In our lives we constantly deal with projects. Some are small, others are big. Some are simple, others are complex. Some are short, others are long. But most importantly some are strategic while others are operational.
It is vital to clearly see whether project is strategic or operational to concentrate on the right things. When you put in the work into strategic projects then you move forward to your dream life. Working only on operational projects leads to a land of busy days without real progress.
Let’s have a closer look at each category.
Strategic Projects
Projects which support goals are strategic. Completing strategic projects leads to achieving goals and eventually to your life vision. Therefore by default strategic projects are highest priority and deserve best focus and time in a day.
They appear in projects list as a result of goal brainstorming and planning. They are your proactive decisions.
It’s important to clearly see what belongs to strategic projects at all planning horizons down to your day plan. When life goes smooth they are not urgent, but they are the most important things in your day tasks list.
It can take some time before your system will have this visibility for strategic projects. For me it took a couple of iterations adopting different parts of the system to have a clear view. Now I can easily see strategic projects in my projects list views (actually I even see to which goal particular project belongs by looking at project title), week objectives for strategic projects in week overview, and specific tasks in Today view.
Operational Projects
What are these? It’s as simple as any project which is not strategic.
Operational projects appear because something happens in our lives. Maybe something at home needs be done, someone or some institution requires us to do or provide something, some problem happened and needs to be solved, etc.
With operational projects we react to outside demands and everyday needs. Ideally we would delegate all of them to other people. Unfortunately this is rarely possible for regular people. So we have to handle them.
Oftentimes they are urgent. Sometimes they are important. Nevertheless it’s better to tackle tasks for operational projects when you’re in lower energy and focus state during the day and use your peak hours for strategic projects.
I love dividing projects to strategic and operational as it guides my efforts and keeps me focused on moving forward life vision. This gives me clarity whether I progress or got stuck in a land of busy days. And it’s super easy.