Doing The Work

Most people have a false understanding of what our work is. They think the work is the emails, and the calls, and the slack messages.

That’s not the case.

I like to think of those tasks as “the labor.” That’s the price we must pay in exchange to do the work we love. (In some cases, there is no price, as true artists bypass the labor all together).

The work is the act of sharing yourself, of expressing your views, and of contributing to the community.

For instance, it takes a lot of labor for me to manage The Copyblogger Academy. The labor requires focus and discipline. But no one signs up for The Academy because of the labor I put into it. They sign up because of the work I put into it.

The work is the generous interactions, it is the time spent connecting members to each other, and it is the thoughtful video messages and responses I give to my members.

It took me a long time to understand the difference between the two, but once it clicked … everything changed.