I’ve worked plenty of projects in my life of all types of sizes and responsibilities. Whether this is gigantic multimillion-dollar projects for NASA or not as monetarily valuable, but just as important, in my opinion, projects for my business.
Okay… maybe TOO much fire.
Invariably, something is going to change or things are going to come up that require modifications to the plan. You eventually have to get to the point where you just kind of accept it.
Projects are living beings of the business type. You can plan for 70%, but you’ll never be able to achieve 100%. Keep that in mind. That’s a very important mind shift there, if you can aim for just enough to keep going and then be flexible the rest of the way.
What we’re going to do here is help you finish what you started by giving you three ways to up your motivation, to kill the roadblocks in front of you, and realize that you can get a lot more stuff done in life.
1. Reward Your Small Accomplishments
A really good way to do this is to have a checklist with your really big goals broken down into somewhere between five and seven smaller goals. You can also break them down into a little bit smaller goals that you can handle in 15 to 20 minute chunks, to add an extra level of fidelity.
The goal with this plan of tackling your goals is to have small accomplishments that you can check off very frequently. You are mentally rewarded by seeing one of the things that you plan to do actually get gone. This is a positive feedback loop that actually helps you stay motivated and get more done in the future.
Break down whatever you have into smaller pieces, and get more of those smaller pieces done. It may sound like it’s kind of a trick, but it’s just the way we work.
2. Think About The End Product Of The Project
It’s been said many times, and I believe Steven Covey was made famous for it in his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” He said that keep the end goal in mind and you’ll be able to focus. Well, he didn’t say that part.
He just said, ‘keep the end goal in mind.’ And that’s what you can do here. Your motivation is boosted by knowing what you want to get out of everything that you do.
When you understand the “why” of your actions, then everything that you do is feeding back into the output. Again, this is another one of those feedback loops that allows you to supply your own fuel. If you’re just going day by day doing these little tasks without any real understanding or focus of what you’re doing them for, you’re not going to care.
But if you know that taking this course at the community college is going to help you get the degree in four years that you need to move to the next level in your career, that’s motivation you can count on.
3. Take Time To Stand Back And Admire Your Work
You’re checking of the checkboxes on your list. You’re creating products. You’re getting courses done. And you’re helping people out there in the world. It may be on a very small scale or it may be on a global scale. The point here is you are actually producing stuff that is valuable to you, your family, and other people out there.
Step back a little bit. Record via paper or electronic means your feelings and the accomplishments that you’ve come to realize. Maybe you’re not seeing monetary rewards or career advancement rewards right away, but this habit of recording and reflecting and learning from the things that you’ve accomplished is the greatest reward that you can get. And you’re in complete control of how well you get it.
Now Go Finish What You Started!
Unfinished projects do absolutely nothing. They’re like the greatest idea in the world that never gets implemented. If you don’t have the motivation to actually bring your ideas and projects to life, there’s nothing good that comes out of it.
Use the three ways we just talked about to up your motivation and create the most awesome stuff you can and are capable of. Reward yourself for the small accomplishments. Keep the end goal in mind. And take the time to stand back and admire the awesome stuff you’re getting done.
You really can achieve whatever you’d like when you put your mind to it and use your actions to implement your plans.