As workers, we flock to the most exciting projects first. On a to-do list, it’s alluring to cherrypick the items you want to work on most.
On the other end of the spectrum, you’re simultaneously inundated with “assignments.” These are the projects your boss tells you to do, which coincidentally, are always due “ASAP.” This forcing of work and the stress of the urgency, makes this type of work extremely undesirable.
So there we sit uncomfortably straddling the two extremes in the contents of our work. We juggle with our passion while maintaining a smile through work we dislike.
Unfortunately, throughout all of this, we forget about everything in the middle. There are undoubtedly smaller tasks, dependent side projects, and byproducts of all the other things that are keeping us busy.
Convincing yourself, and sometimes your boss, that the in-between is an important treasure trove of necessary projects is a talent in and of itself. The ability to see them as if they are the legs of a table will surely establish the understanding that the other work can’t stand on its own.
So treat each day like a dance. Frolic back and forth through the contents of your work, but try not to turn a blind eye to the other important stuff you pass by when you do.