How can you stay motivated when dealing with project leadership stressors?

Break down the overall goal into milestones and then start on the first. For example, if it's the beginning of the project, you can start with identifying key players, how you're going to validate you're on the right track, and what potential blockers for the first milestone are. Prioritizing this way allows you to focus and gives you permission to stop thinking about everything, which reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed.

In my experience leading multiple complex project implementations, when stressors rise, I typically follow a framework that I learned in mindfulness meditation. It's called the RAIN method and it goes like this: R: Recognize the stressor A: Accept the stressor for what it is I: Investigate it, meaning, dig a little deeper as to what is causing the stress N: Nurture, meaning, practice empathy and kindness towards yourself. This method has repeatedly helped me understand what next steps I need to take in order to address the things that are causing stress. It has also allowed me to clear my head and stay motivated toward problem-solving. And once the thing that was stressing me is resolved, I give myself a small reward and move on.

Staying motivated when dealing with project leadership stressors can be more challenging than you want. If you are working on projects close to what I like to call "the Sun," you will always deal with some pressure. It's crucial to maintain your focus, lead your team with a positive attitude, and complete your projects successfully. Two tips will help you in these situations: 1: Set Clear Goals:Clearly defined project goals and objectives that can provide a sense of purpose and direction; they can change, but we should also understand that we should be open to change and improve. 2: Keep an open channel:The best way of reducing stressors is to keep them in the loop as much as possible; don't ignore them; that will be a significant error.

Continue to reaffirm and seek clarity on what is being asked as well. Sometimes things can be misinterpreted which can lead to stress. Resolving communication issues can always help alleviate stress.

Staying motivated amid project leadership stressors involves a few key strategies. Set clear goals and break them into manageable tasks, maintaining a sense of progress. Prioritize self-care through exercise, mindfulness, and proper sleep to boost resilience. Regularly communicate with your team, seeking their input and support. Embrace a growth mindset, viewing challenges as opportunities to learn and improve. Lastly, celebrate small wins and remind yourself of the project's bigger purpose to stay motivated.

Understanding the goals is key: who cares about what and why do they care. Someone in Sales may care about specific talk tracks and benefits that they can add to their playbook, someone in Support may care about the overhead of supporting the new work, and Senior Leadership may care about how it contributes to the overall strategy. Identify these goals and make sure you address them. Not only will you build the right thing but it'll instill confidence in you as a product leader.

I find that focusing on what I control and staying focused is the best for completing the tasks at hand. It’s good to take a step back and reflect on where you came from and where you are headed. If things seem to daunting , just break it down into smaller pieces and keep chipping away. I know it is a bit single-minded and robotic but I have found it to be highly effective.

Realistic goals are attainable and should be recognized at the project and team level. Be inclusive and give credit to the originator.

Recognize that there are times in a project where you will have higher workloads (e.g. the discovery phase or launch phase) and times where you may be looking for things to do (e.g. the build phase where engineers are heads down). If you find that you are constantly operating at the same, extreme workloads, you need to prioritize. This may not be something you can do on your own and a good method is to ask your manager what they care about the most. Be honest and candid if they say "everything": you are not being set up for success.

Time Blocking and identifying my peak productivity hours works best for me. Time Blocking helps me stick to my schedule, keeps me engaged, and reduces task fatigue. Being able to move from task to task makes the larger items seem less daunting. I identified my peak productivity is from 10-12 and 1:30-3. I schedule the more complex task during those times when I am at my best.

By sharing the "load" and delegating as required, you can reduce the stress felt by yourself and members of the project team.

Trust is the key ingredient to strong, positive, and supportive teams. Project leaders send out cues (actions and words), a lot of the times unconsciously, about how the project is going, will go, and how the team is performing. These cues need to be consistent and need to match or else the team (internal and external) loses trust. Trust is earned best in situations when the team needs to deliver bad news or reflects on projects that don't go well: how does the project lead react, how do they communicate it externally, and how do they set the team up for success afterwards. The easiest way to build this trust is through honesty and relying on the team to solve problems, not dictating top-down.

Some ways to build a great team: *encourage collaboration *resolve conflict in a constructive manner *as a leader ensure you model positive behaviour

Team leadership is a platform to inspire, motivate, grow, mentor and delegate. Use this platform responsibly and without bias. Allow others the opportunity to serve as leader over a portion of the meetings/discussion.

Check in with team members on a human level too. We're all in this together and understandubg what's happening with your team outside of work can be helpful in keeping them engaged and making adjustments where necessary.

Learning happens in two ways: if you try to view your experiences with "open eyes" and if you have a supportive team who feels comfortable giving you critical feedback. If you have the former but not the latter, find a mentor or external support group of people in the same role to share experiences with. Then with some feedback, start to implement small changes and reflect on the outcomes. For example, leave less detail for the engineering team to give them the opportunity to contribute to solutions, or leave more details for engineering so that they don't have to guess about what they need to deliver.

Conduct project post-mortems to learn what went well and what could be improved on. Make sure to perform these reviews after the completion of every project. Teams should have documentation or notes to refer when conducting a pre-mortem exercise, before the start of each new project.

Gaining perspective and true feedback is valuable. What went well. What could have been better. Lessons learned for the future.

Debrief, recap and close out always! This is a critical part that often receives little attention but it is where you often learn the most. Don't forget to celebrate too!

Celebrate and document them! It is important to document lessons learned, but I feel it is just as important to document the successes of you and your team. It is easy to lose sight of them during a long project. Documenting successes allows you to reflect when times are challenging and serve as a reminder of why you do what you do.

I've found that being proactive during a project can help alleviate some of the more common stressors that arise. If you have a portfolio of similar past projects, take the time to go review them at length, especially any lessons learned. Outside of not be able to make contingency plans for every possible issue that may arise, enjoy leading the project through it's stages. Interact in meaningful dialogue with project sponsors and stakeholders as building these relationships can help with approaching them later with bad news instead of walking on eggshells. Lastly, understand that nearly every project has its setbacks. When you go into project with that in mind, it won't be such an ordeal when they do. If they don't, then great!

It is natural to experience stress in leadership roles, REMIND YOURSELF OF THE BIG PICTURE, i.e., the broader purpose and impact of the project. Connecting with the project's larger goals can provide a renewed sense of motivation.

Another way to manage your stress and motivation is by planning it out. Once you have developed your project roadmap take a step back and find the milestones you know will produce the most stressors, for example: launch day and the several days or weeks following it! Now you have the opportunity to set the tone of the launch stress - did you communicate with your team, your family, your leadership, if no, you should, it allows them to understand and set expectations with you and how they can support and be available during those times. Mentally preparing yourself for longer days, frustrations, roadblocks will minimize the negative impact to your stress and motivation as you will not have to be so reactive.