Fri 4 Nov 2011

Handling Big Projects

Posted by chris_engel under Self Management
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Anne Lamott tells a story about her father giving advice to her brother when he was in a panic over a school report he had to write about birds, which was due the next day. Her brother was overwhelmed by the size of the project, and was almost in tears. He didn’t know how where to start or how to write the report. Her father put his arm around his shoulder and said, “Bird by bird, Buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

I love that advice. Starting new projects always intimidate me. I want them to be perfect, interesting, fun to work on, and productive. I want to see the final result, big and beautiful like I saw it in my head when I said, “Hey, I should try this!”. But I worry about everything. My God, there is so much to do! Will I actually know how to do it all? Will the work be miserable? Can I get it done in time? Will the results suck? Will I be disappointed, or worse, will I disappoint others? I don’t actually think these things, but they are there in my subconscious, carrying negative emotional weight, encouraging me to procrastinate and do things that I already know I’m good at or that are fun. I know that getting started early and working a little bit every day will get me to my goal and improve the odds of the project being a success. I know that simply completing the project will be worth the effort and expand my skills and knowledge. I know that I have always, without fail, looked back and been glad that I took on new projects. But I still start off with butterflies and worry.

I like to wrap my mind around a project, to see all the parts and how they fit together, to know what has to happen when to keep things moving. Sometimes projects are too complex for this. With those kinds of projects, I find myself raking leaves in the backyard, working out, or cleaning the house. I do not find myself working on the Really Big Project.

To deal with this, I sit down and plan it out on paper. I diagram how things have to happen, working at the 50,000 foot level at first. With the big picture is in place, I start to look at the smaller tasks that make up each part. This may take only one pass-through, or several, depending on just how big or intricate the project is. I then carve the project up into sections, creating mini-projects/milestones. These are usually groups of tasks with a specific outcome, like “create a price sheet for all my wedding photography products” or “prepare the foundation for waterproofing”. Clear cut, and simple. I try to keep these mini-projects in the six to eight step range. Fewer steps is better, since too many creeps me back toward anxiety. I also create milestone deadlines, which I remind myself of daily. Constant reminders of a deadline create a sense of urgency, which is a powerful motivational tool. Without both clear outcomes and deadlines, I tend to get mired down in distractions.

A “bird by bird” approach like this keeps down the perceived scale of projects, reducing my anxiety. It also allows me to see work accomplished, boosting my motivation to get more done. And if there are problems with resources, or skills shortcomings on my part, they are uncovered sooner rather than later, providing time to deal with them.

As I finish each mini-project, I review the overall project plan, make adjustments, and start on the next milestone. The closer I stick to this approach, the better my chances of accomplishing the project goal. What about you? How do you tackle complex projects?

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Tue 25 Oct 2011

Who’s on your team?

Posted by chris_engel under Friends, relationships, team
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Nobody reaches their goal alone. Tiger Woods wins the tournaments, but his trainers, caddies, and consultants helped prepare him. Writing is a solitary pursuit if ever there was one, but Stephen King has editors, assistants, and his beloved Tabitha supporting him. I challenge you to name a single business or political leader who climbed to the top without first building a team to bring their ideas to life.

The lesson here is that you need to look around and figure out who is on your team. Even if you haven’t stopped to consider if you have one, you do. Your friends, your family, your significant other, your instructor, your coach, your mentor, your therapist, your doctor, your babysitter, your lawyer, your electrician, your webmaster, your cleaning woman, and your barrista. You rely on them to keep things moving forward, to provide the building blocks you assemble into your life, to take care of the things you can’t while you write your novel, build your business, or train for your triathlon. They are many, and they are your team.

I’m a people person, energized by the company of those I find interesting and motivated . I have always known that the wonderful people around me bring color and opportunity into my life. But I have only recently started thinking of them as “my team”. That small shift in perspective made a difference.

My doctor (actually, she’s a physician’s assistant) is part of my team, and a visit to her is more than paying a co-pay and getting treated for what ails me. She is my subject matter expert for medical information, and I go into my visits with notes & questions I’ve jotted down since we last met. I also feel, and cultivate, a personal relationship with her. We joke, catch up, and enjoy one another’s company. I make sure she knows how important she is to me, and that I realize how my health & fitness successes wouldn’t be possible without her. I make sure she feels appreciated. If she were to move to a new medical practice, I would follow her, and she knows it.

Since you are heading up a team, you need to do several things to maximize everyone’s benefits from being on the team.

