Why aren’t you working on important problems?
I just finished reading the transcripts from Richard W. Hamming’s speech ‘You are Your Research’.
“If what you’re doing is not important… why are you working on it?” he asked.
In context of the latest GTD (Getting Things Done) craze, this is a critical question. A question that should keep you up at night.
As you’re processing your inbox, tracking your next action for each project, ask yourself: What are you working on, and why?
Do your actions connect, not just to an arbitary project, but to a meaningful goal, to the greater good of your life?
The first step in managing your life, in meaningfully getting things done, should be to follow Richard Hamming’s advice and ask yourself:
What are the most important problems in your field?
Put another way, what are the important problems that you could be working on? And why aren’t you working on them?