Member-only story
What work should I do?
I spend vast parts of my day trying to decide what I should work on. I do a weekly review each week, which takes about an hour. During this time, I make a tentative plan for the week of what I will work on and when I will work on it. But, as with all plans, I must flex with the time available to me.
Meeting cancelled suddenly? …Work on the slide deck you weren’t planning to work on until tomorrow.
Emergency meeting called? … You’ll have to spend a couple of hours after work to do the work from that meeting and what you were planning to do in what was to be the one free hour of the day.
This is the dance I do multiple times every single week — and that many of us do.
And maybe more important, I have to decide what work to do. What do I agree to? What do I take on? I’ve been thinking about this topic a great deal lately, particularly as I’m talking with many mentees and employees about things they feel they did that they either weren’t compensated fairly for or that they are trying to decide if it’s worth doing when they know they won’t be compensated.
As someone who takes on contract work all the time, I know full well that until a contract is signed, I am not guaranteed to receive any money for work done outside of the parameters of a signed contract. If you choose to do work outside of the parameters…
