That book you wanted to write, that retreat you wanted to lead, the website you wanted to create? It seemed like such a good idea at the time.
Now, weeks or months into it, you’re facing the seven-headed hydra of ancient Greek mythology. Every time you finish a task, two more sprout in its place. It seems like the more you do, the more there is to do.
It all looked so lovely when you started, but now it’s eating you alive.
Sounds just like your project, eh? However, before you go treating your project like a monster and putting it to the sword, remember that it’s not really a hydra.
Your project will have a life after the ‘release date.’
When you left your mother’s womb, you didn’t stop growing, didja? You left the womb when your skin, your organs, your systems were intact enough to sustain life, but you were far from the finished product.
Your project will be the same way. Instead of thinking of it as needing to be complete, think of what will it need minimally to sustain life out in the open.
But, that’s a hard thing to figure out. Let’s switch back to the hydra metaphor, since that’s where we started. I think Heracles has something to teach us.
Those Greeks really knew something.
The seven-headed hydra was, according to the ancient Greeks, a guardian to the underworld. It lived in a spring in a swamp, had poisonous breath, and every time you cut off one of its heads, two more grew from the stump where you severed it.
Heracles was one of the heroes of Greek mythology, and it was one of his 12 heroic labors to kill the hydra. He did it, but not alone.
How to kill a hydra.
The first thing Heracles did was to cover his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes. Then he shot flaming arrows to flush the hydra out of its lair. Realizing that simply hacking at the monster wasn’t going to work, he asked his nephew Iolaus for help.
Iolaus used a firebrand to scorch the neck stumps of the monster each time Heracles cut a head off. With the hydra finally dead, Heracles second heroic labor was done. Two down, only ten more to go!
First, flush your project out of its lair.
A monster is always scarier when you can’t see it. Your project is probably hidden in the mists and noxious fumes of assumptions.
Take some time to clear your head and your heart, and connect with your true essence. Then list every detail, everything you think needs to be done to finish this project.
I’m guessing just listing everything in an orderly fashion on a piece of paper is going to make it seem a lot smaller than you think.
Seven heads just ain’t normal.
You don’t really need to hack and scorch your project. But, you do need help.
If it really seems like a hydra-headed problem, you probably have lost perspective on it. Get someone to sit with you while you look through your project. A mastermind buddy or a colleague can help you find the truth in your heart while challenging your assumptions about what truly needs to be done.
Remember that even though each head may look vital to you, when you take a step back, seven heads is probably way too many.
You’re used to the project having seven heads, so it’s going to look funny to you when some are missing. But, when you are done removing the extra pieces, others are just going to see a normal-looking project.
Your friend can help you regain this perspective on your project. And, remember…
Remember that your project is only a part of your business.
Your project isn’t a baby, and it isn’t a hydra- it’s part of your business. It doesn’t need to be complete like a person.
This means that one way a project can be ‘completed’ is by introducing other projects that will follow it up in the future, maybe far in the future.
A real-life example of hydra-hacking.
When I first was working on Unveiling the Heart of Your Business, I was struggling with what subjects to include and which ones to leave out.
The chapter on websites was clearly a hydra-head. If I wrote one section of it, I needed to write another, and another… probably another hundred pages. Ugh!
The answer? We left it out, to be dealt with in the future. A year later it became a second book.
Remember that your projects aren’t hydras, and they won’t eat you, unless you let them. Get your project out in the open, connect with your heart, and get help from someone to create stopping points.
Resource: Heracles and the Hydra, entry found in Wikipedia
