Cathy gets it done.  Detailed oriented to the max, her work is so conscientious that some are taken aback.  Who organized the paper clips by color?

Cathy took on a job at a private school working as the IT coordinator.  It was supposed to be a 20 hour a week job, keeping the network running.

But of course more needs to be done – as it always does.  Cathy’s kids attend the school so she doesn’t mind putting in extra time.

The school has a lot of older teachers who struggle with technology.  Cathy gets it right for them.  They wanted to get students iPads.  Cathy took on the entire procurement project.  They wanted a new website design.  Cathy lead the entire project, from deciding on a design platform to writing the content.

Cathy has no background in website design.  She’s never worked as writer in her life.  She admits she’s not a confident writer and, frankly, hates it.

Yet she took on all these responsibilities, and worked on them with a perfectionist’s focus.  Her 20 hour a week job turned into 60-80, taking over mornings, evenings, and weekends.

Yes, she works so very hard, so very much.  She’s so determined to organize, she’s frequently flustered.  The many fire’s she chooses to put out flare-up endlessly.  Their distance and variables mean there’s always an emergency, always a hassle.

People admire her work ethic.  Admiration she earns.

But for all her positive work traits, Cathy lacks perhaps the most important:  rigor.

Seth Godin instructs:

Rigor is a focus on process. Paying attention to not just how you do things, but why. Rigor requires us to never use an emergency as an excuse. It is a process for the long haul, the work of a professional. 

There are far too many people who claim “work ethic” as a prize, but focus only on how they work.  It’s the person who shows-up early, stays late, but struggles to explain the value of their effort.  A hectic state of “busy” is an excuse driven by the very emergencies their overload creates.

Color coordinated paper clips don’t reflect rigor.  Nor does taking on work you know isn’t a strength, just because “nobody else will do it”.

Professionals who work with rigor may not seem as busy.  Certainly not flustered.  They have a Ted Williams swing – it looks easy, but only because the process is refined.

With more rigor during the work week, Cathy could get her weekends back.

Be exact.  Be careful.  Prioritize.

Make your worth ethic worth it.