I’ve had time this week. And when I get time, I think. Sometimes about interesting questions, like the one above. Sometimes about nonsense.
But one of the things I came across this week is a new way to structure your work life. New to me at least. I picked up the idea from reading old Sebastian Marshall blog posts.
You can divide your work into three parts.
1) Commercial.
2) Creative.
3) Charity.
Commercial work is where you leverage skills that are valuable to others. Meaning, you help other people get more money, influence and effectiveness. The important point about commercial work is this. You should earn enough to subsidise the other types of work.
Creative work is where you focus on what is meaningful and fulfilling for you. If you can subsidise this with your commercial work, you are able to create with more honesty and integrity. Your creative work won’t be tainted by the need for money. Which makes it easier to go for truth, rather than praise and popularity.
Charity work is what you care deeply about. Again, it’s subsidised by your commercial work. The way to discover your charity work is to ask questions like:
– What do I care deeply about?
– What will be an important issue for the next generation?
– What advantage do I have that more people should have/know about?
– What organisations are doing socially impactful work?
The most important thing about this structure, and what makes it so hard to pull off is the commercial work. For the commercial work to subsidise and give you the freedom to do creative and charity work, you need to be really good. Typically, you need to create enough value that you can afford to work for just 20 to 30 hours. That’s hard. But not impossible.
And the benefits if you can do it are clear. You’d have the pride from being able to put a ceiling on your commercial work and create a lot of value for others. You’d be able to do fulfilling, creative work. And you’d be able to help the world become a better place.
That’s the trifecta.
Swell & Cut 