I’m curious about pretty much everything, and I’m prone to falling into rabbit holes and picking up previously unfamiliar hobbies on a whim.

I try to be more intentional with the work and responsibilities I bring into my life, though, because while it’s relatively simple to enthuse about a pastime and then set it aside when it no longer fits within your schedule or aligns with your priorities, work (in the sense of being paid for your efforts, in the sense of other people relying on something you make, and in the sense of producing some kind of valuable output on a semi-regular basis) is a bigger commitment, and as a result necessitates a larger (or deeper) investment of time, energy, and resources.

One heuristic I use when determining whether to commit myself to a new work-related endeavor is asking myself if the effort would expand my intellectual, social, and/or potential-related surface areas.

Would this work expose me to information or labors that would in some way help me grow? Would it challenge me? Would my horizons be broadened?

Would it put me in contact with new people? Would that exposure be valuable, resulting in new relationships, new perspectives, new understandings?

And would this work increase the number of options I have, either by opening doors or making me aware of previously unrecognized paths?

There are innumerable ways a work situation might accomplish these sorts of surface area expansions. More money might mean more freedom (of a kind, at least), and working with different sorts of people (because they come from a different place than I do, have different a educational background, different skills, different beliefs, etc) can expand my horizons, even if the work itself is familiar and rote.

But taking on work that doesn’t have some sort of expansionary benefit tends to be less ideal—for my priorities, at least—as work does gobble up a lot of time and energy, and I want to make sure that whatever the specifics, I’m continuing to grow as a person and persistently expanding my range of possible next-step options. Taking this approach keeps present-me challenged and interested, while also ensuring future-me benefits from all those compounding (internal and external) growth opportunities.

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