Some things are worth doing slowly. Your best work is one of them.
I spent 8 days making bacon.
I prepped the cure and spice mix. A week of curing, flipping the pork belly in its brine every night. Four hours of smoking. Then slicing it all by hand.
I could’ve just bought bacon at the store. Five minutes and done.
But that’s not the same, is it?
The store-bought version works. It’s efficient. It gets the job done. But when you slow down and craft something with intention, when you’re willing to put in the extra hours because you care about the outcome, you have the opportunity to create something special, something that people actually remember.
Your work is the same way.
The Tyranny of Efficiency
Somewhere along the way, we decided that ‘efficient’ was the same as ‘good’. That faster was always better. That the only metric worth tracking was how quickly we could check something off the list. We optimized for throughput, streamlined processes, and eliminated “wasted” time. And in doing so, we stripped away the soul of the work, the part that makes both it (and us) feel alive.
Most people treat every task the same way: get it done, then move on. They’re grinding through their days like they’re working on an assembly line, cranking out widgets without pausing to ask whether the widget even matters.
Efficiency feels safe. Predictable. It gives you the illusion of progress, even when you’re really just spinning your wheels.
Here’s what an efficiency obsession costs you: it keeps you from doing work that actually matters.
When everything is urgent, nothing is important. When every task gets the same rushed treatment, you never create anything worth remembering. You’re productive in the most hollow sense of the word—busy, but not building anything meaningful.
Designing Your Work, Not Just Doing It
The bacon project reminded me of an important idea: not all work deserves the same approach.
Some work should be fast. Transactional. Efficient. Get it done and move on. There’s no point handcrafting a routine status email or overthinking a calendar invite. That’s “store-bought bacon territory”; perfectly fine for what it is.
But other work—the work that builds your reputation, that reflects who you are, that creates something people remember—that work needs the “homemade bacon treatment”.
It needs you to slow down To tend to it daily To let it develop properly To apply the right heat at the right time To be patient with the process To embrace the uncertainty of the result
The problem is most people don’t distinguish between the two. They treat everything like it’s urgent and nothing like it matters. Or worse, they spend eight days making bacon when they should’ve just gone to the store, wasting your best energy on work that doesn’t mean a damn thing.
The Soul-Work Question
Most people don’t even know what work deserves their best effort anymore. They’ve been grinding so long on autopilot that they’ve lost touch with what actually matters to them.
That tug you feel in your soul? The one that says “this project matters” or “I need to do this differently”? Most people have learned to ignore it. They’ve been told to be efficient, to stay productive, to keep moving. So they silence the voice that knows the difference between work that feeds them and work that drains them.
But that voice is everything. Stop ignoring it.
It’s the part of you that knows when to slow down and craft something extraordinary. It’s the part that recognizes which projects deserve your full attention, energy, and focus. It’s the compass that helps you design work that actually aligns with who you are and what you’re meant to be doing.
Ignoring that voice isn’t efficiency, but self-abandonment.
Ignore it long enough, you’ll wake up one day wondering how you got so good at work that doesn’t matter.
How to Know When to Make the Bacon
So how do you decide? When should you optimize for speed, and when should you slow down and craft?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does this reflect who I want to be known for? If yes, treat it like your reputation depends on it (because it probably does).
- Will this matter in a year? If the answer is no, you probably don’t need to hand-cure it. Get it done and move on.
- Will this create something people remember or reference? If you’re building something that has lasting impact, give it the time it deserves.
- Am I doing this because it matters, or because I’m avoiding something harder? Sometimes we obsess over details that don’t matter because we’re scared to tackle the things that do. Be honest with yourself.
- Does this align with the deeper work I’m called to do? That soul-tug matters. If you feel it, listen. That’s your compass telling you this deserves your craft.
Not every task needs eight days. But the ones that do? Don’t rush them just because everyone else is optimizing for efficiency.
The Real Work
The bacon is done now. Sliced, packaged, sitting in my fridge. And yeah, I could’ve saved time buying it at the store.
But I wouldn’t trade the process. Not the daily ritual of flipping the brine. Not the four hours standing by the smoker, adjusting the temperature, checking the colour. Not even the uncertainty of whether it would turn out right.
Because the process itself was the point.
It reminded me that some things are worth doing slowly. That craft matters. That the work you put your soul into creates something entirely different than the work you rush through.
Your career is the same.
You can grind through it efficiently, checking boxes and wondering why nothing feels meaningful. Or you can start designing your work intentionally; spending your time and energy on the projects that matter, the ones that align with who you actually are and what you’re meant to be doing.
Most people optimize for efficiency and wonder why their work feels empty.
The people building extraordinary careers? They know when to slow down and craft something worth savouring.
Identify one thing in your work where you need the slow, handcrafted treatment. Then try doing that, and see how it feels. Let me know how you make out!
The soul of your work can’t be rushed.
Quotation I’ve Been Pondering
“The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.”
— Bob Hawke
Journal Prompt
“What might emerge if I gave time the same respect I give effort?”
Until next week!!
Work and live well.
Tim
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