People who love exploring and improving things don't necessarily crave flashy excitement all the time.
What they tend to stick with is work where:
- The goal is clear
- You have a little freedom in how you do it
- You can see the results
- You can do better next time
- What you make stays behind as a template, code, an article, or a procedure
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The jobs that wear you down are the opposite.
The purpose is unclear.
The steps are spelled out in tiny detail.
Improving anything is forbidden.
Nothing is left when you finish.
And the next morning, you start from zero again.
Even the souls stacking stones on the riverbank of the underworld (the Japanese myth of endless, pointless labor) should get a right to suggest improvements.
Of course, you can't get rid of routine work entirely.
Billing, checking, tidying, cleaning, and maintenance all have to get done.
So rather than trying to cut them to zero, it's more realistic to batch them, automate them, turn them into checklists, or hand them to people who are good at them.
In the end, when you're judging whether a job is sustainable,
don't just ask "is it fun?" Ask "will today's effort still be there tomorrow?" It makes things much clearer.
Some people hate a particular task but can chase the same goal for years.
It's not that they can't keep plugging away.
They're just plugging away at something different.
