#75: parts of my job
an exercise in organizing work for freelancers, creatives & primary caregivers (but probably anyone)
Good evening,
Today we have our monthly writer’s note, November edition. For those new here, once a month I try to reflect on my processes as a writer, worker or caregiver. Some favorites from the archive are on designing a sabbatical, structuring research as a writer, identifying what season you are in, and investing in practice.
Someone told me they want to see more of the inside of my notebooks in these letters and I realize that the digital “notebook” I spend the most time in is actually my task manager called Things. It’s a simple to-do-list tool that lets you create “Areas” for your life, under which you put “Projects,” that are checklists of tasks you need to complete.
I send myself tasks in Things all week long (you can forward to an email address that populates an inbox or use the app shortcut). Things like emails I need to respond to, things I need to buy, things I have to think about and maybe turn into a real project, articles I want to read sooner than later, and endless administrative tasks, like tracking invoices, reaching out to people, doing research, but also, updating the diaper order, storing baby clothes that don’t fit, booking care, etc. Once a week, I spend time organizing it all.
For example, currently:
The sorting process is what is fun because I don’t just assign dates to tasks, I update my projects and areas to reflect what makes most sense for my current season of life.
How we choose to set up our digital tools is actually a wonderful opportunity to implement behavioral design moments to:
a) nudge behavior: for example, how you sort the apps on your phone’s Home Screen, which you check 5689472938423x a day, can offer gentle nudges or reminders. Some people choose affirmations; others put apps they need to remember to check more often on the front page; others put photos that remind them of a goal; and we can all stand to hide the apps we want to check less often.
b) lighten the mental load: putting recurring tasks on a calendar or to do list tool help alleviate the need to remember when to do things and also carve out time for deep work, practice and self-care in an otherwise overloaded schedule. I try to figure out how to do something once and then create a system to maintain that work easily, be it a podcast production workflow or making freezable baby food on rotation. (side note: AI is awesome for proposing such schedules if you explain your needs and constraints.)
c) solidify a story: this one is my favorite and what I’ll explain down below, but essentially, how we set things up can remind us of our “why” and that’s really important. In my case, as a freelancer/caregiver who is often juggling 10 different things with multiple steps and people at all times, I find myself often ending a week feeling like, “what did I do?” The variability can make it look like Project A got left by the wayside because Project C suddenly took up all week and Project A gives you a bigger feeling of worth and accomplishment so you spiral into feeling unproductive.
In my current season of life, I wanted to use Things to work on c).
Let’s do the exercise together. If you have time to save this for 20 minutes and a cup of tea, I encourage you to try to do the exercise for your own life as I tell you about mine.
Step 1: Designing for a question
I began with some design questions aligned with the intention to solidify a story (c) using Things.
Inciting incident: What prompted this exercise?
The other day at a check-up with a new doctor, when asked “what I do,” I said, “I’m a part-time journalist and part-time mom.”
The doctor said, “Don’t you mean full-time mom?"
It’s confusing.
On the one hand, yes, obviously. But at the same time, there is care that I can outsource (like the literal watching of my child) and there is care that only I can do, like the decision-making around my child’s care and well-being. The former could be my job, but only is on a part-time basis. The latter is my job, and it is something I want to take seriously because the stronger foundations I lay up front for systemizing decision-making, the easier it is for me to invest in my creative work on a daily basis.
Also, there are certain acts of caregiving that you just can’t outsource, period, and they are often the harder ones—the managing of emotions, the holding of very safe space, the searching for relevant resources to help navigate a tough time. For many of us, these are our jobs as much as a meeting with clients is. Not in the capitalist contractual sense but in the human contractual sense, the “hey, let’s do our best on this one,” sense. And they are always invisible.
(Note: of course how much we can outsource or systemize depends on our access to resources, which varies from person to person, but I hope this exercise can help us find clarity within our constraints.)
I realized through that conversation, though, that feeling the same sense of fulfillment in life as one gets from work isn’t easy, especially for us Type A productivity nerds. Especially in a culture that values productivity over leisure and self-care, while marketing you an endless stream of leisure and self-care products… that you use on the same devices you use for work.Motivation: What question are you trying to answer?
I want to be able to explain to myself and others what I do, and value all parts of my life equally.Design Prompt: What story do you want to solidify to yourself?
I want to solidify the story that all the work I do is as serious and important as my paid work. The point is not to just “do more” but to make room for life’s ebbs and flows with greater flexibility, while staying true to what I find most meaningful.
Pain point: What do you not want to feel after using this tool?
