project management Archives - Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen Your Idea Optimizer

If I stop to think how far I have to go I may just plain stop all together. But if I measure my journey in small steps I know I can make it to my finish line. That’s why it’s important to know how to create a project manager for most of your undertakings.

Big Picture vs. Small Steps

OK, I have a big picture. I want my blog to be in Thesis with a new Theme by Thesis Styles and I want to use Scribe to optimize my post.r. That’s my big picture. And there are things about each one of those I have to learn in order to make my blog effective.,

When I think of all I don’t know how to do around making that happen overwhelm kicks in. Unless I divide my learning process up into smaller steps, it is hard for me to move forward. I need some version of a Project manager.

Business is simply one project at a time

There is a basic principle I don’t understand on my web host.

The two simple steps are 1) spend ten minutes reading in the cpanel and 2) if necessary call up technical support. When I put a time element on each of those we’re probably talking 20 minutes tops. That’s not too painful.

I started reading in the Word Press instructional section and I can see where that will take some time. But on a project manger I would schedule 45 minutes to an hour a day until I feel complete with it.

I have to sort out plugins that I will use. Fortunately my partner in Magnetic Blog Builders Nancy Hendrickson has put great ones on that site. I have only a few I want to add so once I see what comes with the Thesis theme which comes really geared for optimization I’ll know what to add. I’ve been working on gathering the descriptions and have begun to make a strong list for myself. I can activate those plugins an hour. Where are we now? 2 hours and 10 minutes. And its break time.

Put a time estimate on your task list

Adding a time estimate on your tasks unsticks you fast. If I spent 2 hours and 10 minutes and got all that done I would feel like I was being propelled out of the gate. I see it’s the things I don’t know how to do that are slowing me down. But the easy answer to that is “ask for help.” I was trying to learn to wrap text around an image and had found some instructions that looked like I had to past some code somewhere. You can imagine how I felt about that. But when I asked Nancy how to do it, she told me to right click on the image, choose image properties and choose left. She also told me to put 5 and 6 in the pixel blanks. It takes seconds. I did go back and fix about 30 images in past posts. Ask for an answer from someone who’s more knowledgeable on the topic. That will quickly and effortlessly relieve the stress of feeling stuck.

Take smaller steps

You know how much better you digest food when you take smaller bites and chew longer? The same goes with project management. You will see there are 20 minute tasks and 2 hour tasks. Schedule the long tasks first thing in your day when you feel fresh. Then knock your list down fast by completing a series of 20 minute tasks on your list. Don’t let those little guys pile up – they will feel like overwhelm even when they actually are not.

Acknowledge yourself

When I learned to wrap text around a photo and made all those changes it was cause for celebration. I had learned a new trick and I had made things on my blog look better. Let out a few “yipee’s” when you knock something off your list. I have my Magnetic Momentum Builder that is my entrepreneurial cheer-leading section but even marking things off your list is an acknowledgement.

Keep your Today Lists short

Choose three things you are going to accomplish in one day. No more. Then you will see those completed and feel the progress. You can sneak into tomorrow’s list if you want but you don’t have to. You have earned that cup of tea or that walk in the woods.

Make everything a bite-sized project

When you start any project break it up into phases – the foundational phase first – the absolute first things that have to be completed and once you write down and plan for the other phases, don’t think about them again until it is time to address them. If you need a certain supply item for phase 2, put it on the to-do list of phase 1 so it will be there when you are ready. Marking a list with how long a task will take is one of the best picker-uppers I find. A huge long list can turn out to be 18 hours – easily done in a week.

I have an ebook that is basically ready. And I keep putting it off. I could schedule a re-read and revision time of 2 hours. I could have a good time working on a cover even if it takes me three or more hours. I could write a landing page for it in two and a half hours (if I haven’t already done that and forgotten). That’s seven to eight hours and I can schedule them over a period of two or three weeks and it would be done. Chunk your project down and schedule at least one step every week until it is finished. You might set aside a project day, just like you set aside a day to work on your business. That could make you feel very productive at the end of the day.

Take it one project at a time – one step at a time – and you will definitely arrive where you want to go.

by Cara Lumen

The only reason I get to talk about the joy of completion is because I took over a year to do the final editing on some teleclasses I had recorded and it is now done and I AM JOYOUS!!!!

Isn’t it amazing how long we can put off something that will give us as much joy and satisfaction as completion? I can’t tell you how many half started (or is it half finished) e-books I have. And when I rediscover them I always find I’m a lot further along than I thought.

I wonder what made me stop. It was probably that something else popped to the top of my completion list, or I found something totally new and exciting to explore. And things pop to the top because they needed. So perhaps it’s simply that their time has come.

But back to the joy of completion. When I finished my first CD cover, and had that jewel case sitting on my desk it was a thrill. When I complete an e-book and make the sales page and post it in my shopping cart I am ecstatic.

Why do we neglect completion? Why do we put it off when it feels so good?

You know, it doesn’t have to be a very big completion in order to count. Hey, taking the notes that are all over my desk and putting them into my Quick List is a win. Listening to a downloaded teleclass I’ve been meaning to get to gives me satisfaction and new knowledge. Taking a moment to organize the files on my hard drive should be properly celebrated. And making a new mind map of my next steps demands a pat on the back.

Yes, I have a “To Do” list. I call it my “Quick List.” It stays open on my computer and every idea I have goes on it. It has a section for article and e-book ideas, things to do to strengthen my web site, phrases I like, links to remember and next steps to take. It holds a calendar with the phone numbers of the teleclasses I plan to take, my coaching schedule and my “Do Today” list. So keeping track is not the problem. But sometimes completing is.

I think it’s time for sticky notes. What if, at the end of each day, I acknowledged myself for something I had completed and write it down? Hopefully the number of sticky notes could become quite decorative. At the end of the week I would read them over and bask in the joy of completion. I would really take time to acknowledge myself and feel how good it is to have moved forward through completion. Then I would clear the decks and start fresh for the upcoming week.

My coaching clients are usually entrepreneurs with a lot of ideas. Part of my job is to get them to focus on one idea, complete it and then choose a next step. Often I meet with resistance. Not intentionally, just because they are excited about so many things and want to do them all. Do you know that feeling?

If you run around with a lot of half completed aspects of your business you will never feel like you are making any forward motion. On your calendar, schedule specific times to work your business. It may be to write articles or research potential radio interviews or it may be to invoice work you have completed. If you don’t set aside time to work your business every week you will stay at exactly the place you are now. And if you don’t complete a few steps each week you are simply dog paddling to stay afloat.

Completion is tied into commitment. And commitment works wonders. Commitment lines up all manner of magical gifts from the universe in the form of tools we need, people we need to speak to, and circumstances that offer new opportunities.

Sometimes I don’t complete because what’s left to do is not very interesting. It’s much more fun to create something new than edit something you’ve already done, or write the thank you page for your web site, or set up a new product in your shopping cart. But it is tying up those final ends that is the icing on the cake. Don’t let a project go uncompleted because of three things on your “To Do” list that will take you 20 minutes to complete. You are robbing yourself of the great pleasure of completion.

I know that part of my non-completion is because of bumping other things to the top of the list. And maybe they do need to be bumped up. Maybe they are more of a priority. Perhaps I can focus on celebrating what I do complete rather than what remains to be done.

What we focus on we attract more of. If I focus on completion, and if I celebrate each success, I know that I will find myself completing more and more…..and more.

How Project Management Helps You Make Good Progress One Step at a Time