Where Do You Spend Your Time?

You can double your income doing the work you love just by knowing where you spend your time.

I’m about to introduce you to a framework you can use to weed out the boring work you do and start doing the things you find fulfilling: the things that you enjoy the most and that make you the most money.

As a result of resigning from a job that I didn’t enjoy in 2019 to pursue my career in a different direction, which got partly messed up by COVID, I had to accept more work that I didn’t enjoy.

So it was a move from (more) work I didn't like but paid me well to (more) work I don't like and paying me less. Kind of frustrating right?

My previous job paid me well, but the fulfillment was quite low. Therefore, I don’t regret a thing about my decision.

Now I’m in the process of fixing things. I drafted this earning-fulfillment matrix for my current work portfolio.

I currently do all four types of work. The percentages are partially accurate.

Only about 10% of my work is in the fulfilling and well-paid category: the green quadrant.

Low earning-less fulfilling work: red?quadrant

This type of work consumes way too much of my time.

The sad thing about most people in jobs is that their work is all in the red quadrant: less fulfilling, less paid work.

Let’s fix it for the new year.

Here’s what I will do after categorizing my work into different quadrants. I should completely get rid of the work in the red quadrant. It’s straightforward right?

For those who do jobs, completely omitting the work in the red quadrant would look quite extreme. For you, instead of getting rid of this red quadrant work, plan to reduce the time you spend on them.

If you don’t enjoy your full-time job, for god sake, find another. There’re plenty of jobs in the market. It’s 10 times easier to land a new job for someone who already has a job.

Small and medium business owners are confined to this red quadrant for many years. Founders of most startups spend most of their time on activities that add little value, slowing down growth.

High earning-less fulfilling work: orange?quadrant

There is work I do that is less fulfilling yet the earnings and the earning potential are high.

Should I stop them?

Yes, if I can’t outsource the tasks.?

However, if you know something that makes money, though you’re not satisfied with the work, outsource it. There might be better people for the job.

Low earning-high fulfilling work: Yellow?quadrant

I do a lot of work that falls into the yellow category: fulfilling work that does not get paid. I need to move some of these tasks into paid work. Content creation is one of these tasks.?

I continue doing that because I enjoy it and the future potential is high.

High earning-high fulfilling work: green?quadrant

As you can see, the objective of the whole exercise is to find more fulfilling and well-paid tasks in our work portfolio and spend more time on them.

Identifying those tasks and doubling down on them would be a powerful exercise. No matter if you're employed or running your own business, it will double your income.

Take a pen and a paper and write down all the work you carry out. Then draw the matrix and categorize the work into the four quadrants.?

Think about how you can partially or fully eliminate the work under the red quadrant.?

Plan and act!