Your Job is Just a Bundle of Tasks

(And why that changes everything)

🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life - from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸

What even IS a job?

The fancy title on your LinkedIn profile? A professional identity you've spent years building? It's a convenient fiction, your job is just a collection of tasks that's constantly evolving.

Your task bundle explains what you *actually* do every day.

A marketing manager from 1995 spent hours coordinating print ads. Today they're analysing digital data, creating content strategies, and increasingly, orchestrating AI-generated campaigns. Same title, entirely different task bundle.

Jobs have always evolved. What's new is the acceleration of change, as AI threatens to reshape which tasks stay human and which don't.

We've done this before (and on a much larger scale)

I keep reminding myself to take a breath, humanity has navigated FAR more dramatic workforce transformations than what I think AI presents us with today.

Not that many generations ago, nearly everyone's ancestors were farmers or involved in food production.

That shift was seismic. The introduction of tractors, harvesters, and other mechanised farm equipment completely transformed food production, displacing millions of workers in a relatively short period.

And yet, we not only survived but thrived. We created entirely new industries and job categories that would have been impossible to imagine beforehand. Most of us now work in roles that couldn't have been conceived of in 1900.

Today we're starting from a much more diverse job landscape, giving us more flexibility to adapt our task bundles incrementally rather than requiring wholesale career reinvention. And we have more agency to shape this transition than previous generations did too.

So while change can feel threatening, remember that we've collectively navigated even bigger shifts before. Our challenge isn't unprecedented, it's the latest chapter in humanity's ongoing story of adaptation and reinvention.

The economics of unbundling work

AI is fundamentally changing the economic equation of work. As Sangeet Paul Choudary brilliantly explains, AI doesn't necessarily eat your job, but it may eat your ability to charge a premium for it.

For decades, we've tied our economic value to specialised skills, continuous learning, and managerial capabilities. But AI is systematically commoditising each of these;

1. Skill specialisation is being democratised - AI enables less experienced workers to perform tasks that once required years of training

2. Learning advantages are eroding - As AI absorbs and makes accessible specialised knowledge, the premium for accumulated expertise diminishes

3. Managerial decisions are being augmented - Goal-setting AI agents are beginning to handle planning and resource allocation that humans once exclusively managed

This economic reality means we need a new approach to maintaining our value in the workplace. Understanding our task bundles gives us a critical foundation.

The freedom in seeing beyond job titles

When I started exploring this idea of task bundles in my bullet journal, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. So many of our anxieties about AI and the future of work come from thinking about jobs as fixed entities that can be "taken" rather than fluid collections of tasks that naturally evolve.

But when you define your work through your task bundle rather than your title, several exciting possibilities open up;

1. You can spot which tasks align with your hatarakigai (work worth doing) aspect of ikigai (the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for)

2. You can identify transferable skills that move more easily across industries and roles

3. You can anticipate which elements of your bundle might be automated and which will remain uniquely human

4. You can intentionally reshape your bundle toward more purposeful work

Practical career navigation for our rapidly changing world.

The hidden connections between seemingly different jobs

I love spotting patterns, and they are MUCH easier to see when you look at work through the task bundle lens. Roles that seem completely different often share substantial overlap in their core human capabilities.

A teacher, a nurse, and a project manager might appear to occupy completely separate professional worlds. But look closer at their task bundles, and you'll find they all handle conflict resolution, information synthesis, relationship management, and decision-making under pressure.

These core human capabilities translate across contexts despite different job titles. Deeply understanding this can be incredibly liberating when you're contemplating a career change or worried about industry disruption.

Beyond digital literacy, the rise of purpose literacy

Everyone's talking about AI literacy and technical upskilling, and yes, those matter hugely. But I believe the truly career-proof skill for 2030 will be something I call "purpose literacy", the ability to identify, articulate, and create meaningful work in any context, regardless of technological change.

Purpose literacy means being fluent in;

• Recognising which tasks generate genuine value

• Articulating how your unique capabilities address real needs

• Designing work configurations that align with your ikigai

• Navigating transitions when task bundles evolve

While technical skills have increasingly shorter half-lives, purpose literacy only appreciates in value over time. It's the meta-skill that helps you continuously realign your task bundle toward meaningful work.

The hatarakigai approach to evolving task bundles

As our task bundles evolve (whether we want them to or not), maintaining meaningful work requires continuous realignment with what truly matters;

• What you love - Which tasks energise rather than drain you?

• What you're good at - Which tasks align to your natural strengths?

• What the world needs - Which tasks create genuine value for others?

• What you can be paid for - Which tasks maintain economic sustainability?

As AI potentially redistributes economic value across different types of tasks, we need to stay vigilant about where the market is heading while not losing sight of the other three elements.

This is about individual satisfaction AND societal wellbeing. Communities thrive when people engage in purposeful work that uses their fullest capabilities.

The great redistribution of value

I find it both fascinating and hopeful that AI won't just redistribute tasks but will fundamentally redistribute what we value in workers.

For centuries, capitalism has tended to undervalue certain human qualities like empathy, care, ethical reasoning, and relationship building. These capabilities still often seen as "soft skills" secondary to so-called hard or measurable outputs.

But if AI does rapidly commodify knowledge work and analytical tasks, then these deeply human capabilities will become the new premium skills. We could be about to witness a potential rebalancing of power dynamics that have long marginalised certain workers (often women and minorities) whose strengths lie in these areas.

