As a business owner, I wear a lot of hats. That is not an accident. I have designed my work that way because I genuinely love variety.

There are tasks I can spend two hours on, like writing a blog, sketching ideas, or designing a workshop, and I will walk away feeling lighter. Energized. Sometimes even excited.

There are other tasks that take the same two hours, like reconciling funding codes, uploading receipts, or attaching documentation, and if you check on me afterward, there is a decent chance you will need to peel me off the floor.

Same time. Very different cost.

That contrast is what finally clicked for me when I encountered the language of degenerative, regenerative, and generative work in Reimagining the Nature of Work by Alice Kotter. It gave me words for something I already knew in my body but had not fully named.

Work that drains

Degenerative work is not about bad intentions or unimportant tasks. At its core, degenerative work is simply draining work. It is work that costs more energy than it gives back, again and again.

Some work is technically simple and energetically expensive. It does not look hard on paper, but it carries weight that lingers long after the task is done.

Draining work tends to:

Deplete energy faster than it can be restored
Follow you long after the task is technically complete
Narrow thinking and capacity
Quietly take up more mental and emotional space than it should

Some draining work is unavoidable. Budgets still need closing. Compliance still matters. Administrative work still exists.

The problem is not that degenerative work exists. The problem is when it goes unnamed and uncontained. When draining work is treated as normal, it quietly expands and begins shaping people’s days, energy, and capacity without being questioned.

Work that sustains

Regenerative work is not always easy or light. It can be challenging, emotionally demanding, and require real effort.

The difference shows up afterward.

Work that sustains leaves you feeling resourced rather than depleted. It aligns with your values and strengths. It creates clarity, learning, or momentum. It makes it easier, not harder, to return tomorrow.

As Kotter describes it, regenerative work is work that nourishes. It sustains people and systems so they can continue.

This kind of work is the foundation. Without it, nothing else lasts.

Work that expands

Generative work goes a step further.

It does not just sustain. It creates more than it consumes.

Generative work sparks new ideas, connections, or possibilities. It expands what is possible beyond the task itself. It often fuels future regenerative work.

This is the work that feels catalytic. Not because it is constant, but because it opens something new.

Generative work is not the baseline. Healthy systems do not try to be generative all the time. They protect sustaining work so generative moments can emerge.

Same task. Same time. Different impact.

Imagine two five-minute emails.

The first is draining.
You reread it repeatedly.
You manage tone, politics, and unspoken tension.
You brace for the reply before you hit send.
When you close your laptop, your shoulders are higher than when you started.

This is how technically simple work becomes energetically expensive.

The second is sustaining.
The purpose is clear.
The relationship is grounded in trust.
You write, send, and move on.
The work feels shared, not carried alone.

The clock time is identical. The energetic cost is not.

Sometimes that same five-minute exchange becomes generative. It sparks a new idea, deepens trust, or opens up a better way of working together.

The task did not change. The conditions did.

You can see this difference everywhere:

A meeting that drains the room because nothing is clear
A meeting that creates alignment
A meeting that generates new momentum

Or:

A task redone multiple times because expectations were vague
The same task done once because clarity existed
The same task that improves the system going forward

The same work does not affect everyone the same way

An important nuance is this: the same task can be draining for one person and sustaining or even generative for another.

This is not a contradiction. It is information.

Work that exhausts one person may energize another. Financial reconciliation might feel deeply draining to someone who thrives in creative work, while it feels grounding and satisfying to someone else. Facilitation might restore one person and deplete another.

This is why broad assumptions about what should be “easy” or “hard” rarely hold.

I have written before about creating a User Manual For Me, a simple practice for naming how you work best, what drains you, and what helps you do your best work. This kind of self-knowledge makes it easier to understand why certain tasks consistently deplete you while others restore or expand you.

This is also where the practice of Lead by Letting Go comes in. Letting go does not mean lowering standards or disengaging. It means releasing the assumption that everyone should experience work the same way or contribute in the same form.

When leaders let go of rigid expectations about who should do what and how work must look, they create space for people to step into work that is more sustaining or generative for them. That is not indulgent. It is strategic.

How to work with draining tasks

Reducing draining work is not about eliminating it entirely. It is about working with it intentionally.

First, name it.
Simply acknowledging, “This task is draining for me,” can be surprisingly relieving. When draining work stays unnamed, it tends to sprawl. When it is named, it becomes more containable.

Second, use the information.
Once you know a task drains you, you can design around it. You might schedule it when you have more energy. You might pair it with a small incentive. You might break it into shorter chunks instead of one long slog.

Forcing draining work when you are already depleted is like asking an underfueled body to run uphill. Sometimes having energy to do the hard thing matters more than discipline.

Third, mix draining and sustaining work throughout your day.
Try not to front-load a day with only draining tasks. Also, do not hoard all sustaining or generative work for one perfect day.

Most people work more sustainably when their days include a mix. Effort followed by restoration. Drain balanced with nourishment. Expansion when conditions allow.

Fourth, name patterns with others.
This might be with a supervisor, teammate, or collaborator.

Not as a complaint. Not as avoidance. But as shared context.

“I am not trying to get out of this work. I want you to know that this type of work drains me significantly, and this other type of work helps restore or energize me.”

Over time, teams can begin to notice where draining work clusters, such as around unclear roles, rushed timelines, or missing decisions, and redesign accordingly. That is where sustaining systems and generative capacity begin to take root.

Why this matters

Most workplaces measure time, output, and activity. Very few measure energetic cost or sustainability.

When draining work goes unnamed and uncontained, burnout gets personalized. Overfunctioning gets rewarded. Structural issues get misdiagnosed as individual weakness.

Draining work is not a moral failure. It is a signal.

Work that sustains is the foundation.
Work that expands is the possibility.

Designing for both is how people and systems actually last.

Work That Drains, Work That Sustains