In Class 3 of our first Four Weeks to Finished session, we focused on project-planning. And I know this probably sounds so boring, but it’s actually one of my favorite things about working with my STEP Command Central. Every problem/desire/goal/frustration/hope can be turned into a “project” and put into a system that gives you some measure of control.
It’s not that we all need to turn into “control freaks,” but so much of the anxiety and depression people experience stems from a lack of control. When you can easily assess where you do/don’t have influence–and then you can create projects that move you forward where you DO have influence, you suddenly realize that you can impact your reality. That feels amazing.
These are the characteristics I identified for a “successful project”:
- It occupies one of the FEW slots on a Current Projects List.
- The project can either be done in a month’s time–or will have moved forward significantly in a month’s time. It’s not so big that it feels overwhelming. Break it down into a sub-project, if it’s too much.
- You keep all materials related to that project together so you can get right to work when time allows. (If they’re large physical items–scanning, scrapbooking, painting a dresser, building a model plane, etc., they’re in one physical location. If they’re physical papers, they’re in one folder/section of your Support Materials. If they are digital, they are in one folder/notebook in Google Drive, OneNote, Evernote, Dropbox, your hard drive, etc. (If you need to have items in multiple digital locations—because you store large video files in Dropbox, for example, but you organize projects in Google Drive, then you either set up a parallel file structure so it’s easy to find or LINK the Dropbox file somewhere in your Google document.) The goal is to have zero time spent looking for any related information.
- The project is executed with a predictable process. David Allen’s Natural Planning Model is my favorite, and it includes 5 parts (1) Purpose and principles (2) Outcome vision (3) Brainstorm (4) Organize (5) Next Actions. See our Holiday Planning Guide as a full example of that–linked at the bottom!
And here are a couple of pictures you might enjoy!
This is the worksheet we give to everyone who attends our free training How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles – linked at the bottom, as well! We invite you to identify projects, brainstorm the next actions required to get it done, and then prioritize those next actions and put them into the appropriate context (which is where you ARE when you are getting them done). Eric likes to think of the project as a Pez dispenser and the next actions like Pez candies. 🙂
When we wanted to take our family camping in Yosemite, Eric set the project up in a very Pez-friendly way, and it was awesome.
As usual, I have been SO proud of our Finishers this past week. While it has sometimes felt overwhelming as they really started digging into their backlog, they’ve been sharing things like this:
Ignoring the piles of stuff often feels like the easy route, but honestly, when you build your Command Central and realize you have the tools to actually get out of the overwhelm and stay out of the overwhelm, that feels so much better.
Homework this week for our Four Weeks to Finished program is as follows:
● Continue working with your STEP Command Central–specifically keeping VERY short, focused lists and processing all incoming ideas, papers, tasks, etc. into your new system.
● Spend some time working on your selected projects for the month and making sure that you feel comfortable breaking them down into bite-sized pieces, organizing the actionable steps, and prioritizing project work into your days and weeks.
● *Ask questions* if you find there are any sticking points. Your calendar, Next Actions List, routines, and processing should start feeling more natural at this point, and you should see yourself moving forward/building momentum on your projects.
Sending so much love and LOTS of encouragement!!
xoxo
April
Related Links
Waitlist for Four Weeks to Finished
Your Play-Along-at-Home Calendar–at the bottom of this page featuring our “Organized Mindset” Audio Series
LearnDoBecome Holiday Planning Guide Using David Allen’s 5-Step Natural Planning Model
Our Free Training (if you’re new!): How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles
I am pasting the following list of places to store digital data you had in paragraph above.
This instantly overwhelmed me and slammed my brain shut. Why?
I totally need help in knowing about each of these choices and how they compare, pros and cons, free or $ apps etc.
Or did you already make a podcast to teach about this? If so where? If not, tell me where else to find this please.
Will you?
Thanks!
You wrote
“. If they are digital, they are in one folder/notebook in Google Drive, OneNote, Evernote, Dropbox, your hard drive, etc. (If you need to have items in multiple digital locations—because you store large video files in Dropbox, for example, but you organize projects in Google Drive, then you either set up a parallel file structure so it’s easy to find or LINK the Dropbox file somewhere in your Google document.) The goal is to have zero time spent looking for any related information.”
Kathryn, thanks for asking! Some of these apps are mentioned here, https://learndobecome.com/apps-our-learndobecome-community-members-love/. Each of these apps is available as an app or a website, with free and paid versions. They all have capabilities to store digital information and some have options for making lists as well.
You can learn more about them on their respective websites:
OneNote.com by Microsoft
Evernote.com
Dropbox.com
https://drive.google.com/
I hope that helps!
In terms of this month’s 5-8 projects, how do you count projects that you don’t owe but you have a hand in? For example, I copy edit (and sometimes make content suggestions) to everything put out by the nonprofit I work for. This year we’re creating several big print pieces and even a virtual mission trip. I have lots to edit for these, but they’re not MY projects. And this isn’t the only role I play, so I would like to work on a few other projects for my “main” role. How do I count this? I have some editing routines (weekly—social media and an email), but these bigger editing projects aren’t routine by any means. Though I guess it’s normal that I usually have at least one. 😊 I hope that makes sense!
Great question! If you have a shared team project “home base” (we have a section of Asana for this), you put the team’s projects there, and then they also have them on their individual “current” lists. Then you are just tagged/assigned one-off calendar-specific tasks.
Otherwise, I put them in my “in progress/waiting” category of projects with a calendar trigger to check in by a certain date.
Sending lots of happy project-vibes your way!!
In this podcast, April mentions, if you have too many routines, to make your first project trying to minimize your routines so you have time for more projects. While I totally get this concept, I’m in the season of little kids (#3 due any day now–then I’ll have 3 kiddos 4 and under), plus I work from home part-time. How do I decrease my routines when my biggest routine is being with my kids? We’re trying to figure out a new babysitting situation because obviously some amount of babysitting helps. I guess I’m feeling a bit drowned when the routines don’t seem really manageable. And of course I love spending time with my kids, but the things to do just seem to be piling up!
I had taken a screenshot during one of your videos or you identified the different cubbies in your command central, and I can’t find it. I know everyone’s is different, but what are your command central cubbies slots labeled?
Hi, Alethea! The video you’re referring to can be found here, https://youtu.be/Wb9vRB1pQN4. We talk more about it here as well, https://learndobecome.com/episode157/. Enjoy!
April’s current categories are:
Personal Development
Church
Children & Sunny
Home Management
LearnDoBecome
Correspondence
Temporary Projects
Holding Space