It might be more evident on the golf course than in project work.

But bear with me. Let’s take a look.

Anytime I’m playing the ball on the golf course it’s the same situation.

There is some preparation I need to do. The idea is to enable me to hit the ball properly. Once that preparation is done I have to play the ball. It’s doing.

Organizing myself to have the best possible stance, know where and how I want to hit the ball and be mentally prepared to do so are three activities I’ll be thinking about to be prepared. While it’s a routine it’s one where I’ll rely on the experience I’ve gathered since I started playing. Experience here means a constant integration of what I’ve found useful hitting the ball until now into the preparation and doing the next time I’ll play the ball.

Once the preparation is done, there is the step of playing the ball. It is a step during which I’d better avoid to think as the task I learned there is to concentrate on the execution. It’s letting the learned movement flow and trust the preparation.

For this step, I had to learn that the brain is too slow to control the movement at the same time I’m executing it. I have to let the desire to control the movement go to avoid any interference with the movement.

The only thing I can do is make myself aware of the movement and be present with it. The better I become, the easier it becomes to recall the movement and use that information for my next preparation.

That’s a simple explanation of why being attached to a result doesn’t help.

It’s true on the golf course.

It’s true in project work.

The only difference is that the series of movements, i.e. playing the ball, feel more varied.