Emotionally intense projects

Summary: Different goals, tasks or projects require varying degree of emotional engagement. Some are emotionally intense, while others are rather bland and light on our emotions. It helps to be aware of the load coming from those intense projects. 

Projects are emotionally intense when:

• situation is new
• we experience uncertainty, anxiety, ambiguity, indecision
• there is  risk
• stakes are high

Examples of emotionally intense projects (for me):

• starting a new business or product
• buying a car for the first time
• deciding on a brand name for a new business
• shopping for something expensive where I'm not sure what I need yet

Things are emotionally easy when:

• stakes are low
• we've done them before 
• there is no risk

Examples of projects / tasks that are usually emotionally easy for me:

• paying bills
• buying food 
• doing taxes

I noticed that at any given time I may have any number of upcoming, emotionally easy tasks. It doesn't hinder my productivity in any way.

But if I have multiple emotionally intense projects in a short period of time, my productivity goes down. 

Risk, ambiguity, anxiety and uncertainty that come from those projects are costly to handle. Since earlier this year I began to plan consciously for closing an intense project before starting a new one. It builds some momentum in accomplishing goals and helps me stay focused. 

Every time I start something new I try to assess how emotionally difficult it will be. I try not to put too much pressure on myself at any given day or week.

In other words, making difficult decisions (in those emotionally intense projects) is hard enough on its own; adding multiple different decisions in different areas of life to be made in a short period of time is too stressful and/or unproductive.

Comments

[Kamil Rudnicki]

Great post. How do you know you are less productive?

[Jakub Petrykowski]

@Kamil

When there's too much on my plate, I start spinning my wheels.

Primarily it means that decisions required to make progress get delayed.

I may also get distracted more often.

See also my post on distractions: http://blog.petrykowski.net/2010/08/mental-work-focus-distractions.html

In that sense, every emotionally intense project is a distraction to all others projects; attaining focus is harder; my thoughts tend to jump between the projects and I worry a bit here, a bit there, instead of solving one puzzle at a time. As if the brain didn't know that these areas of my life are to be kept separate :)

[Igor]

Clever!

Yet still... what to do if I just *have to* handle 2+ such projects at a time?

[Jakub Petrykowski]

@Igor

I'm careful not to suggest generic solutions for a situation when someone has too much on his plate. I have found some ways to deal with this kind of situation, but I'm not sure they will work for anyone else.

With that in mind, here are some ideas:
- above all else, it is important that I recognize the situation -- I need to be aware that there are several difficult things to handle in the next few days or weeks
- whenever I can't move forward / finalize something today but it keeps bugging me, I use calendar. I say to myself "alright, next action for this is X, and the earliest date when I'll be able to do something about it is Y, now stop thinking about it". A typical example is a decision that requires meeting with someone that I just can't have today.
- about decision making: as long as I keep getting new input and new perspectives, it's fine to delay them. But when I have been having identical doubts for a few hours / days, often interrupted with other duties, it's time to set aside a day just to make the decision - any decision.

Does this answer your question?

[Relationship Consultant]

Very Interesting. yah, those were the things I consider as emotionally intense. It could break my day.Thanks for the share!! I enjoyed it.