Sometimes we need a reminder to do good work. I was reading the book, The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday when one of the day’s reflections brought up this thought:
“Anne Lamott once observed that all writers are little rivers running into one lake,” all contributing to the same big project.”
Ryan Holiday
And Ryan goes onto exploring the concept of the interconnectedness of all life.
Do Good Work Reflection
For me, that brought up a different thought, what is my little river contributing? I know I am a writer and have been providing insights for this blog for months now. Helping to contribute to the river of human knowledge. But it also made me think of how else I am contributing.
Beyond just running this blog, I am an employee at a large firm, I am a spouse, a son, a neighbor, and a stranger. What am I contributing to the lake in these relationships as well? Am I providing value to my company, being a good family neighbor, and even a kind stranger to the random people I see in my day to day life? In short, I am following through with the idea of do good work?
Just like a river, the positivity we provide to people’s life can be a crystal-clear stream running into the lake, a ragging rapid of energy helping move other people along, and other times our rivers could become polluted with negativity.
Seeing what I was contributing relating to a river took something abstract (good deeds, value, and love) and turned it into a concrete example of a river.
Overall, I would say yes. But as we all know, we are human and make mistakes. I came up with these questions as part of a reflection to assess how I am doing in each area of my life.
The Little Rivers Reflection Exercise
1. What is the strength of my rivers?
How much energy is contributing to each area of your life? Different years call for different priorities and that is okay. What is important is to acknowledge where your time, energy, and strength is going. Because of opportunity cost, time spent in one place can’t be spent elsewhere. See which river is currently the strongest for you? Is it your family life, personal life, your full-time job, or a passion project? There is no need to adjust yet, just realize where you have been spending most of your time and energy.
2. Is my water clear?
Just because you might be providing a lot of energy might not mean it is positive energy. People show up to work disgruntled all the time, and sometimes people only work on side hustles because it is something, they “feel like they should be doing”.
See this guide on how to work on projects that are authentic to you!
Are you contributing positive, novel, and encouraging ideas to your rivers, or are you bogging them down with negativity? Be honest with yourself here. Sometimes most of your rivers are doing great, but one is severely lacking.
Not having clear water is especially true with people going through a personal development journey. Their career and personal relationships might be going well, but their river of self-compassion could be weak and watered down with negative thoughts like, “I am an imposter”, or “I am not trying hard enough.” Work on seeing all the areas in your life and what you are contributing.
See how to practice self-compassion here to help get that personal development water clear as well!
3. How do I want to change My Rivers?
Now that you can see where your energy and focus are going, and the kind of attitude you are approaching these situations with – what do you want to change? The answer could be nothing. Then perfect! You are already allocating your time and attitude in a way that works for you.
Most likely, you see some room for improvement or at least a shifting of priorities. Write out all the areas (or draw them all like the little rivers you have been envisioning) and then draw their transition. What would you like all your rivers to be?
As much as we all want ragging rivers that are crystal clear in every part of our life, that isn’t realistic. Recognize that as you shift your priorities, your strength of the river will shift with it. We can’t give 110% in every area of our life. We will burn-out, and there simply isn’t enough time in the day.
Allocate your time, and strength in a way that prioritizes the goals you want to accomplish.
Also, look at the clarity of the rivers. What can you do to clean them up? Maybe you hate your day job, how can you work on improving your attitude towards your work. You could start looking for other roles while still contributing, you could take on challenging projects, or you could talk to your manager about shifting your priorities to different kinds of work. You will be surprised how assessing your attitude and proactively working to make the situation better will improve your day to day life.
Main Take-Aways
- We all need to do good work.
- We all have multiple rivers that change throughout our life. What is crucial is to ask yourself which rivers matter to you at this moment in time.
- Assess your rivers, and work on improving your attitude as you see fit.
Action Item
Make forty-five minutes to run through this exercise. It will not take you this long, but blocking off the time allows you to think of all your avenues to explore. At the end of the exercise, take the rivers you drew and put them up somewhere you will see every day.
Practice changing your life to match your ideal rivers.
