5 Mistakes that Prevent You from Finishing Your Project
It is time to wrestle with that project looming in your mind because it is probably bigger than you and helpful to others. We are innovators and dreamers and creators by nature. And there is nothing more wonderful in all the world than to step back from something you put effort into and think this was from me and can be for the benefit of others.
But how do we prevent our projects from:
a) taking twenty years to complete
b) seeming overwhelming
c) being stared at wistfully, with the tag this is not for you on front
There are five mistakes that can halt any project. Recognizing these five slip ups to avoid them can ensure your project will be well on its way to completion and implementation.
Mistake 1. Not defining your project.
No doubt your project is big and big things take time, resources, energy, and support. Your first move is to define the scope and boundaries of your future accomplishment. The target you set is a critical artifact to return to over and over again when you are in the trenches of your work. Write your mission down and remember where you put it.
While defining your final product also take a minute to recognize what you are getting into. See the girth of the work you are about to engage in, be healthily intimidated by the size of this thing in front of you, state its bigness, and then get started. Do not dwell on the final product, doing that will freeze you in place.
Mistake 2. Failing to complete the first step.
Finish the smallest, quickest, most fun task right away.
Mistake 3. Underappreciating time scheduling resources.
Time is your greatest resource. When you make your project “shopping list”, time ought to be right at the top. One of the most frequently used excuses people have for not working towards their goals, is not having enough time. But the minutes and hours are there, I promise, because people every day find it. I had to learn this lesson if I ever was going to write a book, host a blog, and manage multiple social media accounts while having a full-time job.
To overcome this pitfall, map out how much time you have in a week. Seriously, where are the extra thirty minutes hiding? My unused time was during my lunch break at work, my commute home from the lab, and the hours after dinner spent watching Netflix. This book, Writers with a Day Job by Aine Greaney, helped me find hours by teaching me to collect the loose minutes.
If this dreamy project you want to complete is for work, where do your minutes need to be redirected during your eight-hour shift? Could you check your email once a day instead of four times? Maybe request your immediate coworkers to talk to you in person instead of by email so you do not have to take time to construct a professional response. Or if your workplace culture is very friendly then it could be the opposite where too much socializing goes on? Ask your boss to schedule a quiet conference room for you once a week to get two hours of uninterrupted time for your project.
Time scheduling tools are way underappreciated and underused. Phones have apps, timers, and interactive clocks. Calendars come in paper, white board material, and sticky tabs. Project completers need these resources. Purchase one that you will use. If a paper version is distracting, go electronic. If getting on your phone to check your deadlines leads to an hour on Facebook, avoid your device hardcore.
Use a scheduling resource to stay on track.
Mistake 4. Hovering on the internet.
While Google Chrome is a great place to start collecting resources, the internet is too vast to stay there and complete your project with success.
Successful people minimize. A useful, well done project cannot include every good thing on the planet. And while the internet seems to have everything available, is accessible from a vast number of places, and is free or low costing. Think about its limitations, which makes it more user friendly. The internet is not physical, it requires electricity, and it has a legion of creators and sources.
Start in the giant storehouse but leave often with your list of suggestions. Instead of reading reviews, go to the library and get the physical book. Instead of emailing multiple prospective clients back and forth, meet one in person and let that interaction guide you to the perfect fit.
Our intuitions are strong but often we do not trust them to select the most helpful resources. We assume the internet knows best and so we spend countless, wasted hours scouring for a direction. Instead follow the feeling, wow this book is so helpful, especially chapters 3 and 7. Or those weekly seminars on social media at the business school are super hands on. The tangible, concentrated training can be much more helpful than hours of YouTube video tutorials. Go with your gut, I promise you are not missing out by selecting resources that work for you.
Mistake 5. Hoarding resources.
Any resources that are not helpful right away, return to their homes.
You need your aids to work for you, not against you. When I was in college, I fell into the great trap of book hoarding. Hours were lost in the library trying to navigate the heap of resources. Papers for class took me three to four times longer to write compared to my classmates. I would change my topics multiple times, chasing interests across the pages. And now as I fact check my novel, at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, I am facing the same problem.
But if I want this particular book to get done and to stick to the original story line, I must bat away every book, movie, or culture guide that does not fit into the small window of focus of my manuscript. My assurance is that those resources will be there waiting for me or another project completer once this book is done.
This mistake also applies to working relationships. Some people we should recruit for our project team because their skills match exactly what we need to accomplish. Others offer their services and surprise us with what they bring in. Yet some people get swept up in the energy of working on something great but cannot really offer your project anything. Those people must be addressed and dismissed for the time being.
You will not reshelve them like a book, but you do need to guide them away from being involved. Explain to them your mission and ask them to support it through encouragement. Tell them you know there is a project with their name on it and they should find it so you can be in the trenches together cheering one another on.
We are here to complete and construct great things, useful to those in the world. The resources you collect only build up what your imagination has laid the foundation for. Be picky in your building materials, take time to craft a sound structure, and hammer in those nails one at a time, every single day.
Now that you are equipped to avoid five common mistakes in any project, click around the article. I have included links to tools, books, and personal project favorites to help move you along toward your goal. I cannot wait to see what you guys are creating for our world!
