Is Your Interest Waning?
I love that feeling at the start of a new project. The thrill of creating something original, starting with a clean whiteboard to create your plans and project assignment, using a fresh new folder or notebook to document the big ideas, and the excitement of the first team meeting — everything in possible.
But then you hit the Second Round Slump and your interest begins to wane.
The Second Round Slump is the time after you receive your second set of changes from the client or the managing committee or whomever is in charge of keeping you in check and has the power to say “no” (or at least “not yet”) to your project.
The dictionary definition of Waning is to gradually decrease in strength, intensity; to decrease in power, importance, prosperity; and to draw to a close, approach an end.’
If you or your project is suffering from Waning Interest, you need to battle against the decline in your excitement about the project, or it’s possible you’ll never finish it.
Think about the moon in the sky.
It certainly wanes over the course of a month, but it also waxes — increasing in size and strength as part of its normal cycle of action.
When your interest begins to wane on a project, think back to the reasons you were originally excited to begin work on it. It’s possible that in all the day-to-day hustle and bustle of doing the work on the project that you’ve forgotten why you were so excited to work on it in the first place.
Make a list of all the reasons you’re excited about the project and the benefits people will experience once it’s completed. (Keep that list close by and refer to it as often as needed).
Take a poll and as your team why they’re excited to work on the project.
Ask the approval committee why they are excited about the project (and if they can’t answer that question, subtly suggest they join another committee).
Not every project can be a quick win, but if you can remember why you began all this in the first place, you may be able to make it through the waning interest phase and back into the waxing phase of increased strength and excitement and focus and intensity.
