How to Do Great Work in Uncertain Times
Doing Great Work can be challenging at the best of times.
Great Work requires overcoming procrastination, staying in aligned action, and avoiding perfectionism, all while protecting our health and happiness.
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That’s hard all by itself. 👀
Add to that shifting politics, global unrest, and Artificial Intelligence’s hope-panic-free-fall-into-the-future, and it can feel very reasonable to put things on hold until things “get back to normal.”
But haven’t we been waiting for “normal” to return since 2020?
Therapists, coaches, and even people who perform bodywork, such as Reiki, personal training, and physical therapy, still see patients online.
Companies have announced official policies heralding “The return to in-person work!” followed by frustration as workers keep working from home.
Schools try to tighten attendance policies, but families keep pulling their kids from school without concern. “They can watch the videos when they get back.”
Meanwhile, many historical patterns are breaking.
A bank collapses, but the economy doesn’t slip into a recession.
Resourced kids with the best educations aren’t necessarily the workers you want to hire for entry-level jobs.
A man with a felony conviction is tied in the race for the American presidency against a black woman.
These are unexpected times.
(Note: Whatever undercurrent you pick up on, I’m not making the case that any of this is “good” or “bad.” Instead, I’m arguing that since everything is up in the air, radical uncertainty is the only certainty.)
Lots of people are struggling to get their sea legs in the new, non-normal
How do I make choices when everything keeps shifting?
Do I invest in my business, write a book, change jobs, renovate my kitchen, or take the leap NOW?
Or do I wait until things go back to normal?
History tells us that this uncertainty is likely here for the foreseeable future. Now, I’m not a historian, nor am I an economist, nor am I even a sociologist! Instead, I’m a cognitive psychologist interested in how change unfolds at the personal, organizational, and societal levels.
Most of all, I am fascinated by how the human story unfolds at the intersection of all three levels.
I’ve become convinced that the uncertainty we are now facing is similar to other times when our species has onboarded an “efficiency innovation.”
(An efficiency innovation takes something that was once rare, scarce, and controllable and makes it widely available.)
One could (and I do) describe the story of human innovation as a series of epic fall-outs following the invention of efficiency innovations.
Think about the printing press. It was invented, and suddenly, the Vatican lost control of information. Before you knew it, Martin Luther was speaking logic directly to the people, the Vatican’s “absolution” income had tanked, and Henry VIII was divorced.
The same long-term upheaval followed the advent of the factory line, radio and TV, the internet, and now, generative AI.
So, settle in, my friends.
So, what are our options if this absence of normal is the new normal?
As I see it, there are two keys.
1. Get clarity on what doesn’t shift and change all the time: You.
Who are you?
What do you like?
What do you believe?
Who do you fight for?
How do you like to act in the world?
What is your Great Work (ie, the work that calls to you from the inside).
In my book Great Work, I call this knowledge “self-expertise,” and it’s a great comfort when the world around you is shape-shifting.
2. Build the skills of uncertainty by doing Great Work.
In the past, we could tell our children to become informed about difficult things and work hard, and they would be fine.
Now, as software engineers worldwide can tell you, that formula is under attack.
Knowing things isn’t rare (Hey, Siri: What’s the square root of 47?), and a robot, automation, or the dreaded “do-it-yourself” phone tree/checkout/website has replaced much of the “hard work” that we’ve traditionally used as a foot in the door.
So, what still sets humans apart from our innovations?
Great Work. (I know, I’m such a broken record!)
Great Work involves the creative expression, heartfelt support, and problem-focused experimentation that humans need to drive.
Think about the art AI can now create: you can ask it to make you a bunny playing Just Dance in the style of Monet.
But AI can’t discover a new way to capture light.
Monet had to do that.
AI can summarize your book in Hemingway’s style.
But it can’t propose a new kind of prose; it requires Hemingway to learn from.
Humans are here to create, collaborate, learn new ways to communicate, and solve wicked problems. They are here to do their Great Work.
And by humans, I mean you (and me).
If you are ready to move forward with your Great Work before the world returns to normal, I’d love for you to join me for a free online event this month.
