The real work behind the work

I’ve written a blog every single day so far this year. The most efficient way for me to write is to sit down at my desk in my home office, with my swivel chair and my monitor. But sometimes (like right now) I’m sitting in my car in the cell phone lot at the airport, writing this on my phone. 

Writing on my phone is not the most efficient way to write, but this is the moment of the day that I have time. So, even though it’s not the most efficient, in the case of my schedule and lifestyle today, it’s the most effective.

Writing really isn’t about word-count or typing speed though, is it? It’s not about getting your fingers to spell the words correctly the first time, and it’s not about making no punctuation errors. Writing is about thinking. It’s about ideas. It’s about keeping the electrical current in the mind flowing from one day, to the next, to the next. 

There’s a temptation to sacrifice effectiveness in service of efficiency with our work. We want to create with the most optimal, industry-standard methods because that helps us feel like we aren’t imposters. In reality, the work behind the work is the work of the mind. This is why daily challenges are such a big deal to me. The constraint of daily creation forces you to work in less than optimal ways—while also showing you that the real work is keeping the mind active.