… isn’t the push to meet a tight deadline, or what you do under pressure.
Crunch time is when you have a bit of time, space and discretion about what to do, and you don’t really feel like showing up.
- It’s paying attention to people and processes when they’re doing well, long before they break down
- It’s committing a bit of time every week to work on the important, non-urgent tasks that will bear fruit (or suddenly overwhelm you) down the road
- It’s going to the gym and doing something when you feel a bit off-colour
- It’s about being a pro – about showing up and shipping the work – rather than being ‘authentic‘ or following your feelings in the moment
Crunch time about is what you commit to, under what conditions, and how you set things up and get the work done long before the crisis, so that crunch time in traditional sense rarely happens.
If you can keep your momentum when you’re not feeling great, when your motivation wanes, when there’s an interesting distraction… then you’ve done most of the hard work. The easy days will take care of themselves.