The Four Types of Work

I was thinking about work recently, and I realised that I can classify all the work I have ever done into four categories.

Bad work is work that you only do for money. There is no other reason. You are not getting satisfaction, or learning anything. It’s just about the benjamins.

Okay work is work that also helps you in some way. Maybe you are getting valuable experience, or meeting people, or improving your resume.

Good work is work that you enjoy doing. It’s fun or interesting, you feel it is worthwhile.

Great work is work that you would do even if you didn’t get paid. It is so inherently interesting, fulfilling, or important that it is literally its own reward.

I have experienced all four of these. The key take away is to be conscious of what type of work you are doing, or what type prospective jobs or projects are.

I have found moving up the pyramid (from bad to okay, or from okay to good) provides huge benefits in terms of quality and enjoyment of life. After fifteen years in the workforce I now find myself doing a mixture of good and great work. I have completely eliminated bad work (hopefully for good), and rarely find myself doing okay work.

How about you? What kind of work do you do?