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Hi! I'm Grant Gurewitz

What’s high-impact work?

Published about 1 year ago • 2 min read

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What's high-impact work?

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I hope you’re having a lovely week ✌️

I have four rules for work. They are designed to help you do the best work of your career and give you the confidence to log off more (deep dive on the four rules).

  1. Do great work
  2. Not too much
  3. Socialize it
  4. Log off

Implicitly stated in Not Too Much is a prioritization activity. If you’re going to do the best work of your career, you can't do it all. You must do the highest impact work at the highest quality level.

But how do you know what is the highest impact work?

Let’s dive into that today…

I’m about two months into my new job. I’m starting a new function from scratch. This means that everything could be a high priority. There’s no historical data. There are lots of loosely held opinions.

There’s no shortage of ingredients. But which recipe do I make?

Here’s how I’m choosing where to start.

We’ve been using the RICE framework to help with prioritization

R - Reach

I - Impact

C - Confidence

E - Effort

I’ve been plotting potential activities on a graph and judging their potential based on all these factors.

Can the activity help us reach who we want effectively and at scale?

Is it connected to the company and/or department priorities?

From my experience and the experience of partners I work with, do we have signal (or a strong belief) that this idea has a strong chance of working?

Is the idea sized appropriately for the resources available?

There are a few additional cheat codes to play the corporate game when hedging your bets on what you spend time on. You will generally be in a good place if…

  1. Your work is directly connected to company goals or OKRs
  2. Your work directly drives the company's success metrics
  3. You know what your manager/departmental leader places high value in and doing that
  4. Your work is shaped around data and/or customer insights

As we prepare for Q2, you can operationalize doing Not too much in the following ways

  1. Build or influence your Q2 goals around activities that fit the RICE framework.
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  2. Do the goals help you accomplish the 3x3 Rule of Work? That is – focus on three core things every day that support three macro priorities for the quarter.
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  3. Revisit your Q2 goals regularly with your boss throughout the quarter. Give progress updates. Flag places you are blocked. Share early wins. Have tradeoff conversations if random new priorities appear.

You got this!

See you next week 👋
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Grant Gurewitz

Full-time corporate type and

School of Logging Off Founder

When you're ready, here are three ways I can help you finally stop work from taking over your life:

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If you're looking for quick weekly tips and inspiration...

1) Sustain - My free weekly newsletter sent every Thursday that you're reading now. New here? Grab your own copy.

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If you're wondering how to pull it all together...

2) School of Logging Off Guide - Learn how to do the best work of your career and log off more with confidence -- all in one quarter with my end-to-end playbook.

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If your situation is unique or you need an accountability partner...

3) 1 on 1 Call - Let's grab 60 minutes to discuss your unique challenges since every work situation is different. Let's partner to find a solution.

Good vibes only ✌️

Working hard or hardly working? Doesn't matter. Step into nature for a brief moment of awe to escape the crazy at work 😵‍💫

The corporate world teaches you how to make work your No. 1, but nobody teaches you how to log off. Until now.

Learn how to do the best work of your career with more logged-off time than ever. It's a win-win for you and your company.

I'm Grant Gurewitz and this is School of Logging Off 😌

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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Hi! I'm Grant Gurewitz

It’s 2016 and I’m massively burned out from my tech job. I’m working too much and have implemented too many lifestyle and productivity hacks. Today, I work 38 hours a week in my tech job, I have more time than ever, and still get promoted. I’m not some woo-woo coach sitting on the beach sipping cold drinks. I work a demanding full-time job just like you and see the same winding road of work you see. I believe it’s possible to have well-being at work and still advance in your career. Let me show you how.

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