What does my frog look like?

A popular productivity tip that I've come across in numerous places is to do your most important task before you take on anything else in your day. Makes sense. Energy levels (and enthusiasm?) are high, you get it out of the way and don't have to worry about it all day, and you make it that much more likely that you'll have a little win to make you feel good about your progress. But what is the most important task? Well, the promoter of this habit might say, it's the task that makes the most progress towards achieving your biggest goal. Well, what's my biggest goal?

I don't aspire to a particular role, at least not a role that currently exists. While I have some notion that I want to be a leader in the organization, the pursuit of a senior management role requires conforming to what the rest of the organization thinks a senior leader should be. Hiring is risky so most people take the candidate that is the least likely to fail spectacularly. That person is usually the one who has done the best job of following the established leadership track. I've dipped my toe in that pool. I work with a guy who's eagerly jumped into the deep end. I would suffer considerably in the role that he's carving out. That's not for me.

I'm drawn to the dirty work that nobody really wants to notice. I like to pursue those problems that other people wish would just go away. They mess up timelines, add risk, and dilute the power of people who want to take the conventional path to leadership, I'm working on an MBA so I can translate the value of getting those problems solved into terms that the business will embrace. There's competitive advantage in being able to solve problems that other companies chose to ignore.

I guess that's my most important task, do that which others would choose to ignore. Find value where others see complications. Become the freak in the organization that does what nobody else can do. That's what comes first. All that bureaucratic crap can wait until after lunch...