Important Work
Are you doing important work?
We often think about the benefits of “doing important work” relating to our impact on the world—“making a dent”— and feeling proud of what we do.
I think those benefits overshadow an even more important and immediate benefit.
When you believe you are doing important work, it becomes much easier to do great work.
Belief in the substance of what you do each day has a material impact— not just on a company’s long-term success— but on simple day-to-day tasks.
Take a look at the first-ever job posting by Jeff Bezos for what would become Amazon.
It’s obvious in this posting that he believed in the work he was doing and that he knew it would matter. And it’s clear from this post that he would attract others with a similar mindset. Recruiting was much easier and more natural for him because of his belief.
Belief is the oil that greases the engine of day-to-day success. With belief, everything goes more smoothly. Everything from hiring to management to communication to sales…. becomes easier.
With all of our day-to-day challenges and competing priorities, sometimes the idea of “making a dent in the universe” can feel frivolous.
But I have seen firsthand that this belief is more than a “nice to have” …it is what makes great work possible.