Think back (or forward) to a new, passionate, relationship. Feel the sizzle, remember the smell and hear the music you listened to at the time. Really get into it. Are you feeling it? Good!
Like the first weeks of a lusty relationship, I want you to imagine your project knocking on your door and you have goosebumps. You aren’t even sure where to start: offer a drink, sit down or just get right to it? What if this was your energy around your current project? Do you think I’m kidding? I’m serious as the first week of love, committed and thinking about it non-stop. I want you to get hot for your work.
We DECIDE to go for it in new relationships. And yes, like our projects, we lose that initial verve. “things” get old, routine, dry. What do you do in your best relationships to fuel the fantasy fire? How do you get it up when the endorphins wear off?
Do you have a stalled project right now (you know the one)? The one project that has changed five times in the last 18 months. it keeps morphing, shifting, changing names, but it ALWAYS comes back. Take a moment right now and evaluate it like you would a lover, very close friend or even a child. Make your project someone, an important someone. Consider a few project-relationship concepts:
- LOYALTY: is the project true to you? Does it reflect your values? Are you loyal to it, or divided–and why?
- PASSION: where’s the spark? Is it still there? Do you have that spark in you about it? If not, is it truly gone or does it just need a blast of the bellows?
Okay. Let’s stop here and fantasize that you check-checked the top two and you know your project is loyal and you are true to her. Your passion is there, but just a bit distracted or dulled by time and the reality that plodding through certain parts of a project can put a damper on your woody. Now, ask:
3. CONNECTION: are you connected to the meaning of your work or project? Is there a way that you could improve the connection–both to the task(s) at hand and your role in the project (and perhaps with other humans on the task as well)?
4. PURPOSE: is the current purpose of your work relevant? There’s always a purpose, but is it your original? Even if it still resonates to how you felt when you started–does it serve now?
Now, how’s your lust factor? Did I just add frustration to your day or did something shake loose? Are you staying with the project, or is it a time for an amendment, date-night or a break up? Let me know in the comments.
Photo by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML used with permission under a Creative Commons license.
Folks have been landing on my site during the past few weeks and many asked what the heck this 40 Days thing is all about. Here’s the straight scoop on one way I’ve learned to make and keep commitments to myself. How do you do it?
Shortly before my 40th, I awoke from a dream wondering what day, exactly, would mark 40 days before my milestone birthday. I felt strongly that something special was in order. Something intense, and intensely different. And thus was born the 40 Days Before my 40th Giveaway project. During that period, I gave away ideas, photography, advice, clothes, things and obligations and did it in public, via Twitter and Facebook.
It was an intense experience because it was LONG, very personal and, as usual, I quickly realized I bit off (almost) more than I could chew. I cleared my closet. I made new friends. I got more done during those 40 days than I had in the previous 40, on business, client and personal projects that had been dying on the vine.
The first cycle was so powerful that I did another 40-day cycle, this time with a different theme: Remembering. I focused on remembering loved ones no longer breathing air, lessons I’d learned but didn’t practice and those “sure things” that helped me and others finish what they started. To my surprise and pleasure, folks started joining in, starting their own commitment and accountability cycles, commenting, playing along. It was wonderful.
When that cycle ended, I realized that what I really needed to focus on–what I’d been shirking (with vigor!) was my body. So, I embarked on a 10-day cycle–a length I knew I could commit to and would not have to work at too hard. It went well–I had great support–but WOW, did I feel lame inside because I KNEW I wasn’t walking my talk, at ALL. I get paid to push people through very difficult transitions, and they will tell you: I expect a lot from them, and I give a lot to their processes. And yet, I was not doing what I knew needed doing–for myself.
If this is your intro to the current cycle, here’s Day One of: 40 Days Of My Body. This is a quest to spend 40 days working on my body, in service to my business and my own path of finishing what I start. I am committed to exercising 6 days/week, keeping a food journal and being more aware of ways I use (and abuse) my body. Going public is extreme, yes, and it’s working for me and the 18 folks who have jumped into the fray!
Join us by making your own commitment. What needs doing in your personal life or your career? Please share your ideas and plans in the comments.
Image by eschipul. Used under a Creative Commons license.
