Choosing the work we love

The other day I asked a quasi-rhetorical question on Twitter and Facebook:

Why is it so hard to prioritize the work I love?

Several people chimed in, and two of them offered up some interesting, almost opposing, ideas on why this happens. The great thing about this is that I think all of them are true.

On Twitter, Amna Ahmad of The Pragmatic Hybrid told me that she has a theory: "The work we love most brings anxieties about not doing it justice."

And on Facebook, Stephanie Guimond of Creative Living Experiment wrote, "It's because everything is more like play!"

To be honest, I don't know if Stephanie meant that everything else is more like play, or if she meant that the work we love feels like play and therefore doesn't feel like legitimate work. I'll ask her to clarify, but I'm actually enjoying the ambiguity of it because I think both of these perspectives are true.

In fact, all three ideas resonate with me. I think all of them play into why I put off writing and working on my dream projects.

The anxiety of not doing my calling justice, of not living up to my own standards, and to the standards the work has for me and for itself....

The feeling that everything else is easier than facing my lifework....

The convoluted problem of not believing that something is valuable if it feels like play....

Different ones hit me on different days, but mostly I think I feel all three at once. And I keep reminding myself to admit that I'm delusional and to choose what I love day after day.

What about you? What keeps you from doing the thing you love? How do you choose it again and again?

Comments

[liz]

These three pieces feel like the beginnings of a really juicy conversation. I have been thinking a lot about the idea of filling my business with work that is full of ease for me. Been thinking about what this would look like. Have been sifting through the guilt of "can making money be easy and authentic" even though I know the answer is of course "YES!" Amazing how the guilt of play and ease and rest stacks up inside me sometimes. Even though I would gently push someone else to work through it and clear it if it is an obstacle.

Thanks for these thoughts today...

[Steph]

Hm, I think upon re-reading your original FB status that I may have misinterpreted it. I thought you meant that when you're doing work you love, it's hard to prioritize which work you're going to tackle first. My response ventured that it was hard to choose because it's all so good and you want to do it all! (See how I just added a fourth scenario to your three-pronged ambiguity? : ))

But now I see that you meant something more along the lines of "Why do I put off doing work I love? Why is it so hard to make it a priority?", to which my response would be "What Amna said." I think that when we do what Michael Bungay Stanier calls our "great work" it's easy to put more pressure on ourselves to get it right and as a result, procrastinate.

I DO also love that question about the perceived value of work if it feels like play. I'm with Liz, this is a juicy conversation. : )

[Jenna McGuiggan]

Thanks for being part of the conversation, LIz.

Steph: More ambiguity! I love it! Seriously, having these different perspectives (even due to misinterpretation) is so interesting. (It's also fascinating that I misunderstood what you meant, and you misunderstood what I meant, but it all contributed to the conversation.) Thank you!