You’ve got your head down, working hard on that big project. When you finish it you’ll have achieved a major goal. Right now, your entire life is directed at that goal, towards fulfilling it.

But you do realise you can’t just focus on that? You can’t neglect everything else. The emails, the accounts, the sales, the budgets, eating right, exercising, the list goes on and on. If you think you’re just doing it for a little while you’re only fooling yourself. Do you think that by achieving your goal you’ll suddenly have less to do? You won’t. You’ll probably have more. If you neglect everything else now you’re dooming yourself.

If you don’t look after emails you might miss out on that big break. Maybe that big break is a sale for your company. Maybe it’s a speaking opportunity. If you don’t look after your accounts you might end up in financial difficulties. If you stop eating right you might not have the energy to finish your project.

The trick is to focus enough on the big project to keep it moving but not so much that everything else goes off the rails. It’s difficult but worth it. It’s all about the goal, just not always.