What Are You Laboring On?

Hello, and Happy Labor Day to all Riskologists worldwide.

For those who may not know, Labor Day is a holiday in the U.S. where we’re supposed to celebrate the work organized laborers in our country have done over the years to improve working conditions for all of us.

Today, though, the priority is mostly to take the day off, enjoy a long weekend and, perhaps, do some barbecuing.

And there’s an unspoken rule that goes something like this: “No talking about work on Labor Day!”

It’s a fine rule—it’s important not to spend all your time talking about work. But, if you lead a busy life—one where you often get to the end of the day and ask yourself, “What, exactly did I get done today?”—perhaps today is the pefect day to ask yourself, “What have I been laboring on?”

Starting in January of this year, I did something I’d never done before. I started tracking the time I spend working on the different projects I’m involved in using a handy app called Toggl.

I plan to do a big analysis of the results at the end of the year, but I decided to take some time this weekend just to see how my hours have laid out so far. It’s been eye-opening, to say the least. Projects I consider small, side gigs have taken tremendous amounts of time (often for little return), and I’ve neglected some of my bigger ones even though I thought I was putting lots of time in. Whoops!

Already, I’ve made some commitments to change the way I work for the rest of the year to make sure some of my bigger goals are completed.

If you’ve never taken the time to sit down and actually analyze what you spend your time on, I’d urge you to do it. Taking an objective look at what you’re really doing with your life cuts away all the funny psychological tricks we play on ourselves. When the data is staring you in the face, it’s a lot harder to lie to yourself and justify poor decisions!

More important, you’ll have the information you need to make smart changes to how you spend your time and what you work on. If you have big dreams and goals for yourself, this is invaluable.

And don’t waste too much time getting started! I wish I’d done this years ago, but I’m happy I finally got around to it now. I can already see that, when I do my year-end analysis, I’m going to have some serious “Come to Jesus” moments. Big changes will need to be made.

So, enjoy your Labor Day. Lounge a bit. Maybe eat some pie. When you get a second to yourself, though, don’t forget to ponder, “What, exactly, have I been laboring on?”

P.S. One very big project I’ve spent many hours on is our new discussion forum—The Riskology Lab. It’s been hinted at for… a long time… and it’ll finally be launched on Thursday. There are some beta testers working out the kinks right now. Get ready to be one of our pioneer members. More on that later this week!