Passive vs Active Work and Why Each Matters

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome back. I know things have been kind of all over the place this month, but hey, you're not here for normal. If you wanted that, there are a ton of other blogs out there that'll deliver. Ha! One thing you won't get here are pre-written blog posts created by anyone, or thing, other than me. Despite my interest in AI and what it can offer writers, I prefer to tickle the keys and bring you my winning personality. :)

All that being said, today, we're diving into the differences between active and passive work and why you should be doing both. Why do they matter? Are they really both important?

There's only one way to find out! Let's stop wasting time up here and dive on in, shall we? Get that coffee, get comfortable, and get to scrolling.

Passive Work - This is most easily defined as learning. On a more complex level, you can call it a dabble (practice), gaining education, thinking about what you need to do, or setting up preparation to complete a task. Now, let's break those down.

Thinking about your task is the first thing you should do. While it does still matter, it usually comes in the form of considering what you need to complete the task, how you'll tackle the dabble, what books you'll read or videos you'll watch, and thinking about timing/making a schedule so you know when you're ready to prepare. You can also spend this time making a playlist or ordering/buying books you'll need for the education phase.

Dabbling gives you the advantage of basically trying before buying. This is where you try the skill or get used to the tools you're about to use to perform a bigger task. In the form of art, it's trying different mediums to see how they feel or react to whatever substrate you plan to use or getting the feel of different tools in your hands. In writing, it's things like blogging or journaling. Just keep in mind that practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent, so assure you're practicing with the right form in mind. Either by holding that brush just the right way or using complete sentences.

When you're passively tackling education, it's all about reading or watching someone else do what you're about to do. Taking classes to further your education in one area or another is also considered education. Lots of folks dive into this before they start to dabble. Yeah, there could be a set path, but sometimes, you dabble, educate, then do, so nothing is really set in stone. I know I started dabbling in writing when I was about twelve, and I didn't dive into the education side until much later. :) By the way, those first stories never saw the light of day. They were just mine. I shudder to think about the reviews... You also practice here because that's learning. Read, paint, do whatever until you're good at it.Something a lot of people don't know is that MailerLite has an education course where you can become certified. If you're thinking about that newsletter, go take the course and practice using their platform.

Now, with preparation, this is your woolgathering stage. You set the circumstances, get everything together that you need to perform the task, and make a plan or schedule to get things done. A lot of folks might call scheduling active work, but it's not. It's passive. 

Active Work - This is the doing. We can break it down into creating the thing; making sure others create the thing; or diving, well prepared, into that task.

When you're creating the thing (whatever it may be), you should know exactly what to do next and be well prepared to do it. You know your stuff because you spent passive time learning how to do the task(s) needed. You're familiar with the tools. All that passive work leads to the doing.

If someone else needs guidance (if you're a manager or foreman), you're the one with the skills to show them how to do it, and you can keep people on task because you have a schedule you created during your passive time.

Active work will be a small percentage of your day unless you're already well versed on the things you need to accomplish and how to get them done. Every time you're learning a new skill, you'll have more passive time in your workflow.

I've heard of some companies giving employees up to two hours a day to spend on learning so they get better at their jobs. Something to think about. When we know more, we're more productive and have to spend less time stopping to learn what we're doing when we come upon something we're not sure how to do. You know it ahead of time.

Spend the time learning how to do everything related to the tasks you know you'll be facing, and you'll be more productive and have fewer hours of downtime from having to backtrack or look something up (which is oftentimes where writers get lost in the internet). Ha!

I feel sometimes too much emphasis is put on the active side of things because that's where actual results can be seen, but passive work is equally as important, or you lose a lot of production hours. I know you know what I mean. :P

I hope this post was informative! Do you find yourself engaged in more passive or active work? How do you find the balance? Drop me a comment and let me know. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo