30/03/2022
The 5 Types of Work That Fill Your Day
Hacking work is all the rage these days, along with tips for managing email, taking notes, and running meetings. But, at a higher level, what can we learn from analyzing the different types of work we do and how we allocate our time?
First, letâs take a look at the five kinds of work we do every day:
1. Reactionary Work
In the modern age, most of our day is consumed by Reactionary Work, during which we are focused only on responding to messages and requests â emails, text messages, Facebook messages, tweets, voicemails, and the list goes on.
2. Planning Work
At other times, you need to plan how you will do your work. Planning Work includes the time spent, scheduling and prioritizing your time, developing your systems for running meetings, and refining your systems for working. By planning, you are deciding how your energy should be allocated, and you are designing your method for getting stuff done. The best workflows are highly personalized and occasionally borderline neurotic, but they keep us engaged. It may not sound sexy, but Planning Work helps you become more efficient and execute on your goals.
3. Procedural Work
Of course, there are many motions we go through every day that are neither reactionary nor strategic. Procedural Work is the administrative/maintenance stuff that we do just to keep afloat
4. Insecurity Work
Insecurity Work includes the stuff we do out of our own insecurities â obsessively looking at certain statistics related to your company, or repeatedly checking what people are saying about you or your product online, etc.
5. Problem-Solving Work
Creativity becomes most important during Problem-Solving Work. This is the work that requires our full brainpower and focus, whether it be designing a new interface, developing a new business plan, writing a thoughtful blog post, or brainstorming the features of a new product.