Project focused not personal

So often work can bleed to emotional reactions.

In many ways you can spin the positive to be that “you care so much,” but the reality is that the more personal emotion the bigger the negative impact on the work.

Digest that.

The more passion you have the greater the negative impact. Why? Because you can’t think about the work as a project anymore, you have to manage emotions.

You might close off other ideas, counter plans, rethinking who is on a project… all because you have a passion.

This isn’t to say you should be excited for your work. What it is to say is that you cannot feel the impact of your work. It isn’t an attack on you if the timelines get adjusted. It isn’t that you are a bad person if your original idea isn’t sticking.

I have seen this so often, especially at the top of organization. So often are egos tied to decisions as opposed to decisions determining the best course of action forward.

Look we all do it. We all have opinions. Just because I am going to suggest vanilla ice cream for the social event, does not mean your suggestion of mint chip is wrong. Or that you don’t like vanilla making me a bad person. We focus on it’s an event for ice cream and use data, informed intel and project plans to execute.

Sounds easy, but do you actually do it? It takes practice to know when your opinion and strategy don’t actually coexist.