"The worst thing you can do is to do great things."
"The worst thing you can do is to do great things."
🤔
Someone said this to me in one of my interviews for the Happy Lawyer. Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?
I remember noticing as a junior lawyer that the one true reward for good work was more work. At some point we have enough work. Then we have more than enough work. Then we have way too much work.
😬
But of course, we have built an identity for ourselves as someone who does good work.
Great work even.
🌟
So even though we know we already have way too much work, we still do our best to do good/great work. It's a cycle that's really hard to break out of.
The statement starts to make a lot more sense doesn't it? From the perspective of someone who only wants to put out great work and who doesn't yet know how to turn down work, then maybe it's actually true - that the worst thing you can do is to do great things.
Of course, doing great things is pretty damn satisfying. 😊 Are we sure we want to stop?
🤔
There's another option - setting boundaries.
It's not always easy, but taking a look at what boundaries you're setting (and not setting) is always worth it. I've noticed when working with people that there are often places where they could be drawing boundaries (or not) that they're not even aware of. So awareness is the first step.
Then with a full picture, you can make an informed decision about whether you want to do great work or not.
Personally, I vote yes.
...
I just wrote and reread this. Interestingly, it comes off as a bit preachier than a lot of my stuff where I'm more curious and less sure of the answer. I guess that's because the more lawyers I talk to, the more I see happy lawyers doing great work. I just really think that doing great work is a part of being happy for people like us.
I could be wrong. But I don't think so. 😁🤷♂️
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