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.
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