I’m currently working on a project at work which I have had a hard time getting started on. The problem is, since the day it started, all of the stakeholders have had different goals and opinions about what the expected result of the project should be, and since this is not a collaborative effort (I’m doing the work mostly myself) they really don’t know what they’re going to get until I give it to them, and they have little to no actual daily input into the minutia of the project. So it’s become mostly a game of expectations. Can I convince them that what I’m planning on giving them is exactly what they want?
I made the mistake of letting an early draft slip out, and I got some feedback that I was hoping to avoid because of that. Because of that feedback, I’ve totally lost the awesome momentum I had on that project. I have sat here all day long, writing emails, going to meetings, checking things off my list, all while this huge project sits stalled on my desktop, as I wonder to myself what I am going to do next.
Thankfully, I have been able to regain some of my momentum by just focusing on other aspects of the project and letting some of these nasty issues just sit to the side and fester for a while.
You know, sometimes I seem to get momentum in certain aspects of my life, only to crush that momentum by sending out that early draft, second guessing myself, playing it safe, and by trying to over-manage the expectations of others. Why should it be a huge surprise to discover in such circumstances that I so easily lose momentum, then?
Reflecting back in such circumstances where I’ve shot my own momentum in the foot, it seems I’ve been able to get going again by stopping and re-starting on some other aspect to get momentum in another direction, while letting that thing sit and fester a bit… let the universe solve it.
In fact, that’s how I got into blogging and writing in the first place…
The best thing, though, is when the universe comes in and solves that thing you’ve had sitting for you, and suddenly… voila! You have a live one again! And it actually happens!
Still don’t get it? Here’s another analogy for you: How can a plant grow when you’re constantly yanking it out of the soil to examine the health of the roots?
But boy it feels good when you’ve got the “mo.”
I’d sure love to know the secret to getting that momentum back. Life is good at throwing crap at your feet when you’re trying to run. It makes getting to the end a very stinky process. But I guess it is a good excuse to go out and buy some new shoes!
Yay! A non-political blog! Don’t you judge me Earl. 🙂 I hope you find more momentum soon…