What's your dream project? (No, your real one).

Howard Gray -

Simple question. Often difficult to answer. But well worth it.

I was at dinner recently when someone posed this. As we all sat there searching for words (or mumbling "good question..."), the questioner – who runs a design agency – went first:

"Design an airport."

So, we asked them why.

What followed was fascinating. Their explanation revealed all kinds of stuff - from airline operations, to global cuisine, to politics, to their own family background.

Here's what I've learned from asking this question since:

  1. Answer it plainly first. Let it sit.
  2. Acknowledge you are probably lying to yourself. Repeat step 1.
  3. Remove all constraints: Time. Money. Fear. Status. What does it look and feel like now? Turn up the volume.
  4. Try a few follow ups:
    • What am I really chasing?
    • What small steps could move me closer?
    • How am I complicit in the creating the conditions I say I don’t want? (h/t Jerry Colonna for this one)

Do this alone, or if at all possible, with a friend over coffee.

So, what's your dream project?

Feel free to share yours with me, because, well, y’never know…

P.S. Mine? A bizarre love triangle of Harvard Business School, HQ Trivia, and Red Bull Music Academy. That's all I'm saying for now – currently chasing it.