It Is My Own Responsibility to Do Good Work

It is so easy to complain and blame someone or something else.

I value taking responsibility yet I often fall short. I fail to embrace full responsibility for my work.

Common complaints:

• We have too many meetings producing little value
• I’m interrupted too often to do any deep work
• I have to do too much “paperwork” and bureaucracy
• 9-5 doesn’t work for me. I can’t produce deep work for 8 hours straight.

I often end up slightly frustrated that I don’t progress at the pace I would like to. But what I should do is make sure I eliminate these roadblocks so that I can do good work. Reject more meetings, disconnect from apps that interrupt me (mail and chat), find ways around the paperwork, and work in a way that suits me best.

Nobody is coming to save you.

The things that frustrate me aren’t put there to annoy. Nobody at my workplace decided one day to put up barriers to make it harder to do good work. The rules, procedures, and norms may have unintended consequences, but the goal wasn’t to reduce work quality or throughput.

My workplace wants me to do good work, even though it doesn’t always feel that way. But: nobody is coming to do the good work for me. It is solely my responsibility.

When I do good work, I feel good. I know what it feels like to take responsibility and produce at my best level.

But I also know I’ll be weak at times and complain instead. It is easier to just join that unproductive meeting and zone out. Much harder to take the uncomfortable discussion around meetings. I may annoy or upset people if I decline.

But I have to do it.

There is a chance nobody at work will notice I produce better work. But I’ll know. And that is what matters the most.