‘May the soul of this unfinished project rest in peace’
– Graveyard of Unfinished Projects
Majority of people, sometimes, lack motivation to finish their jobs, especially if it requires a lot of efforts. They also underestimate hard work required to complete the tasks. Are you one of them?
According to Psychology Today, when we first get new project, most people would feel excited to face the new challenges. And yet – after few days or even months and when the project is a bit “too much”, we feel the need to stop or even abandon it. As quoted in Psychology Today, “When work turns into harder tasks, it takes longer to complete so there will be some tedium and drudgery involved.” Consequently, you will stuck with the project and without realising it, you just leave the task behind altogether.
So, how many projects have you abandoned?
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Although you might feel that those projects are “impossible” to finish, eXPD8 said that “the start of every successful project is good definition of goals and an understanding of what you want to deliver. Knowing these comes from a statement of work which is a great tool for project management and a key to success when undertaking lengthy tasks.” Understanding your own project can help you get out of the mundane task, but it is not enough. You should also able to track your task and calculate the time needed to tackle all the undone jobs. Needless to say, you need every tool such as time tracking or project tracking template to help you.
Additionally, we have three more tips to pull you out from the “graveyard of unfinished projects”.
Tips 1 Organise your thing
Write down everything you have to do and prioritise the most important one so you can get that done first. As best as you can, avoid multitasking as it will only slow you down. For example, choose task that is close to the due date instead of working on bigger project that you can do later.
Which one is your priority? If you still have a hard time to prioritise your task, advice is, pick one from easiest to hardest or do the task that you want to do first. Michael Hyatt said, “Tackle your easiest tasks first and you will build confidence for the harder ones.” Oftentimes, if we love what we are doing or if we do the easy thing, we can trick our brain into starting and completing harder duty.
Tips 2 Think like honey bee
Marianne Gee, founder of Gee Bees Honey Company, in her Ted Talk said that one bee only makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey, yet, with her entire colony, you can imagine how many pounds of honey can be produced. Same as your project, you have your teammates to help you. Share your project and challenge your work buddy. They will help you see from different perspective. You can as well have more guidance on how to finish the project. So, rather than worrying too much on how big your project is, you should able to observe your surroundings and make best use of it.
Tips 3 Break your project into smaller parts
When you have one single project that requires many to get done, you should break them into smaller part. For example, if you are doing book project, break it into draft, ideas, words, plot, etc. It will help you focus on one thing first, then finish another. According to Real Men Real Style, smaller goals are easier to measure, less intimidating, can result in quick wins, and give more focus to finish it.
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