The Quiet Labor Of Invisible Work
I am in a moment of deep, invisible work.
And it got me thinking: I wonder if you find yourself also in deep, invisible work. If so, what does that mean to you? How are you handling it?
For me, my deep, invisible work right now looks like being a grown-up in my business.
It involves several key steps, including tackling legal projects such as reviewing my website's terms and conditions, updating the privacy policy, and considering copyright and trademark protections for my Golden Coaching Certification™.
It means spending time in QuickBooks, ensuring that every expense is allocated to the exact accounts I want them in.
It means reviewing my website's pages to ensure my messaging is aligned and clear, reflecting what I’m doing today, who I want to work with, and how I want to serve and support others.
I describe this season as being in the basement of a house, digging and building the foundation one cement brick at a time. You wouldn’t necessarily know it because there’s no house standing on top of it yet that I can invite you over to see. But I’m down there, digging and laying the bricks.
And my motivation behind all of this invisible work is less about following a “business rulebook” and more about a deep desire to be in integrity, which is one of my core values.
I want to be trustworthy and transparent:
Am I doing what I say I’m doing?
Am I presenting and providing everything I claim to value and talk about?
Are there trust gaps that I can fill with more intentionality?
I want to stand on a solid foundation that houses a business that is trustworthy and aligned with my core mission.
Here are two things about invisible work:
The great thing is that eventually the work will be done. The basement will be built. And then, for a time, maybe six months or a year, I won’t have to return to it. I can check in periodically, review, and make sure everything is working the way I want it to.
The terrible thing is that invisible work is lonely. By definition, no one knows I’m doing it. There’s no one standing on the sidelines cheering me on. There’s no one saying, “Great job.” There are no customers buying my invisible work.
And so, at times, I can get really down on myself. I can feel like I’m not making a difference, not living my mission and passion, which is helping women boldly claim the futures they crave, create their legacies, and build their most extraordinary lives.
The longer I spend in the basement, the further away I sometimes feel from the very thing that lights me up.
But I know this is temporary.
I know it won’t last forever.
And I know it is essential. This is important, grown-up businesswoman work. And that means it’s worth it.
But it requires thoughtful and gentle caretaking of me while I go through it. Journaling a lot, taking breaks to have some fun (dancing around my house is a favorite at the moment). Grounding myself in its importance and in the eventual payoff.
And so, all this has me wondering about you:
Where in your life are you in a season of invisible work?
How are you meeting that moment?
How do you talk to yourself while laboring in it?
How are you rewarding and celebrating yourself along the way?
How are you connecting it to your bigger mission, your bigger purpose, your bigger why?
I’ll admit this curiosity is selfish. Because I’m looking for more ideas.
So tell me everything.
How do you make your moments of invisible work less lonely?
How do you stay connected to the people who matter most, the ones your invisible work is ultimately for?
With immense appreciation & gratitude. Always.
