First everyone is working on one or more big projects – actually at least two of them – one in professional life and one in personal life.

Every big project is typically made up of several sub-projects or we can call them derivatives of the core  project.

Depending on the nature and scope of the project, the sub-projects may be delegated to others. When all the sub-projects are completed, the main project is sort of completed.

Sometimes, it may not work according to the plan (should we say most of the time). A sub-project gets into trouble and you start focusing a lot of your time on that “troubled” sub-project. People who are working on the sub-project may not know that this is part of a grand scheme. They may be thinking that the sub-project is the project. So they start suggesting things that will work very well for the sub-project (probably accelerate it) but the final outcome may not be good for the core project.

If you are not careful, the derivative may take over the core and you will win the sub-project and lose at the core project.

The larger the initiative, higher the chances that you might get into this trap. Since there is no point in life if you are not working on at least one large initiative, you might right now be at the risk of getting into this trap.

All the best!

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Note 1: For links to the other 196 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic:
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself

Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)

Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:

ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)