My methods to tackling projects

I guess this blog is long overdue since we’ve been in a quarantined life for a year but it’s better late than never yeah? I was taking inventory of my strengths and weaknesses the other day (which is good to do every once in a while) and one of my magical powers is my ability to compartmentalize and tackle my day, year, project, etc.. 

Everyone has a list of things to get done which either gets put on the back burner or never gets started because it’s too daunting or complicated. Then time flies by and another year passes pushing you to feel unaccomplished, needing to “renew” or “reinvent” your ways and ultimately, life passes by leaving you with a bucket list of wishes instead of achievements. Well, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you search the inter-webs, you’ll find an unsettling amount of methods to being efficient. I’m going to stick to one that has a few variants with the same basic foundation. So you ready for the big secret??

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this concept. These methods will challenge and might even overwhelm you at first but trust the process and the thousands of success stories both famed and unnamed. 

So let’s say you want to work on your home and squeeze that between work, school, kids, plans, meals…. Your life really. The method starts with you sitting down and confronting this vague “work on your home” concept. What does that mean for you? What do you wish to get done, both realistic and unrealistic? Create an open-ended list titled “home projects” and just pour your heart out. Write anything that comes to mind. Examples of things on my list would be: make office barn doors, finish gym, organize pantry, etc.. They don’t have to be too detailed yet.

Some things to keep in mind when doing this: 

1. This list can be digital or hand-written.

   I have done both and tend to pick digital for work-related items and a manuscript for personal/family related items. I guess my thought process is that life is fluid so I typically carry a planner or journal of sorts with me. It can move from bedroom to kitchen to office to keep me accountable yet accessible in a non-invasive way whereas when I’m working, one way or another, I end up on a digital platform. So, it’s great to use technology in keeping me focused and honest with a track record of successes and progress. 

2. You don’t have to know everything at that time.

   This is an open-ended list for a reason. It’s a fire starter. Its whole purpose is to get you going and be a visual representation of your thoughts. Whenever you think of something, add it to the list. Which brings up the 3rd point.

3. Make it easily accessible.

   The murder of this process would be creating this list and storing it somewhere out of sight, out of mind or somewhere forgettable. I stay away from single pieces of paper and I recommend you do the same. A single piece of paper is restrictive, lacks identity and can be easily thrown away even by mistake. I have a journal and a planner. My journal is a dump of my thoughts and art so it’s perfect for this list and I transfer the actual tasks (will get to in a bit) to my planner. You can just get a good planner though and use the free notes section or something similar.

4. Make it feel good.

   Human beings love feeling accomplished. We feel accomplished by knowing or better yet seeing that something is completed. Add an empty checkbox in front of each item and make sure to go back and check it off when you’re done! Over time as the list of completed items gets bigger, I promise you (you can come back and prove me wrong) you’ll have this inner joy and might even show it off.

5. Nothing is too big or too small.

   Don’t limit this list to size, capability or financial situation at the time. Don’t put any judgement on this list either. Just list everything. Maybe you can’t afford that big project now but that doesn’t mean you never will, you don’t know that! I also have some of the silliest things on my list like sorting receipts or changing one hook. It’s not a “big home” project but who cares?! This is my thought dump and it just reinforces step #4; the more I check off, the happier and more accomplished I feel. Those silly small things come in super handy, you’ll see why later on.

So now what? You’ve started the list but how do you make it a reality amongst your hustle and bustle?

We’re going to take this same concept of writing things down and miniaturize it. The big idea is that you’re going to give a focused purpose to each day; a literal meaning to “carpe diem”.

Let’s dive down:

1. Get a good planner for your year.

   I highly suggest a weekly planner with an individual day list view. There are tons available everywhere from local bookstores to online small or large shops. There are even digital downloads if you prefer to do this electronically. This year I opted for Brilliant Planner by MochiThings. [shown in photo] I also REALLY love the Law of Attraction Planner by Freedom Mastery.

2. Start small.

   It’s unrealistic for you to get a planner, look at the month of February and just decide that project x and x out of your big home list will get done this month. Most people don’t think like that otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article in the first place. Instead, what happens is that you wake up, THINK about everything you have to do that day and just go along about your day without having any way of identifying the moments of opportunity or analyzing how it went. So instead, I suggest you start small: no big-ticketed items just yet.

   In your month view, write down the obvious things such as kids' soccer practice, the dog’s heartworm medication, your planned days off from work. These are the “they’re going to happen” things without much thought put into them. Use this view as a reference for each week so when you’re going down to the weekly and daily tasks, you don’t have to think from scratch about your prior obligations.

   Next, I want you to go to your current day and just list everything you need to get done. Step 5 from our prior list is KEY here. List everything and I mean everything. My list will include things like: dishes, tidy bedroom, put away clothes, wash whites, 3 work meetings, complete project proposal.. you get the idea. Make sure to check or cross off everything you’ve gotten done. This is so important!

3. Do this daily.

   There are two methods:

   a. Write the day as a list of items similar to your “home list” we created earlier. [my preferred method]

   b. If you have a daily planner with an hourly view, block off the items with time. i.e. block off 3-3:30 PM for yoga, 10-11 AM for your first meeting, etc..

   Get in the habit of doing this everyday for a week or two. At least try to. This doesn’t mean you can’t have time off. If your day is supposed to be chill, then write chill! I’m sure there are SOME things you’d still like to get done that day, like take a shower, make dinner, watch 3 movies, make popcorn from kernels.. whatever. Do you see what I’m getting at? The idea is to have a visual of your literal day.

4. Analyze!

   Time to look at the lists and how your thoughts vs. reality panned out. Did you get everything you wanted to get done everyday? Were there things you moved over? Were there things you just couldn’t get done? What about your time use? Did you have any extra free time during some days by accident? Or things that took WAY too long when you thought it’d be quick? What about any patterns that presented themselves… like on Thursdays, you planned on cooking dinner but it wasn’t checked off on any Thursday. Look at your accomplishments for the week and dwell on the wins for a bit!

5. Dust off the home list.

   Whenever you’re ready, be it a few weeks or a few months, you’re going to start working that list into your months, weeks and days. There are multiple ways to approach this: 

   You can start from a week’s perspective where you look at your home list Sunday night and think to yourself, yeah I can get x done this week and work it through your daily schedule. The same concept can be applied to a daily view where you know, based on your previous analysis, that you can knock out everything on your list in 3 hours and can certainly add one small home task like changing that one hook 😜.

   You can also choose a dedicated approach. Based on how you usually spend your time, you can assign yourself a project or two to tackle this month. You have your musts written down in your monthly view and based on your patterns that you’ve analyzed, you’ll know when you can dedicate yourself to completing a project. Break down that project into smaller bits that you can work into your lighter days. Set a deadline to completion that’s realistic which doesn’t have to be in the same month or even year, but you’re starting in small bits and checking them off as you go.

   Or you can mix it up like I do; dedicate monthly projects and add on ad-hoc items during the lighter weeks or days where I feel like doing something extra. 

So there you have it. My methods to tackling anything! Told you it’s harder than it sounds but if you stick it through you’ll feel your inner superpower come to fruition, accomplished and overall more fulfilled. You don’t have to be out of your mind during the quarantine all the time, this can keep you busy! It goes without saying that you can apply these methods to more than just home projects; breaking down big things into smaller digestible pieces has been the name of the game since we figured out how to eat food! 😅 I also have to point out that the point of this is to not get down on yourself when certain things aren’t completed but to bask in what you DID complete and focus your energy on the positives. I can honestly say that I became a better problem solver, multitasker and critical thinker the longer I’ve done this and I wish the same for you!