Slow progress

Well, it seems I’m in the middle of a dip with this project. I am writing a post every day and traffic is going down, so is visibility in Google. And my team hardly responds anymore, although this morning there was a very positive e-mail from our new team member Christian. Yes, maybe I should start counting the good, counting the things that are working, not (only) the things that don’t work.

And I know every project has a phase or phases like this. And I know that if I just continue in the end it will work out fine, something good will come out of it. But as you may understand, that doesn’t really help me now, as now it’s all a bit down.

Counting the good came from the ‘free signup document’ of Jeannette Seibly. You can go here to get the document. And it starts with counting ‘what worked’ today. So maybe just put here what worked for me today (actually she mentions week or quarter, but for me for now I’ll just use ‘today’):

  • I did make the bed, the small thing I do every day that made me feel successful (again). So that worked.
  • I planned to visit Nestlé and I did go. And I didn’t get the appointment I wanted, but I did get some useful information. So my action worked.
  • My main server kind of works again. It’s not fully ok, but I can use it and the most important data and functionality is there. So picking it up also worked.
  • I planned to work on a customer project and I did, even though it took me some time to get going. And my five minutes planned became more than an hour or so and I’m almost finished. So again, something worked.
  • I felt down and called my mother. Often we end in some kind of negative talk, but today it worked and I got kind of inspired by her. So today also this worked.
  • And I did update my resume and made a cover letter and actually this was beyond my planning. So again, something that worked.
  • And of course I sent my daily quote and I’m writing my daily blog item here now, so that also worked.

So then the next thing, what didn’t work:

  • Well, the computer didn’t really work as I want to, but it’s working good enough for what I need right now, so doesn’t really count for ‘didn’t work’.
  • I took quite a lot of ‘doing nothing time’ to get going, but somehow I needed it, so also, it’s more like a ‘did work’ than a ‘didn’t work’.
  • And I need to pay some bills, but still the phone and electricity are working. So also here, postponing payments didn’t really ‘not work’.
  • And I can’t think of anything else that really ‘didn’t work’. Weird.

So yes, weird. I keep on concluding that I’m pretty successful in everything I do, except that it doesn’t pay the bills. Maybe that’s something to analyze, something to think about.

So next thing: what would I want to be acknowledged for? Well, full phrases:

  • I would like to be acknowledged for not giving up, for moving on, no matter how bad the situation is.
  • I would like to be acknowledged for my daily posts, my daily writing in this site.
  • I would like to be acknowledged for sending my daily quote (but I am already by some people, so that’s ok I guess).
  • I would like to be acknowledged for all the work I do. I do a lot you see, I guess more than what the average person does.
  • I would like to be acknowledged for all the hard work I do, or actually did, even though the result sometimes is not there or not as expected.
  • And a private one: I would like be acknowledged for being ‘loving’. I guess this is the most important one as there is a whole story behind it.

So indeed, writing these things down is inspiring as Jeannette Seibly predicted. Maybe you should do the same.

Looking forward to your comments.

2 thoughts on “Slow progress

  1. John

    Hi Guus,

    from my perspective, the project is developping quite fast; you should give yourself and your team members more time; go on with counting the small things which seem to me to be already quite huge. Please keep in mind that the blog is not even three months old…and also that we all have only limited time

    Reply

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