How do you keep yourself going when in the midst of a complex, long-term project? Sustain motivation?
What if it is taking so much longer than you thought it would?
How do you keep going when the going gets tough?
What if you have to keep learning new skills every step of the way, and life slows you down?
Carrie and I are right there with you! It happens to all of us. Our motivation and energy can be hard to sustain over the long haul.
Sometimes you need to stop and take a breath, and celebrate your progress instead of bemoaning how much more there is to do.
So we did. We made a poster of all the completed graphics to see what they look like in print and to hang on our wall to inspire us to keep on keeping on.
I am so excited about how the graphics look in print and how much more power and beauty they add to the text. We had only been thinking about an e-book but now we need to investigate ideas for print.
We also went to lunch, took some silly photos and laughed lots.
We took the time to reflect on all the we have accomplished and learned so far. We made a list of the wins, and cut ourselves some slack when we looked at the list of challenges we’d dealt with.
We evaluated what’s been working and what hasn’t and set some goals. We strategized about how we deal with the work we want to do, as well as what we have to do, with more grace and less guilt.
We are going through the process of self-directed learning with this book project. Most of the time we are having tons of fun playing with all this new learning. But sometimes there are bumps in the road. Big ones. What’s that saying? When the going gets tough, the tough get going – hmmm.
Or keep going.
So we know we can keep on. We can figure it out.
You can, too.
What are you learning by doing?
What helps you keep going?