Keeping focused on a demanding project and maintaining momentum when the end date still seems far off in the future is a challenge.
Many of our undertakings, professional and personal require long-term effort, dedication and persistence to see them through. Somewhere around the mid-point, things can start to get tricky; there’s still a long way to go to completion, and despite our best efforts we can start to flag and lose focus.
What can you do when the going gets tough?
One of the best tools I have found to help in these situations is to keep a clear mental image of what you are working towards, and why. Whenever commitment feels lacking, remember what spurred you to start on the project in the first place; the benefits that will ensue when the goal is achieved. The more you do this, the less you will need to as time goes on.
If things are really bleak, and you are on the verge of bailing out, it can help to find a short-term ‘quick win’ to boost morale. If you can find one related to the failing project, that’s great; but if not, often any kind of boost will do to help you feel like things are at least moving forward somewhere. Even just taking the time to review what you have achieved so far, and being grateful for that progress can be a great help.
Another key aid is to pick your battles; it just may be that the reason you are struggling is that the project doesn’t really align with your views and values. There is a Japanese word ‘Ikigai’ which relates to finding a motivating force, or a purpose to your life; a way to hone in on what would give you a real sense of meaning. Maintaining momentum would surely be that much easier if you feel you are working towards your life’s true purpose.
To borrow from Mark Twain, I think he summed it up when he said:
‘If you find a job you love doing you’ll never have to work again’.
He was absolutely right, but this also applies to your personal development projects too. Work to change, to become the person you want to be, not some vague idea of what you think is expected of you, or circumstances appear to demand.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
It may sound obvious, but never forget it’s natural to feel the ups and downs. Everything in life comes in cycles. You can feel on top of the world while achieving relatively little, and feel surprisingly low while at your most productive; and when we are tired, even very small difficulties can get blown out of all proportion, causing us to question things too deeply.
As one sporting legend famously said:
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
Muhammad Ali
You can do it if you try
A couple of days ago I hit the one year milestone in my language-learning quest, and my pet project ‘The Year In Haiku’ has recently hit the six month mark showing no signs of running out of steam (so sorry, but here is the link to the archive):
Who would have thought it? The well has not yet dried up; Deep apologies.
There are plenty of other personal projects on-going which are still struggling for my attention at times (I haven’t managed to find the energy to ramp up my yoga and strength training schedule to daily sessions), but I try to use each of the other small wins every day to stir me into action where I feel like I am falling behind.
Maintaining momentum is possible if, like so many other things, you can take things one step at a time, building the successful outcome steadily and surely, celebrating each victory along the way.