Want to Get More Done? Think Big and Act Small by Jay Harrington
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awyers work hard. It’s what they do. The good news is that hard work can be deeply satisfying. It feels good to do a job well done. Accomplishment gives us meaning. Hopefully this resonates, because it’s a feeling you’ve experienced before. But it’s not just me making this assertion about the connection between hard work and happiness—academic research backs it up. In the early 1980s, well known psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi conducted a series of studies meant to understand the psychological impact of common behaviors we engage in every day. One of the major insights of his work was to show that depth generates meaning. He found that people are actually happier doing deep work than they are relaxing. Based on his findings he concluded: “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.” Csikszentmihalyi popularized the term “flow state” that is used to describe the effortless feeling experienced by high achievers—from authors to athletes—operating at peak performance during periods of hard work. It’s called “hard” work for a reason. Any time you’re trying to learn a new skill, or attempting to build something worthwhile, it’s hard. Most of us start enjoying something only after we get good at it. And it takes practice and hard work to get good. Take playing the guitar, for example. Practicing guitar is painful (physically and emotionally) and frustrating for several months until enough work has been put in to build up calluses and learn the basics. Once someone earns their calluses and their skills improve, however, guitar starts to become fun and satisfying. Resilience is built up during the painful periods of any worthy endeavor and serves as a bridge to the other side. If you want to do something that’s satisfying, most times you have to do it when it’s not. I’m convinced that one of the reasons career dissatisfaction is so high among associate attorneys is that we don’t do a good enough job of explaining to them that things get better
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Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 197, 2022
over time as they get better and build confidence. Passion for a career is cultivated and hard won over time. Getting really good at something is the first step toward becoming passionate about it. Perhaps a young man who’s struggling wasn’t “meant” to become a lawyer in the purest sense, but he can grow and derive meaning from his career over time as his competence grows. Practice is a precursor to passion. The point is that the type of intense work that leads to high achievement is not only remunerative, it can be psychologically rewarding as well. In light of work’s holistic benefits, it therefore makes sense to work in the most productive manner possible in order to realize the greatest benefits. What follows is my take on how to get more—and more important—things done in less time. I’ll start with an overarching argument, which is that the best way to tackle something big and important is to: Minimize as many distractions as possible in order to create space and time to work intensely and consistently on one’s most important priorities. Notice that this formulation consists of three elements which can be summarized and categorized as follows: (1) minimize distractions, (2) do intense, consistent work, and (3) establish important priorities.
Minimize Distractions When he was CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates would disconnect twice a year for off-site “Think Weeks” during which he would do nothing but read and think deeply. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau headed to the woods for two years to write his master work, Walden. George Orwell fled the hustle and bustle of London and escaped to a remote house on the small island of Jura off the coast of Scotland to write 1984. He described his writing sanctuary as “extremely un-get-atable.” After his standout 2014 season, All Pro defensive lineman J.J. Watt of the NFL’s Houston Texans bought a minimalist cabin in a remote area of northern Wisconsin in order to isolate himself during the offseason while upping his training regimen.
