How To Pick Your Next Project
Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
How many projects do you have going on right now? I would wager that it’s more than one. And I would also guess there are more waiting to be done.
In July we are going to look at projects: how to pick what to do, how to get started, how to move forward consistently, how to fix stalled projects, and what to do after you finish a project.
Today we look at how to pick what to do and get it started.
What Is A Project?
There are many definitions for projects out there, but I like to define it as this:
A project is anything that needs multiple steps to complete, that you would not normally complete all at once.
Changing a light bulb is not a project. Installing shelves in your laundry room is.
Your Project List
If you don’t have a formal list of all the things you have going on, now is the time to start one.
Even if you have a list, you might want to make sure it is complete.
Think about all the things you have that are incomplete, or that you want to do. Start writing them down.
You can jog your memory by walking around your work and home and seeing what triggers memories. Or you can use a RAM dump, such as the one found at OrgCoach.net.
Do You Need To Jettison?
Next, look at the list of projects. Are they truly things you want to do? Or are they driven by “shoulds”? Have they stood the test of time, coming back to your mind time and again? When you look at them now, do you feel a surge of good energy, or a drag of negative?
If there are things on the list because someone else expects or wants you to do them, get rid of them. (Do you really need to waste time and energy getting a CPA because your parents expect it? Especially if you are not working in accounting?)
If there are things on the list you used to want, but no longer consider important, get rid of them. (Do you really need to sort your stamp collection, when you left that hobby behind 10 years ago?)
If there is something on the list because it meets the criteria of “When I have [insert name of project], I will be able to [another cool thing]”? These are not real projects and should be jettisoned if at all possible. (If you have a project on there, like “when I get my MFA then I can write my memoir”…skip the MFA and make the project “write my memoir”)
Picking A Few
Now you should have a smaller list. You are going to pick a few to work on.
This technique comes from a great little book, Get It Done: From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 Minutes a Day
In the book, you are asked to ask yourself five questions about every project:
- Do you think you will learn from, and enjoy working on this project?
- Will completing this project make a difference in your life?
- Will completing this project make a difference in the world?
- Does your soul ache to work on it?
- Ten years from now, will it matter whether or not you have done it?
These all attack the “how important is it” from different angles.
And even more importantly, this will let you find the projects that are the most important to you.
Getting Started
So you now have a list of projects. You have to decide how to tackle the list. (if you have more than five, narrow it down further)
The first thing to consider is if any of them are already started? If they are, how much would it take for you to finish them? If it isn’t much, take care of it and get it off your list.
Another way to decide which one to work on is to determine its relative impact. Will one of these projects make a bigger difference than another? Consider doing that one.
This is not to say that you should only work on one projects at a time. Natural lulls in the project are perfect opportunities to work on another project…as long as you don’t get too much going at once.
Conclusion
The key to getting projects done is to decide which ones are the most important, then narrowing it until you have just a few to work on. Then decide which ones are closest to done, or the ones that will have the most impact, and work on those to get started.
Over To The Readers
Do you have a lot of projects on your list? Do you have a list at all? Try the exercise, and see if it boosts your productivity.
Photo by mripp. Licensed under Creative Commons.
