6 Keys To Completing Any Project
How do you make your visions come to life? The process can be daunting. So many ideas, not enough ideas. Too much to do, don’t know what to do next. I know I’m not the only one who has struggled with this teeter-totter. And since it is my launch day, I thought I’d share my key insights I’ve gleamed from creating this blog and my app development company.
No 1 Set the intention. Say it out loud! When I came up with the vision to start this blog, it took me probably two years to just say it out loud and commit to actually creating it. It’s so easy to draw up plans in your notebook or start working on a website where no one will see it. However, the idea isn’t going to come to fruition, until you make up your mind to go for it and fully commit.
No 2 Take action.
“Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” ― Tony Robbins
This should be obvious, right? But how many amazing ideas have you had and ‘decided’ to pursue, but have nothing more than the domain name or a few notes in a notebook? If you’re anything like me, it’s dozens… So where do we start? What actions are important at the beginning to set yourself up for success? It’s when we start doing things that bring you one step closer to your goal. Especially the things that make you uncomfortable. It’s setting up that twitter account and chatting with people. It’s setting up the website and throwing a launch party. It’s contacting other blogs to guest post. The right actions are those that are going to get you one step closer to your goal. Make it real. One step, one day at a time.
No 3 Do the research. Maybe you’re thinking, yes, but I’ve set the intention to lose weight or start a business, but it never seems to go anywhere. How can you weed out the ideas that you’re going to take action on? This is a simple test for me. How much research am I willing to put into it? Answering questions like, how much do other people in this industry charge? Who are the leaders in this industry? What does this weight loss program actually entail? Chances are that if you find yourself not willing to put the research into a project up front, then you won’t follow through with it.
No 4 Weigh your findings against your values. After you’ve done your research, the next step is to weighing what you find against your values. Is that ‘super sexy’ diet requiring you to never touch a carb – ever – again and you just love, love, love croissants? Chances are, that you aren’t going to follow that plan for long. Does starting company x mean that I will need to be in my office managing employees most of the time? Do I really want the freedom to travel whenever I want? Your going to end up clashing with yourself. What is it that you really want? Start there. Weed decisions based on if they fit into your grand life scheme or not. If they don’t, is your vision more valuable than one of your ‘values’? Values can change, maybe you will find that the answer is yes.
No 5 Create deadlines. Last, I like to create deadlines for myself. I will go through the list of general actions I need to take and set a day that I want to have each item completed. At the beginning I make this a rough estimate. In one week x, two weeks after that y, and another week after that z. October 1 x, October 14 y, and October 21 z. You get the picture.
No 6 Know your limits. This goes hand-in-hand with deadlines. You don’t want to be too rigid with yourself. Things happen, be willing to readjust. Also, knowing your limits when it’s time to hire or ask for help. Know what your budget is for the project. Know that you don’t want to spend $10k on a web developer when you could do it yourself in a few days. Know what you can and can’t do is key to a successful project. Know when to change things up. Know when to ask for help. Know when it’s something you should DIY.
Which tip did you find most helpful? Let me know in the comments below. For extra credit, how you are going to approach your current project differently using that key to project completion?
