Many people have exciting ideas, but they never see the light of day. The problem is that the people waited when things like mood energy and everything else feel right.
Other people enthusiastically start working on their idea right away but quickly lose their interest when they run into challenges.
You shouldn’t have to wait for the ideal day or be packed away at the first hurdle with ideas. By applying clear steps, you can start turning your idea into reasonable projects and learn how to work on a project successfully.
How to turn an idea into a project?
People thrive if they do things that their unique experience, knowledge, and perspectives prepare them for. It is called doing best work
This happens when you look for clues in the ideas you constantly think about. Among those ideas, you need to identify which one you can thrive and act on.
Hearing the word project, you are probably thinking of school or work. But a project can be anything that requires time, attention, and effort to complete. Life is full of them. While preparing for the school is a project so is moving to a new city.
A Project reveals your inner world. Many people don’t enjoy going to work on a Monday morning; however, they would eagerly work on a project they are passionate about. These are the project that allows you to do your best work and create opportunities to thrive.
To turn your idea into a first-best work project, try this simple exercise:
- Write down all the ideas you are considering. These can be everything from creative initiative work at organizing the garage or going on your dream trip.
- Cross of the ideas that you don’t deeply resonate with you and those you would be ok to let go of. The ideas you are left with are those that are important to you.
- Consider the following question:
- Which idea would you be most happy with when you complete it?
- Which will have the most significant impact on your life five years from now?
Perhaps you find an idea which you apply would wake up early or stay up late for. Or on you would be heartbroken to abandon it. The idea that meets most of these criteria is the one to work on first.
Qualities you need to make ideas a reality
If you have ever taken on a project, you know, there are many challenges involved. Some of these obstacles get in the way of starting or completing your work project.
You can easily get distracted by competing priorities, and you often struggle with your mind that tells you you are not cable of doing what you have set out to do. Maybe you don’t have real plans for your projects, or you think you lack on necessary resources. Or the people around you don’t understand what you want and need to archive your project.
Luckily there are tools to tackle these challenges.
Adopt certain qualities that help you see your best work project through. If you have or lack certain qualities depends on your motivation, personality, and overall life experience. Depending on the challenge, you might be using all of these qualities or only a few. But when you choose to develop a quality, you can strengthen it to face the obstacle you encourage while doing your project.
The first quality is intention. You need to have clear intentions for what you want to archive, so it is easier to develop a realistic plan. Next, your awareness to better understand yourself and the world around you. With this knowledge, you can identify competing priorities or find ways to maximize resources.
What also helps is to learn how to establish boundaries. It gives you time and space to work on your project.
Have the courage to face various problems that come in your way, like challenging your mind or asking for help when you need to. Lack of courage can prevent you from even starting the best work projects. You need the discipline to get started and to keep going. Whether sticking to the plan or maintaining boundaries, discipline helps you develop the habits you need to finish the projects.
How to work on a project?
After sorting through your ideas, choosing a plan is the first step. There is a formula that can help you find the idea for the best work project and steps to plan it.
You can have a clear destination and sense of direction with the so-called SMART strategy. It is an acronym that stands for:
- S is for simple: Your goal needs to be simple, so it is easier to accomplish it.
- M refers to meaning: The goal makes you more willing to put in the required work.
- A is for actionable
- R for realistic means that you can access necessary resources such as tools and skills.
- T for trackable, it should have clear makers of progress and completion So instead of “preventing hunger in children,” say “feeding 50,000 hungry kids by the year 2026.
When you have a SMART goal, think about the people who can help you archive it.
You need experience and knowledge guides to get advice or inspiration and someone to share your ideas and experiences. Aswell a supporter that helps you with other things like looking after the children while you work on the project or a person that assists you with your project. Lastly, you need some people that will be positively affected by your project.
List three ways in which category who can help you regularly with what.
How to find the time to work on your project
The problem with why people fail is they think they don’t have enough time. It is easy to fall into this trap when you work on projects.
You never find enough time; instead, you have to make it. Once you have set a time slot for one project, you can use it for any projects that follow. Divide your project into activities you can do in-house, days, weeks, and months.
To do this, use a pyramid scheme with five levels. The base of the pyramid consists of tasks you complete in a day. Then above the activities that take weeks to complete and followed by month quarters and finally a year. The bigger the project, the more parts it has and the longer it will take.
For instance, when starting a business, it might take a few days to research an idea. Then a few weeks to create a business plan and successfully launch the business can require several months of work.
Once you divide the project into activities, you can connect them to a timescale. It will show you how long the project will take, allowing you to make space in your schedule.
Look at your schedule and find blocks of time you can use for different phases of your project. Focus blocks are 1.5- 2 hours and are for tasks that push your project forward. This is key to completing a project. You need at least a week to build and matin momentum.
