How Are You Working?

It’s week 19 of 2023.

Yes, 36% of the year has gone already. Can you believe it?

Time flies when you’re having fun. Hopefully, that’s the case for you.

One of our greatest challenges is embracing the awareness gap.

In work—and life—we often become absorbed in what we are doing. We become almost robotic with habits and activities consuming our time and attention.

Often unwittingly, we become complicit in a life of repetition.

Although this might meet our quest for consistency, it can also lead to one of the most dangerous phrases ever spoken.

“We do this way because we’ve always done this way.”

The awareness gap brings into being this concept that Michael Gerber talks about in his book, the E-Myth, “Work ON it, not just IN it”.

19 weeks ago, you may have set out with some goals you wanted to do. These are the positive decisions we make to help us improve our lives. But, when did you last pause and reflect on the actions you put in place to achieve those goals?

Have you become so consumed with working IN it, you’ve forgotten to work ON it?

The awareness gap is the space between working IN something and working ON something. Whatever your goal is, are you working on and in your goals?

Consistency without reflection is a pathway to mediocracy.

Likewise, reflection without action is just a dream.

When you bridge the awareness gap, you create progress. You see, progress takes us forward—not just in motion but also in development. Of course, this construct of achievement extends far beyond goals. It embodies entrepreneurial progress, and it brings decision progress too.

Progress embodies a process that takes action and the feedback that follows into learnings before repeating the loop. Elon Musk embraces this in the way he makes decisions. He works IN it but also works ON it. He takes action but also reflects on it before repeating with improvements.

So, 19 weeks into the year, I'm sure you've been working IN it, but have you made time to work ON it?

‍

‍