing it while living the life you want. Whilst doing those daily walks and practices, while taking Fridays off, while indulging in your hobbies and your joys. Whilst living the balance of productivity and joy that you chose.
Because ultimately, what other point is there? Why are you doing this if not so you can look back at your life, at afternoons laughing in the sun and hours typing in cafes and the daily walks and the accomplished smiles, and think “yes - that was a work worth living”?
Where next?
To deep dive on your creativity, process and belief there is Your Beautiful Creative Process (and Process Club enrolling soon); or Mapping provides a deep dive on the big picture of what you want.
To jumpstart a work worth living in your day to day, you can get productive with Do Your Thing or Make More Time. For a gentler, lower commitment, there are also Kits and Classes.
Get signed up to my mailing list for freebies and a monthly behind the scenes insight into how I make my own worth work living.
