Do you ever start a little project and think it will be “no big deal”? And then it balloons, and pretty soon you’re in way over your head?
Today’s podcast will walk through specific steps we can take to tame the chaos and bring “calm” back to our lives.
First, WHY do projects balloon? Here are at least 3 reasons:
- As you start working, you realize there was way more involved than you knew.
- For example, this scenario reminds me of Boston’s big dig when they wanted to put more roads underground to create additional green park space. It turned out that all the pipes and wires were underground, but they were like spaghetti. It all had to be sorted out before any roads could be created and it went WAY over budget.
- The domino effect happens–where errors or challenges end up creating more work.
- This reminds me of the movie “The Money Pit” and the scene where the bathtub falls through the ceiling–creating a new project of needing to fix the ceiling.
- More ideas or opportunities come into play.
- “As long as we are already traveling to [this city], why don’t we also plan a gathering with all our old friends? Oh! And one has a birthday–let’s do a bigger surprise party with everyone we ever knew!”
We can’t control everything (and that’s okay!), but here are a few ideas to help if you’re in a situation like this:
(1) Prioritize simplicity and create “buffer.”
It’s tempting to schedule ourselves to the minute and leave no extra space or bandwidth between our commitments. But things usually take longer than we think. My rule of thumb is to plan 1/3 of what I think I can do. Then I have options to fill in open time, if there is any. But I usually feel ahead of the game.
For example, we recently completed a full revamp of our STEP program. We had a ton more ideas we could have implemented, but we went for the minimum viable product. A lot of those “extras” went on our Someday Projects List and we were able to create an amazing, concise STEP program that has been perfect for our STEP community.
(2) Divide your “ballooning” projects into a series of smaller projects, listed by priority. Utilize the Next in Line and Someday Projects Lists.
Imagine a giant balloon that represents a HUGE project you have in your mind and heart. Now imagine that we take this giant balloon and break it up into 6 smaller ones. A project is multiple steps with a beginning and an end. Typically, they can be segmented into sub-projects.
2 of those projects might end up on your “Current” list and you’ll focus on them this month. 3 of the projects will go to your “Next in Line” list, and the remaining one will go to the “Someday” list. You’ll still be able to make progress on this HUGE, original project, but it is more manageable now. You might realize that some sub-projects aren’t actually necessary at all, saving yourself some time in the process!
And if the project can’t be divided up?
(3) Take other “Current Projects” off this month’s list to make room for this ballooning project.
We don’t recommend holding onto other projects in the hopes that you can do them all. We recommend having a maximum of 8 projects on your list each month.
This really helps me to delegate, delay, or delete projects once I hit my cap.
I imagine an elevator with maximum space for 8 balloons/projects:
Let’s say you’re holding onto your 8 balloons/projects in the elevator (shown in the image above) and one starts growing. Your space begins to run out in the elevator.
If you leave everything as is, something is going to pop. (And this means that “the ball will be dropped” on one or more of your projects.)
To fix this issue, you simply need to take a few balloons out and put them in your “Next in Line” basket. Sure, it might feel discouraging to leave a few behind, but you know that they’ll be safe and sound in that basket until your next trip up the elevator.
The unexpected happens–sometimes for the better! I encourage you to use your discernment on what you decide to do, but then adjust your workload as needed. Remember that you are human!
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April first I want to say that you are adorable!! Second, I have to say that I saw an add for LDB and although I found it appealing, I feel like I’m pretty organized HOWEVER while speaking with my wonderful friend, Valerie Penney, about the “tidying” I was doing following Marie Kondo’s book, she then shared that she was excited to begin her LDB program because she really needed some organizational guidance and offered to gift me her other program. Well, I accepted her gracious offer and boy am I glad I did!! I will admit that I have already had a good portion of the command central already intact, under an alias of course haha, but I was able to apply a few key elements you suggested. The REAL aha moments came in the Current Projects list portion and I have to tell you . . . it completely changed my world!!!! I have gotten more done in a weeks time and FEEL amazing!! Projects that I was going to get to 6 or 7 months ago, that were stressing me out, were done in 2-3 days, other projects are lined up for the future projects, my filing system has been gutted and the clarity I have is incredible. I am also creating an online program, just about to launch in fact, and I will be mentioning your program LDB to the crazy busy mom’s I’ll be serving! So, thank you for being so thorough and so fabulous!! I enjoyed the ballooning project podcast, that happens now and again but the overscheduling tip . . . priceless! Oh and by the way, I’m not waking up in the middle of the night thinking I forgot to do something and it’s really only been a little over a week! You rock!!
Oh my goodness, Tracy!! This made my day to read about your success and all the awesome things you are doing to help mothers! ❤️❤️❤️ I am so proud of you on all fronts. Congratulations and thank you for your kind words and for helping to champion the Command Central! 🥳🥳 xoxo
I think I need to start planning 1/3 of what I think I can do, too! I find this is an ongoing difficulty for me – by the time I get in the things I think are needed for “life” and “kids/family,” then there is often little left for the things *I* want to do.
Excited to hear how this goes for you, Heidi! It was strange for me at the beginning because I felt like I was severely underwhelming myself. However, it’s been so great, and my stress level has gone down significantly. 🙂 Good luck!!