This shift could help create workplaces that value the full spectrum of human capabilities, not just those that historically commanded the highest salaries in our industrial and early knowledge economies.

Reclaiming agency in an AI-accelerated world

The task bundle framework gives us something precious, agency. Rather than waiting passively to see which jobs AI "takes," we can actively redesign our working lives around tasks that combine economic value with personal meaning.

This requires a shift in mindset from reacting to technological change to proactively shaping our relationship with it. It means asking not "Will AI take my job?" but "How can I create a task bundle that takes advantage of both AI AND my uniquely human capabilities?"

The beauty of this approach is that it works across all skill levels and industries. Everyone from frontline workers to executives can benefit from understanding their work as a bundle of tasks they can gradually reshape.

For individuals: Track what you actually do, not what your title says. Map which tasks align with your hatarakigai and which don't. During job transitions, highlight capability patterns, not just role histories.

For employers: Stop hiring for rigid job descriptions. Start building flexible task configurations around people's strengths. Create roles that combine human-centric tasks with AI-supported functions.

For educators: Consider the appropriateness of preparing students for specific occupations. Develop adaptable capabilities that transfer across contexts. Teach continuous task bundle reconfiguration as a core life skill.

For policymakers: Reimagine workforce development around capability building rather than specific industry sector or occupation job training. Create support systems for people transitioning between task bundles.

Starting your task bundle journey

If this perspective resonates with you, here are some practical first steps to think through in your journal or through AI prompts;

1. Take inventory - List the actual tasks that make up your current role, regardless of your formal job description. What do you really do all day?

2. Identify patterns - Which tasks require similar capabilities, even if they seem different on the surface?

3. Map to your hatarakigai - Which tasks align with what you love, what you're good at, what creates value, and what sustains you economically?

4. Spot evolution opportunities - Which tasks could be automated or augmented by AI? Which human-centred tasks could you expand?

5. Invest in task transitions - What capabilities would help you shift toward more future-proof and meaningful task bundles?

I’m sure I will continue exploring aspects of this framework in more depth in future essays, including practical approaches to developing purpose literacy, navigating task bundle transitions, and creating more meaningful work configurations.

The path forward

As AI increasingly handles routine tasks, human work will shift toward meaning-making, relationship-building, and purpose-defining activities.

Those who understand their task bundles, and continuously reshape them toward what brings both meaning and value, will navigate this transition successfully. The key is to approach this evolution with intention rather than fear.

The future belongs not to those with the most impressive job titles, but to those who craft task bundles that combine what they do brilliantly with what truly matters.

The question isn't whether your job will change, it's whether you'll actively design that change or simply react to it.

How will you reshape your task bundle today?

Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx

PS - I'd love to hear your thoughts on this task bundle approach to work. Does it help you see your career in a new light? Which tasks in your current role most align with your ikigai? Share in the comments below!

PPS - If you want to explore this more deeply, try creating a spread in your bullet journal titled "Bundling Up" so you can explore how to strategically add ever higher value tasks into your mix.

Much of the AI conversation focuses on what tasks we'll lose, the more empowering question is what high-value tasks should we intentionally add to our bundles?

"Bundling up" also means acquiring tasks that complement rather than compete with AI, here's a framework to guide your thinking;

The Human-AI Complementarity Map

When deciding which tasks to bundle up, consider these categories;

1. AI Augmentation Tasks - Tasks where you direct, refine, and integrate AI outputs

   • Example: A graphic designer shifts from technical production to creative direction of AI-generated options

2. Human Premium Tasks - Activities where human judgement, creativity, and emotional intelligence command growing value

   • Example: A teacher transitions from content delivery to relationship-building and personalised motivation

   • Example: A financial advisor shifts from portfolio modeling to understanding clients' deeper life goals

3. Bridge Tasks - Activities that connect AI capabilities with human needs

   • Example: A software developer specialises in translating business requirements into AI development specifications

   • Example: A healthcare worker becomes skilled at interpreting AI diagnostic suggestions within patients' life contexts

4. Meaning-Making Tasks - Work that helps others navigate purpose and significance

   • Example: A manager embraces more mentoring as administrative tasks are automated

   • Example: A marketing professional focuses on brand storytelling that resonates at a human level

The goal is to create a task bundle that grows more valuable and meaningful as technology evolves.

Journal Reflection Prompts for your bullet journal this week;

1. Which category of complementary tasks most resonates with your strengths and values?

2. What specific high-value task could you add to your bundle next?

3. How might you create space in your current role to begin bundling up?

What tasks will you strategically add to your bundle that make you more valuable working alongside AI, not competing against it?

PPPS - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: The AI Remix

I love a bit of Daft Punk as a soundtrack for reimagining work in the AI era. The robotic vocals and human words conveying an emerging human-AI partnership. The full film is a treat too if you like the Discovery album and geeky sci-fi animation!

While AI handles the "faster" and some of the "harder," we can focus on making work "better" in ways only humans can.

And let's be honest, when the lyrics say "work is never over," I'm hoping that's where the metaphor breaks down grin. The real promise of AI isn't endless productivity but reclaiming time for what makes us human. Let the robots handle stuff so we can enjoy more sunsets, conversations, and adventures!