This is a guest post by Dan Baluta from GTDagenda.com a great tool to get things done. We had the chance to play around with it for a while and invite you to have a closer look.
Successfully completing a large, complex project can bring you great personal, professional or financial rewards. Unfortunately these types of projects, by their very nature, also provide endless opportunities to go astray along the way.
Early failures can send motivation into a flop, doubts cloud clear thinking, and we don’t see the forest because of the trees. So what should we do? There are so many reasons to falter or do a bad job, that we can be drown into least one.
One of the keys to getting big projects done is to balance “Keep Your Eye on the Prize” with “Stay Focused on the Task”. It’s all about knowing when to flip the frame of reference from looking closely at individual tasks of a project, and when to look up and see the project’s grand sweep.
Shifts of focus between tasks and goals are needed. They can be done in this manner:
PHASE I: Taking the First Step
When taking the first step on the long road to your goal, it’s better you put greater focus on the destination. This increases self-control, and you’ll be more committed to the tasks at hand.
PHASE II: Tackling the Tasks
When the chance of failures is high, as it can be along your journey, focus on the individual steps. Comparing recent failure with the ultimate goal destroys motivation. Narrow focus to succeeding on the individual task. Stay task-focused. Think low-level.
Tip: You can use the Gtdagenda Next Actions to tackle your Tasks one after another.
PHASE III: The End in Sight
Once the tasks become easier or the end is in sight, a goal focus is once again the best approach to choose. It will increase your positive emotion, decrease negative emotions, and feel you are doing better.
Think of it like a 26 miles marathoner. Moments before the race, they look off into the distance and imagine how great it will be to cross the finish line. When the race starts, they just focus on the road, maintaining a steady a pace, conserving energy and hydrating themselves. Then, on the last few miles they have just one focus: the line.
