The Goalpost Just Won’t Stop Moving

musings on feeling satisfied with a job well done

Oct 04, 2023

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You can listen to an audio version of this newsletter above. Please note that this is unedited, there are some natural stumbles, and I’m recording in my home office. I still hope you enjoy!

Things Of Note

I’m collecting questions for my monthly Q&A on a rolling basis. You can submit your questions via this link or by email to kate@katehenry.com.
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foggy field with sign and walking path — Photo by Evelyn Mostrom on Unsplash

When I reviewed my values last month, satisfaction popped up on my list of things that matter the most to me. Satisfaction feels like a combination of other values: peace, contentedness, maybe even knowledge or beauty. When I’m satisfied, I feel like my needs are met, that my experience has been positive overall, and that I can take time to revel in said satisfaction before I move on calmly to the next thing on my docket. In an effort to make good memories I can store away in my pocket for a rainy day, I wonder how I can increase my satisfaction.

This is not to suggest that I lack satisfaction. I feel satisfied a lot in my life:

By food and drinks—a serving of crisp pickled vegetables or a spicy-sweet turmeric and coconut milk latte can make my whole day.
When I connect with my friends on phone dates, curled up on the couch under a blanket and sharing what’s on our minds and our hearts.
After a yoga class where I paced myself, exploring my capacity and expanding my connection to asana and philosophy.
When I listen to a podcast that draws a witty connection between two ideas I never thought to put in conversation, teaching me a new framework for experiencing the world.

When I’m eating something delicious, I savor it. When I finish off the last crunchy pickle or drink my last drop of latte, I feel gratitude, and as time passes, even nostalgia (there’s a labneh ice cream sprinkled with olive oil and chunks of sea salt at a local restaurant that I regularly daydream about).

But while it’s easy to write a list of things that satisfy me outside of my work, when I think about productivity—the thing I research, coach, and practice—it gets murkier. I wondered as I drafted this post, “How much is my satisfaction with productivity tied to external approval?”

When it comes to research, I often feel satisfied when I’ve written a good post or booked a new client. Depending on the task, I mark my satisfaction by checking off the task in my bullet journal. For bigger accomplishments, I may order takeout or buy myself a mug or piece of clothing to commemorate my success.

However, my satisfaction with completing a work task quickly wears off and gives way to anticipation about the next goalpost I need to hit. It would be easy to chalk my apprehension up to having an addictive personality, imposter syndrome, or recovering from a scarcity mindset. While those things may be true to my experience, I’m curious if the pressure I feel is top-down.

In other words, is my difficulty with holding onto work satisfaction a byproduct of productivity culture?

Person holding book over their face in front of brick wall — Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

I did a quick Google search to see what folks are writing about satisfaction and productivity generally. The first page of hits suggested that productivity correlates with employee satisfaction (“a happy worker is a productive worker”). According to places like Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, employees thrive when they feel personally connected to their work and supported by their managers.

I run a small business where I work with individuals, groups, organizations, and universities. Outside of scheduled meetings, I do all of my work at home on my own schedule, so the research on managerial support doesn’t truly fit my experience. Also, I’m not actually trying to increase productivity—I’m happy with my current output levels.

So where do I fit in this spectrum of work and satisfaction? Our worth is not determined by the quality or quantity of our productivity; yet, it would be naive to suggest that our productivity is unrelated to satisfaction. In next week’s post, I’ll share more about what I discovered when I dug a little deeper into the field of folks like me who left academia in search of satisfaction with their careers.

Share Tending with Dr. Kate Henry

Curiosities

This section of my letters is for things that made me say “hmmm” or “wow!” recently.

Loleen Berdahl
’s post “how to contain the realities of your limited work time” on Academia Made Easier. I loved Berdahl’s thought experiment for budgeting time for different projects each week and appreciate that she suggested saving time for things that might come up. For folks who live with chronic health conditions, reserving blank space in your week offers you buffer room if you have a flare day or find that particular tasks feel less accessible on a certain day.
If Books Could Kill’s most recent podcast episode on Tim Ferris’s The 4-Hour Workweek. I’ve steered clear of this book because I suspected it would be inaccessible and offer unrealistic or problematic suggestions. Thankfully, the guys at If Books Could Kill reviewed it and I discovered that my suspicion was on point! Apparently one of Ferris’s key arguments is that we should outsource labor to the people who will do it for the smallest amount of money, which enrages me. Many productivity tools praise delegation, which of course frees up time for the delegator, but suggesting we get rich by exploiting others is terrible. No offense if you’ve read it and found it helpful, but if you don’t want to read it and want to hear a good critique, check out the IBCK episode.
I’ll leave you with a fun curiosity: I am really into dried apricots right now. I picked some up from a local food co-op store when I was dog-sitting a couple weeks ago and I’ve been eating them in a tiny bowl after my meals. Delicious!