We’ve made it to the end but it’s the beginning.
To recap quickly:
In part one we wrote down one to three goals we want to achieve in the next twelve months.
In part two, we got underneath the thing we kept calling no time. We named the blockers to our goals and the causes sitting under them.
In part three, I shared eight ways I’ve found more time and focus in my day. I’m still practicing all eight. A few of them I lose and find again because some habits are genuinely hard to break. But when I get back to them, the time and focus return too.
In part four, we went after the work itself. Remember the Tuesday afternoon lightbulb?
If you skipped essay four, I highly recommend it.
Lightbulb moments are for everyone. We took inventory of the work, and we asked whether the work has to be done the way it has always been done and for some of it, whether it still needs to be done at all.
When we ask these questions, the lightbulb moments come to us.
Here we are in part five where we tie it all together.
We started with what we want and then found room to make it happen.
What work would you do more of if there were room for it?
What have you been wanting to learn?
What project is sitting unclaimed that you’d actually love to have?
You already have a head start on this. The goals you wrote in part one were your first answer, written before you had a plan in place. Go back and read them. Some will have changed, because you know more about your work now than you did five parts ago.
Working heart-er
We were told to work harder. Then we were told to work smarter.
My new mantra is “Work heart-er.”
Not always less hard because hard work builds something, and finishing something difficult still feels great.
Not always less smart, either. Working smarter means we are using our brain muscles to find creative ways to work more efficiently, differently. Using our brains is still a good thing and something we should continuously do.
Heart-er is about what the work is, and what it does to you while you’re doing it.
It’s the work that expands you. The kind where you look up and the time has flown by. For some people it’s work that doesn’t feel like work. For example, it’s me writing on Substack these days.
Why does this matter so much to me?
I love to work. I have, most of my career. But I worked so much that my love of work burned out.
Everything in this series is what I learned to get back to the love. Not by working less all the time. Many days, I still work plenty. Some days I work less to keep that burnout from creeping up on me again. By changing what fills the hours though, I am shaping the career and work I want.
This is the small yet transformational shift.
Find the room
You have more of it than you think, and you’ve already found most of it. It’s sitting in three places.
The work you retired. In part four we noticed what fell in the retire pile. Work that no longer needs to exist is the cleanest time you will ever reclaim, because nobody loses anything when it goes. This is the best place to start.
The work you changed. Automated, handed to AI, delegated to someone who will learn from it. Those hours still exist, they just aren’t your’s anymore.
The blockers that weren’t as true as they felt. This is part two. Go back to the ones you rated and see which ones have already shifted.
The honest part
I’m not going to end this series by telling you that you’ll only do work you love.
You won’t.
Some of what fills your week is non-negotiable, and some of it will never expand anything.
There will be months when the love of work will dim and may return. Or it fades entirely. If it fades, come back to the framework in this series to chart out your next 12 months.
The key is knowing that you are never truly stuck.
What now?
Five parts ago it was one page with a few goals on it.
Starting today, do one small action to help you move toward your goals.
The rest will follow slowly, and then noticeably.
Thank you for being here for all five parts and may you find the work that makes you want to work heart-er ❤️🔥
With gratitude,
Cristal
Founder, Clahrity | getclahrity.com