Also, make time 30-60 min for each block for planning and activities involving collaboration with others or connecting with your loved ones and the people who help and motivate you.
While productivity is important, you should also rest and reach. The last thing you want is burnout. It is why you should schedule one recovery block for every two focus blocks. Spend time by doing anything that recharges you, like exercising, reading, or going for a walk.
How to avoid the factors that slow or stop a project
Regardless of how well you plan and schedule, you will encounter things that delay your project or even stop it completely. You need to be aware that things and events can come in your way and negatively affect your progress.
Priorities are the things that most likely slow you down. Let’s say your mother calls when you want to start working on your project. She wants to catch, but this quality time will come at the expense of your productivity.
Luckily there are ways to manage competing priorities. The thing you are willing to do, you can simply schedule time. For example, you could tell your mother you are busy and call her back another time. But for things you don’t want to do, it is best to be clear and avoid giving a maybe when you are asked to do something instead, say not right away.
Another factor you need to beware of is when a project falls behind, and it causes other projects to slow down or even stop. To handle this, prioritize the project that causes the problem and any project that is important to complete.
It also helps limit the number of projects that you can’t finish when you have too many ongoing projects. Find out where you can make the most progress for each project and work on this.
When a project is stuck, it stays stuck. The longer this takes, the more you will struggle to start working on the project again. To get out of this still stand, you need to start moving and keep moving. Break the project into smaller tasks and commit to completing one of them in the next three days and then work on it at least twice a week.
How to schedule your tasks
Often you set yourself a big goal to work on, like losing weight or learning a language. While the thought of actually archiving it sounds exciting, you can’t wait until you have finally done it. So create your plan and then start working on it.
But the problem is you can’t get into the flow. Some days you are very productive while others, you struggle to do anything. If you continue like this, you never reach your goal. You need a moment to make progress. To do that, you need consistent strategies steps. It is the same as working on any other project.
There is only so much time in a day, but you can get a lot done when you use it effectively.
A way to do this is by batching or stacking the tasks. With batching, you do similar tasks at once, like answering emails, for instance. This reduces the time and energy you would spend when you switch between tasks. Stacking means saving time by combing different activities, for example, going hiking with people involved in your project and discussing it along the way.
There is also the task you need to do but don’t really want to, called frogs. This project frogs you should handle as soon as possible. When you think too long about them, it only increases stress and dreads your energy and taking your time away from your project.
Another way to increase efficiency and momentum is to schedule work at the right time. So people are productive in the morning while others have more focus and energy in the afternoon or even at night. Try to schedule important work when you are most alert and energized. It helps you to make easier and more consistent progress.
It is also good for your momentum if you dive back into your task easily. To do this, create a crumb trail at the end of your work session. This can be a note about your next step or task, which doesn’t require too much effort. Make this a habit so you won’t lose time or feel lost at the start of a working session.
What you can do when you completed a project
When after weeks of a month, you finally complete your best work project. It will be a moment of relief and pride. So naturally, you should celebrate maybe by inviting the people who supported you and helped you out to dinner.
Celebrating shouldn’t be the only thing you do. It is equally important to take some time out before you set yourself for the next project. Your excitement might be high, so you want to jump right into the next project. But the bigger the project, the more exhausted you get.
You can also do some cleaning up before starting another project. After all, working on a project can create a mess in your physical environment, workspace, or social life. It is important to do some cleaning, archiving, and clearing in each area. When you don’t this, you will likely have to do deal with it during the next project.
In both the physical and digital space, throw anything leftover that you don’t need anymore away. The rest should be stored for later use or organized to easily access it. Think of the relationship you might have neglected and the commitments you need to fulfill in your social life.
You can also do an after-action (AAR) review, which means learning from the experience after completing a project. You not only need to consider the project but also the people, process, and tools involved for an AAR.
Ask yourself what went well, what you have learned, and what challenges, failures, and lessons occurred. Also, make notes about any habits, routines, strategies, or events which really help you move forward and make a difference. With AAR, you will learn something to make your next best work project easier to complete.
Conclusion
To make time for your best work( the work that helps you thrive), you need to turn your ideas into a project and SMART goals. You can divide your project into smaller chunks so you can complete it in a series of weekly focus blocks.
Gain momentum when you have the most focus and energy and tackle the unpleasant task as soon as possible and find easy ways to dive back into your work.
If you like most people, you sometimes make your work unnecessarily difficult by not leveraging your strengths, expertise, and the things you are good at and enjoy. Working without them only increases your struggle and limits your achievements. But when you start considering your strengths, you can use them for your project. It can reduce the time and effort required to complete it.
