Not all work is created equal. Some of what fills your days is gold: high-value work that directly drives results. The rest falls along a spectrum, from full-on “fake work” to lower-leverage work that feels productive but simply isn’t as valuable. Today, Joel and Marissa get into how to pan for gold as they turn to the second consideration of the Priority Filter: ROI. They unpack what it looks like to weigh ROI at work and at home, and why a results-oriented mindset can help you cut back the activities that have overgrown your days. You can get the same (or better!) results in less time, but only if you know which results matter and how to achieve them most effectively. With that lens, prioritizing becomes a lot simpler.
Key Takeaways
- You’re Paid for Outcomes. The doings that fill your days—meetings, emails, reports, and feedback—are activities. Your organization isn’t paying you for those finished tasks, no matter how hard you worked. You’re paid to create results: outcomes like customer satisfaction, conversion, and trust.
- Clarify Which Results You Own. Unless you’re in sales or marketing, the results you own might not be obvious. That means your first step is to figure out what a win looks like for your role. This might involve evaluating your job description, talking with your boss, or doing some deeper digging with the help of AI.
- Know What’s Most Important. You might have some obviously unimportant work in your role. But many things on your list likely add real value. The key: they don’t add equal value. Your job is to rank your work and spend your valuable time and skill on what’s most important.
- Low Leverage Can Feel Productive. Lower-leverage work can feel as responsible and productive as higher-leverage work. You’re solving problems—just ones that matter less. Give maintenance work its minimum viable dose; automate what you can. Investing less in low-leverage work frees you to invest more in high-leverage work.
- Find Your Personal ROI. The same principle applies at home. Most of us don’t slow down long enough to ask what we’re optimizing for right now—whether that’s health, connection, or peace. Get clear on the result you want, then choose what delivers it. Building a life you love living requires intention.
Resources
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- Take the Assessment: fullfocus.co/ws
- BS Jobs by David Graeber
- Fake Work by Brent Peterson and Gaylan Nielson
- Everything Is Obvious by Duncan Watts
This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound
