by Jared Goralnick
I’m unhappy when I’m not doing something challenging. I get restless, and checking things off my task list just isn’t enough.
So I can’t help myself–I’ll take on something big, even if it’s “out of scope” from regular work. But time and again, the value I get from that effort is so much greater than 100 little projects.
When I look back at what’s been really meaningful for me, it’s been cases where I went all out. Sometimes it was a few extra hours on a task that could’ve taken a half hour. Others it was writing an eBook or a content site instead of a simple blog post. Perhaps it was even turning AwayFind from a hobby into a product, team, and business.
This isn’t a prescription to "go big or go home." There’s a balance, and a point of diminishing returns for all of our activities. It’s just that, for me at least, the reward from creating something that takes the extra work far outweighs the effort.
This may all seem obvious, but I’m sharing this now for two reasons:
- Perhaps not everyone thinks this way. I’m genuinely curious—a lot of people would prefer to take on challenges with less risk-reward involved, but have they seen just what kind of reward is at stake, even if it’s just personal fulfillment?
- To talk myself into creating more. I feel that I can offer much more value than I’m doing now, and getting started again here is likely the first step for many of the creative projects I’m interested in.
That first step is tough, for me as much as for you. But I’m taking it here as I want to create more. Do you want to create more, to do something big? What’s your first step?
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