Task versus Project Thinking

We are conditioned our entire lives to focus on achieving tasks. Clicking off that to-do list or learning random facts for a test in school. We ‘task’ our way through life. But once we are done with our tasks, have we really moved the needle?

I have seen a lot of resumes over the years. I hate to say that most are filled with a litany of tasks that people achieved at their previous jobs. Updates completed, reports delivered, budgets reviewed, emails responded to, committees participated in…it goes on and on. But what is most always missing is what the outcome or goal was for those tasks. What was the culmination of those efforts? Did they move anything forward?

Look at everything like a project.

There is nothing I love more than a good project. I think that is why I became a consultant. I like a beginning, middle, and end to whatever I have set out to do. And that end had better leave the situation in a much better place than where it started. And it isn’t really the end, in some regards, it is only the beginning. As I finish my project work for my clients, their work is just beginning. Now it's time to execute the plan.

Projects are unlimited. They may start out with a framework of tasks, but the ending should feel like there is nothing to stop you. Making a recipe is a task. Creating a theme-based sit-down dinner party is a project. Handling incoming referrals from other sources is a task. Creating a local affinity program is a project.

Do you spend your days reacting?

In my former role as Regional Relocation Director, I maintained a running list of potential projects. I was fortunate enough to have a staff that took a significant amount of task-oriented work off my desk. Not everyone is so lucky. But that’s where technology and AI can help, along with offloading menial tasks.

Many relocation professionals have become reactionary. We spend our days responding to tasks coming at us. When the tasks are done, we feel like we are done. I have a newsflash: we are never done. Or shouldn’t be. We may perceive ourselves as just an expendable commodity, and maybe we are. But if you aren’t being paid more to create and execute a meaningful project, do you have the drive to do it? Or are you doing the bare minimum just to maintain the status quo? It’s time to make yourself indispensable.

Hope is not a strategy.

It comes down to strategy and time management. Looking big picture and long term. We must stop this short-sighted thinking. If we can just make it through the summer — or until the end of the year. My favorite quote is “Hope is not a strategy.” As far as I can tell, there isn’t a relocation savior who is going to rescue our industry.

It's time to take a deep dive into how we can save ourselves. It means pushing aside tasks and focusing on meaningful projects that will change our personal and professional trajectories. It means work. It means looking at the problem differently, working together, and taking back control that has been lost.

So what is your next project? Let me know how I can help.

“When our work is project-focused, we’re not a cog in a vast machine. Instead, we’re a contributor with agency, someone who is working with and for the agenda we’ve agreed to.” ~Seth Godin, American author, marketing expert, entrepreneur, and a former dot-com business executive.