The beginning of an idea can carry a great deal of energy. There is a name to choose, a purpose to explain and a possibility to pursue. Continuing the work after that excitement fades has asked more of me.
I learned this while building CIO Talk Network. I encountered it again in my work with CTN AON and, in a different form, with The Tricycle Way. The reason for starting mattered. I still had to ask whether the work was doing what I had hoped it would do.
The work continues after the launch
At CIO Talk Network, there was always another conversation to prepare for. One good episode did not take care of the next one. I had to keep working at it, even when I could not yet see what the effort was adding up to.
In “Stop wasting your time, Sanjog,” I wrote about people questioning the time I spent on the show. They could see the effort. What I was learning through the conversations was harder to see. That experience changed how quickly I expected a worthwhile project to prove itself.
Staying with the work also made the problems harder to ignore. Some ways of working needed to change. Some choices needed another look. Being patient did not excuse me from fixing what was not working.
I faced a similar test while rebuilding after the business downturn described in “I lost it all and was back to square one.” Rebuilding meant years of decisions before there was a story that sounded encouraging.
Know what makes the work worth continuing
I still need a reason to continue. What are people getting from the work? What needs to improve? Am I willing to do that work, even when there is less attention around it?
Before starting another program, I would ask which part of it I am prepared to keep doing after the launch. The answer should be specific enough to guide the ordinary work, when enthusiasm alone will not be enough.