The "usual" suspects
"Good work" - I do not often think much about this phrase beyond the warm fuzzy feeling it gives me when a co-worker or manager commends me for a job well done. Perhaps I coded an especially elegant software solution or, more probably, completed a thorough post-incident write-up of how I helped deploy buggy code into a production application. Both of these cases fall under what I consider "usual" contexts for receiving or offering the phrase. So it was, instead, when I received these words in "unusual" contexts that I became interested in examining what the phrase really means to me...in all contexts.
The "unusual" first
The first occurrence happened after a first "in real life" (IRL) platonic meetup with Sam, aka Chengslate. Sam and I first got connected in 2020 on Instagram (IG) through a mutual friend of a friend before I moved to New Jersey, so when I say this hang session was a long time in the making, I mean it was specifically 3 years in the making. After years of "vibing" with each other's IG stories and posts through the COVID lockdown, we finally coordinated plans to meet up and skate the Astoria park. It was an incredibly windy day underneath the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, so we ended up ditching the skatepark after an hour to do some light calisthenics on some nearby park equipment. In between muscle-ups (😉😂), we got to know each other beyond cherry-picked 15-second video clips - things like motivations, goals, weaknesses - you know, core-of-the-soul-type stuff. We debriefed our session by hotboxing a Bella Fiore pre-roll, but before he turned to skate off into the park horizon, Sam said to me, "That was dope. Well done man, good work." At the time, I didn't think much of it. I agreed - if there were a Tinder for platonic hang-out sessions, we had just modeled the perfect millenial meet-cute - respectful, substantive, and with a moderate amount of physical exercise and recreational substances. Good work, indeed. *chef's kiss*🤌
“...if there were a Tinder for platonic hang-out sessions, we had just modeled the perfect millennial meet-cute...”
The "unusual" second
The second occurrence also happened after a skate session, but with a completely different friend, Jason. He and I first connected at the local kickboxing gym over our shared love of controlled violence. After more than a few sparring sessions, we connected on IG, where we discovered another mutual interest in "shredding the gnar" (skateboarding) from time to time. Unlike with Sam, Jason and I are in close geographic proximity, so logistics for meeting up are a little less involved. It was not long before we were able to link up at a local non-skate park to cruise some mellow hills. We packed in a solid 2 hours of skating and shooting the shit - I downloaded some skate tips and tricks from Jason, the more experienced skater, and we chatted about similarities in our upbringing, creative projects we had going on, and of course, boxing. Jason and I did not debrief our session with any cannabis, but once again, as we said our farewells, he distinctly said, "Great work today man!"
This time, hearing that gave me pause as I immediately recalled the very similar session and exchange I had with Sam. And just as I had that day, I wholeheartedly agreed - we did good work. After reading my detailed and biased recounts, you might even be inclined to agree with me, but when asked unprompted, "what is good work?", I would confidently bet that the image of two men in their thirties hanging out, skateboarding, and smoking weed is not the first to come to mind. So what do I consider to be the hallmarks of "good work" and how can this phrase be equally applicable to a diligently written piece of software code as to a soul-enriching skate session with friends?
Hallmarks of "good work"
When thinking about what it means to do "good work", I can identify three primary characteristics present in both professional and personal contexts - intention, effort, and real value. They are the kind of intuitive concepts that most of us know when we see, but let's dig into them anyway, since that's the intention I set for this particular piece of written work.
Intention: This refers to the purpose or goal behind the work. It's the "why" that drives what we do. Good work starts with clear and meaningful intentions. In a professional setting, the goal could be to ease a particular customer pain point or to convert potential customers by providing valuable information through media content. In a personal context, the purpose is likely to provide value for yourself and individuals close to you. Examining again my friendly skate sessions, for example, my primary intents were to strengthen promising relationships through shared physical activity and conversation and to have fun doing it!
Effort: This is the energy and focus we put into the work. It's about being fully engaged and committed to bringing an idea into reality. Good work requires effort, regardless of the task or context. This could include the physical effort of skating, the mental focus required to refactor poorly written code, the emotional intelligence to carry a meaningful conversation, or any combination of these. The one disclaimer I would add is that "effort" should not be conflated with "toil", the laborious tasks that often dissuade us from doing good work in the first place. For example, if I leverage an AI tool to produce some code that accomplishes an objective, the fact I did not manually toil through the keystrokes to produce that same code should have no bearing on the "goodness" of the resulting work. The acquired knowledge and skills to apply the technology are, in essence, the effort you put into carrying our your intention.
Real Value: This is the tangible or intangible benefit(s) that results from the work. It's the "what" that comes out of our intentions and efforts. Good work creates real value. This is the non-negotiable crux of "good work"; if you did not produce value for yourself (at the very least), and hopefully, for others involved, then all you have are good intentions and wasted effort. Fortunately, "value" is subjective and fluid enough to be realized through psychological reframing or adaptive pivots. For example, if at my job, I deploy a piece of buggy piece of code that does not accomplish the original objective, it could be considered a failure in the immediate timeframe, but I could, with some added intent and effort, reclaim some value by learning and applying lessons from the ordeal to future work. Similarly, if our original skate plans got rained out, we could easily give up and have our efforts go to waste, or alternatively, we could adapt to the given conditions and pivot to having a meaningful interaction indoors. It is often a hard pill to swallow that you can have amazing intentions and invest vast amounts of energy and focus only to be judged poorly if no value is realized, but perhaps that is why we do and absolutely should value good work in all contexts.
"...if you did not produce value for yourself (at the very least), and hopefully, for others involved, then all you have are good intentions and wasted effort."
Good work is good work is good work
If you've set a clear intention to accomplish something, make efforts toward that objective, and ultimately achieve some value for yourself and the other parties involved, then in my book, you have done "good work" - this can range from something as small as cooking a healthy and delicious meal for yourself and a loved one to epic trajectory-changing moves like starting a business. There are, of course, other attributes of the work we could include in future discussions such as scope, impact, and how you are being valued (ie. money, knowledge, warm fuzzies), but for now, let's always to take a moment to be mindful of how we set our intentions and carry out our actions to turn those intentions into real value so that we can acknowledge and celebrate the "good work" we do every day in and outside of our jobs.
Now, I'd love to hear from you. What does "good work" mean to you? How do you recognize and appreciate the "good work" you do in your own life? Share your thoughts in the comments below or shoot me a private message via the contact form, and let's continue this conversation. Have a great day, and keep manifesting Higher Self! ✨🛸