Today I want to coin the term "projess". The word is a combination of 3 dictionary words: project, process, and progress.
Having a project requires following a process and making consistent progress towards it's completion.
As I was thinking about it I realized that this word cannot be just the intersection between three other words but it might be a concept that is pointing to the whole thing.
What you're going to read below is not a complete work in any way, it's just my considerations on the topic, a me thinking out-loud sort of attempt to understand what projess could mean or point to. Over the course of the next days I'm going to refine this understanding and share it here.
Considerations.
At first, my thinking was that if projess is a mix between project, process and progress, it could be used as a synonym for success or achievement - later to realize that it actually refers only to the part that comes before completion. If success and achievement are the result(output), projess must somehow refer to work or the doing part(input), that is time, energy and resources that you have to invest in before you get there.
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When you want something, if you take responsibility to make that a reality, you come up with a plan which then you need to follow so that you make consistent progress and advance towards your goal. But there seems to be no term in the dictionary for it. We have different terms that refer to different parts, but we never put them together, why?
If success is more about a positive outcome, projess is about the whole thing leading to that point. This made me think that maybe it's more similar to the word "journey"
We are so focused on what we want, we want the outputs and the results but in order for those outputs to happen or to become a reality, you have to actually focus on the inputs, the things that need to happen first so that results will naturally arise.
If projess is a synonym to success or achievement, it's somehow more indirect on a line of consequence.
Projess doesn't refer specifically to any of those stages, like the project, the process, or the progress. It refers to the whole thing. At times, you might have to think or rethink your vision and maintain clarity about your project, other times you might want to focus on going through the motions, following the process, and other times you might want to evaluate your progress to see how you're doing, or if you are moving in the right direction. Projess is not about any of those individual parts but it's about the whole thing -nurturing, taking care, and moving in real-time
In this context, Projess could mean uninterrupted progress, continuous action towards your goal. Because most people having a goal tend to focus on results they let themselves be seduced by what they want and oftentimes they don't follow up with action so they never get to achieve what they want. In this context projess could mean that you don't just commit to the desired outcome, but you commit to the whole thing -good and bad, easy and hard, from start to finish.
Although we think we know what words mean we oftentimes use language in very confusing ways.
If I have a project and I want to make progress towards it, I have to follow the process but the process also includes clarifying the project. The first stage of a project is having a vision but also a process but without the progress part because you didn't start to take action yet. You do have a project you might have a process but you're not making any progress yet. And then at a later stage, after you have started to take action, you are now making progress on your project following a certain process. At this point, you could say that you are making progress because you are going through the process not just mentally but with real-life action in the physical world. There is a difference between having a process that you design and know intellectually and following through, going through the motions, taking real-life action, and implementing that process. And that might be projess, so then making progress happens by following your process, with real-life action consistently and for as long as you do it uninterrupted that's projess.
What if projess is the work, the inputs, the attention, the energy, the resources you dedicate to your imaginary vision in reality -actually walking the path
Progress is usually how we evaluate our actions at a later point but produce is progress in real-time as you're doing it. Progress is a live progress live action right now. Projess is live visible action right now. Progress is usually measured after the fact, projess is seen and observed, it can be felt.
For example, let's say I speak to one of my coaching clients, if I say: "great, you are making progress" it means I'm speaking of his past actions;
If I say: "great, we need to continue to make progress" - I'm speaking about the future, my client didn't move yet, we are just speaking about some concept, we are still in cognitive space planning next moves, no real action has been taken yet.
But now let's imagine that I'm next to my client in the gym as she is working out. To that, I can say "awesome, great projess", because it's progress as it's happening. Projess is real work as it's happening, working on the right thing right now.
And lastly, it could simply mean flow, but not as a state of mind, but as a state of action towards your goal
