Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

The reward usually sits on the far side of the work: the title, the money, the rest afterwards. Yet the best of it is the middle, when you are spending yourself on something that deserves it. Hard effort on something pointless grinds you down, and the same effort on something that matters holds you up. What separates them is not the hours but whether the work is worth them.

Look at where your week goes. Ask of one piece of it whether you would still want to do it if no one were counting. If the answer is no, start moving your effort toward something that would survive the question.