I was talking with my coach Ernest the other day about building and refining the team that supports Box of Crayons.  He helped me notice that I’m looking for three types of people, depending on the work that’s required.

The first type is for “out-choring” - people to do the administrative, process-driven work that can suck up time and keep you busy.  This is transactional stuff, and you want reliable and you want as low cost as possible.  I’ve just rediscovered eLance, and that’s proving a blessing.  (For instance, I use my eLance partners to manage my 200+ invitations to LinkedIn that I receive every week).

Second, people who interact with the world on your behalf and who manage processes as well being one of the voices for the brand.  These are folks whose “vibe” is important and who you can trust to speak as you would speak - if not in the exact words, then the exact tone.

And then, finally, you need people who bring their own creative magic to the mix.  We’re lucky to have a few such folk supporting Box of Crayons …

Robert, who’s designed our first flash movie and who’s hard at work on our next one about Find Your Great Work.

Kathryn and Charlotte, who are the brains (and muscle) behind our websites.  (By the way, we’ve just launched the new look of www.BoxOfCrayons.biz - what do you think?)

Ana, who’s designed our ebooks and is designing Find Your Great Work.

What makes them special?  I think two things

Solid as a rock.  They have processes and structures so they keep their promises and deliver what they said they would.

Light as a feather.  They understand your brief better than you do.  When they present their thoughts, you think:  Wow, I could never have thought of that.

Working with exceptional people like this means that I can stay focused on my own Great Work.

And, they’re wonderful training for me.  I’m now increasingly intolerant of working with people who don’t have systems that work and can’t keep that promises.  And equally, of who can only deliver to the brief without adding their own magic to the mix.

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Another useful post from Seth Godin.

Do you “have to” do the work you’re doing?

Or do you “get to” do the work you’re doing?

Seth’s point of view - and I’m waving the flag too - is that happiness (and Great Work) lies in doing more of the later and less of the former.

But how do you do that?  Here’s the real insight at the heart of the post for me:

… these people redefine what they do all day. They view the tasks as opportunities
instead of drudge work.

Because Great Work is a subjective definition, you get to ask the question:

What will it take to turn this work into Great Work?

How can I make this something I get to do, rather than something I have to do?

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Tim Ferris hasn’t coasted on the success of his book The Four Hour Work Week.

He’s a prolific blogger, and he’s often got some provocative things to say.

This is a terrific post, using the example of Dr Martin Luther King as a way of figuring out what really matters - and then having the courage to make the hard decision.  Here’s one of the things Tim says:

There are a lot of hard choices and big decisions in life. Dealing with most of them requires facing daunting — but transient — discomfort.

And here’s part of what Dr King says, should you turn away from that moment of decision:

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice.

It’s at the heart of Great Work, of course:  those constant moments of decision, do I keep going forward, do I cross the threshold, or do I turn away?

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“He was dumbfounded but learning fast.”
~ Mark Helprin, Winter’s Tale

Winter’s Tale is a lyrical all-over-the-place read which I’m really enjoying at the moment, all while holding on as best I can.

In an early chapter I came across this quote, which grabbed me.

That Great Work moment.

Stepping into a new place.  Dumbfounded.  Barely able to be sure of exactly what’s happening.

And already adapting, changing, sizing up what’s next.

=> What are you learning at the moment?

=> Is it fast learning?  Or are you meandering?

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Watch this short movie.

Wisdom on wisdom from Billy Connelly, Judy Dench, Jane Goodall, Desmond Tutu, Frank Gehry, Willy Nelson and others.

My favourite (well, one of them):

“You can’t get to Wonderful without passing through All Right.”
~Bill Withers

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