Like I have an endless amount of things to do that don’t add up to anything and I didn’t make a dent in anything today other than surviving.
Outcome: What do you want to feel after using this tool?
I want to feel like I got stuff done at the end of each day and that those tasks moved me toward my intended goals, whether that’s my larger paying work or my invisible care work.
Step 2: Unpacking the story
After clarifying your question, motivation, pain points, and outcome, define the story you want to tell through this design, and define the story you are trying to get away from.
Here’s mine:
The story I used to tell myself about my work:
Job = what role I play in the market.
Paid work = my work and value, enjoyable because it provides fulfillment, feedback, learning, stimulation and value.
Care work = invisible tasks, ranging from urgent and emotional to mundane and poetic. the first things to be dropped when work gets busy and the first things to interrupt work when life gets busy.
Art = a private practice dependent on energy and mood, occasionally yielding things that blur into paid work.
The story I want to tell now:
Work = productively laboring for income, an idea, or a family/community goal.
Care = ongoing, planned work to maintain and improve the well-being of my family and relationships. the foundation of everything else we do.
Art = a practice maintained regardless of mood or validation, offering solace and purpose.
Job = any set of actions that requires intentional labor and investment—paid or unpaid, creative or caregiving.
Step 3: Designing the layout
Now that we have a working definition of each part of the story, let’s design!
Whatever tool you chose, how can you make sure the story is represented in the design?
In my case, simply listing out the “projects” that comprise my “job” as one area of Things helps me remember that this.is.all.work. Again, the reason for this isn’t to quantify everything or turn all of life into a productivity high, but to create space for reflection, fulfillment and flexibility with what is currently on my plate.
Newsletter [Art/Work]: a space to build my thinking muscles in public, connect with people and build an audience for my work.
Freelance [Work]: how I make money, usually through research, writing, speaking, strategy or production projects.
Book [Art/Work]: slowly working on a manuscript that has evolved over the years and I hope to finish next year.
Reading [Art/Work]: an essential part of my work as a knowledge worker is reading, reporting and research.
Baby A [Care]: care and planning for my young dog, who is my first “baby” and still requires a lot of attention. includes things like training, enrichment and addressing behavior challenges brought on by changes to her environment. these are distinct from routine responsibilities like feeding and walking, which are shared within my household.
Baby T [Care]: care and planning for my human baby, which involves ensuring he has what he needs to thrive, whether it is age-appropriate resources (toys, clothes, food) or support for healthy development (mobility, feeding and milestones). this is distinct from caregiving tasks that can be outsourced.
Health [Care]: taking good care of my own health, especially after having a long fertility journey. includes things like being on top of doctor’s appointments, nutrition, postpartum recovery, mental healthcare etc.
Life Admin [Care]: tasks that have to be done to take care of the family, like scheduling, finances, groceries, meal prep, travel prep, friend and family plans in collaboration with my spouse.
Alumni [Care]: support for my alumni organization, for which I am a volunteer class rep. includes care for classmates and planning gatherings.
House [Care]: work to maintain a clean, stocked, comfortable home for my family, and hosting my community.
District [Care]: support for my neighborhood Buddhist community, for which I am a volunteer leader. includes 1:1 care for friends, group study and organizing gatherings.
And there we have it. A tiny little arrangement on a tiny little app on a tiny little device that tells me a story I need to hear.
I realize that this kind of visualization is highly aspirational and certainly does not play out as neatly as I have presented. But when you feel like your days are nebulous and especially your value is nebulous, visuals really help!
Not only does it help me quickly see how much room is or isn’t left on my plate when taking on new work, but it also helps me identify what I am willing and able to delegate to other people vs. what I really view as fulfilling or essential for me to do.
Most importantly, it has helped me learn that viewing work, caregiving and creative practice as three “mains” rather than a “main and two sides” allows me to enjoy my days much more. Do they all take the same amount of hours? Absolutely not. But when they have the same value, I’m able to be present and flexible with whatever I get that day. And presence and flexibility are two of the hardest things in life.
Not all of us have a life that is as flexible as this (be it out of privilege or necessity). But most of us do have a life that can be as full, crazy, well-rounded, fulfilling and varied.
And yet, we only seem to talk about our work.
Seeing yourself, naming what you do, taking a deep breath and enjoying the job at hand takes a state of mind that’s hard to maintain. I hope you know that whatever you spent your time on today matters, even if it’s hard to explain. And I hope this little exercise helps!
If you did it, where did you land? Feel free to comment, email me or chat about it all with a friend who also wants a moment to reflect.
Happy Monday,
Jihii