30th
Starting Small
Large scale projects can be tough to do without deadlines, and I’m a natural procrastinator. The classes I’ve done best in have been the ones where the homework was required. While I hate this structure on the surface, the results are much better when you do the work. Seems completely obvious, but much like an alcoholic, the first step is admitting that you have a problem.
The working world does an adequate job of creating deadlines, timelines, and project gates, but for individual large scale products, it’s very easy to let the timeline be ignored and go play some more Xbox. There is always the bare minimum that you have to do to stay in a job, but as I’ve counseled many employee’s, the bare minimum will not win you any awards and accolades or that fat promotion. For personal projects, the bare minimum could be enough when the alternative is not doing the project.
David Allen of Getting Thing’s Done fame discusses how every idea that we don’t record and get out of our minds and into a trusted system is another ripple in the lake of our minds. He talks about having a mind like water, where when you cast a stone into the water, the reaction is in proportion to the problem. If you’re like me, then you have more than 5 major projects going on at a time. These projects could be work related, or just be things that you want to do in your life. It can be very disheartening when a project starts to fail or your expectations get out of line to what you can deliver, so my suggestion is to start small. While I try to follow my own advice - quieting the inner mind and staying focused will be my next challenge.