We have a unique relationship with the idea of work. At times we love it, and at times we hate it. Some of us have horrible jobs, others like our jobs, a few of us have our dream positions. Still, why do we have such extremes towards our jobs? Simple, no matter how much we love or hate our job, each one has duties we hate. A small percentage of things we must do to continue to do what we love. We must do the portion of “negative work” to return to the “constructive work” we love.
Negative work is the work we have to do to keep catastrophe at bay. Work that produces no tangible effects unless we choose to ignore the work, and that’s when things blow up out of proportion. For example, some jobs require documentation that no one will ever read. Still, if the documentation is not complete, it creates a catastrophe when an issue occurs. Nothing is checked off of our To-Do List, but the work must be complete.
That’s an example of negative work required by any job. Fortunately, we find encouragement in knowing that managing the negative work allows us to do the constructive work we love. It’s the price we must pay to do what we love.
Constructive work then is when we proactively do things that lead to positive, tangible results. We are checking things off of our To-Do list. Others feel our positive work’s impact. Looking back, we can see the completion of our work and feel good at our progress. This type of work is the work we all live for but do not always see.
In reality, the negative work is going to come. We will see it at the worst times. Points when we are doing our best constructive work, and then it’s interrupted by the negative work requirements. Be encouraged, though, remember that negative work is the price we must pay to do the work we love. However, when we spend more time doing negative work than constructive work, we should consider a change. Otherwise, we’d be wise to accept the tasks we don’t enjoy from any job because no job is perfect. Therefore, let’s pay the negative price to make a constructive difference through our work!
