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up:
  - "[[Efforts]]"
related:
  - "[[The big differences between efforts and projects]]"
  - "[[Why Efforts are Liberating]]"
created: 2020-06-01
---
The best way to understand "efforts" is to walk through an example of how "efforts" naturally support existing ideas.

For example, check out [[Sensemaking happens by triangulation]]. It started out as an idea I had. I wanted to better understand what "sensemaking" was and how it worked. 

- So I made a new note. 
- It was called "triangulation" 
- I looked up stuff and brushed up on the history of triangulation in navigation.
- Slowly, the note developed into a direction *I could not plan for ahead of time.*
- I adjusted the title to match what was growing within the note.
	- So "triangulation" became "Sensemaking through triangulation"
- I felt the spark of wanting to share this idea.
- ***That's when it became an effort!***
- That forced the title to change one more time.
	- So "Sensemaking through triangulation" became [[Sensemaking happens by triangulation]]. Yes, that's much stronger.
- Then I made it into a workshop lesson.
- Then I replaced it in the workshop because I wanted to get us more on hands-up repetitions.
- But I still liked the idea, so I rewrote it into a youtube video
- ...and a twitter thread
- ...and later I even rewrote it for my newsletter
- ...and later, I want to get it up on my website.
- ...and always, I have this treasure to fuel my own thinking.
- That's the power of thinking in "efforts" and not projects.

Go back to the first bullet. Can you imagine if tried to call this a "project". A project of what?! I didn't even know what I was trying to do! It would have smothered my spark of curiosity and replaced it with feelings of guilt for not completing it—whatever "it" was. 

> It was only because I eventually framed this note as an "effort" that I benefitted from the space to breath with the idea and allow it to grow into one of my favorite ideas!

Had I been worried about some sort of project-driven output, with a hard deadline, this idea would have never evolved to what it has now become.

This is the power of "efforts" over "projects" when it comes to developing your ideas. 

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> If you work in a corporate environment with clear deadlines and less creative work, you'll be fine with projects.

> If you work with ideas, you'll finally feel free with efforts.


Back to: [[Efforts]]