Carefully select your teammates. If you are going to invest your time and emotional capital in them, make sure they are folks you can rely on. When you meet someone with potential, as an advisor and/or friend, consciously decide if they are the kind of person who you want around you. Are they optimistic? Do they have an attitude that you respect; serious minded, light hearted, pragmatic, etc.? It’s said that you are most strongly influenced by the five people with whom you spend the most time. Think about those five folks in your life, are they them shaping you to be the person you want to be?

When you spend time with your team members, be 100% present. They’re investing in you too, and it’s both respectful and productive to give them all of your focus when you’re around them. This probably seems obvious in the case of a fitness coach or financial advisor, but it’s true of your friends and family too. When you’re with them, be *there*. If there’s something more important to you than spending time with them, then either go do that or put it out of your head until you can do something about it.

As the leader of your team, you need to cultivate and reward those supporting you. Take a real interest in them; learn what their interests are and how they intersect with your own. I know that my masseuse, like me, is an avid reader, so I’ve picked up a copy of a book I particularly liked as a gift for her. I keep my eye open for information on yoga and massage, and talk about it when I’m with her. Usually she already knows more about it than I do, but eventually I’ll bring her something new. I also recommend her to everyone I know who’s interested in massage. Helping her grow her business is something I want to do, because I really appreciate her contributions and I think very highly of her talent.

Expanding your team is also an ongoing projects. You cross paths with plenty people during the course of your week. Friends of friends at cookouts, casual chats with someone behind you at Starbucks, the parents of the other kids on your child’s soccer team. They might be an account, a graphic designer, a school teacher, or a car salesman. You can be pretty certain that you’ll need someone *just like that* at some point in your future, so wouldn’t it be wise to get to know these folk before the need is urgent, see if they would be a good fit, and make an effort to “recruit” them? Constantly meeting people, listening to both their stories and their needs, and then keeping in touch with them (also known as ~gasp~ networking) sounds an awful lot like making friends, doesn’t it?

It’s not all about adding to your team too. You should regularly take the time to review all your relationships, and see if there are things you need to do to develop them. Over time people and businesses change, moving in their own directions. This might mean that your review brings to light the fact that one of your relationships isn’t mutually beneficial anymore, and that it’s time for you both to move on. While sometimes it is a matter of cutting away a relationship that is costing you more than it’s benefiting you, it’s more often a matter of realizing that the situation that moved you to bring someone onto the team has been resolved. When this is the case, I have found it best to be straight-forward with the person. I talk about the situation, face to face if possible, and how I think we’ve solved the problems that brought us together. I make sure I let them know how much I appreciate their help, and how I wouldn’t have been able to achieve that success without them. Don’t say, “I’ll keep in touch”, if you don’t mean it. You’ve got to be as good as your word, and when I say I’ll keep in touch, I follow through (even going so far as to put a recurring reminder in my calendar to call or write them).

Like most things in our lives, it’s alot more work to mindfully approach our relationships with others and take responsibility for them. Seeking out, investing in, deepening, reviewing, and pruning all take effort. I found that the benefits are worth it, and I hope the folks on my team me agree.

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Wed 19 Oct 2011

Staying Motivated

Posted by chris_engel under Motivation, Self Management
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Staying motivated is important. When my motivation for a project fades, I spend less time on it and my attention wanders to newer, fresher things. It doesn’t mean that the project is any less important to me; it’s just that my sense of urgency or enthusiasm isn’t what it was when I started. Knowing this, I make a conscious effort to do things to crank up my excitement. Most are small tasks that help keep a project on the front burners in my mind. I create environmental reminders of the project.

One of my major projects right now is relaunching my photography business. Here are a few steps I take to help me stay motivated.

Outside Accountability
I have a consultant that meet with monthly to discuss that status of the project, my progress since the last meeting, and my plans for the next month. A key to this tool is that it needs to be someone with whom you click and whom you respect. During the course of the month I think to myself, “I have to get this done, or explain to Bobby why I didn’t”.

Audiobooks
I am a big fan of audiobooks, and have one on marketing that I listen to repeatedly. “Book Yourself Solid” is a terrific source of motivation and ideas on marketing as a service professional. The author’s philosophy about the relationship between you and your clients, and the importance of integrity in all aspects of your life, resonate with me. Listening to this book while I’m in the car always gets me thinking about my business, and generally results in a few scribbled notes about activities I could do to move the business launch along. I would also insert podcasts in this area, as they tend to be timely and entertaining as well.

Reading
I don’t limit my reading to audiobooks either. I get six or seven photography and business magazines every month. I even schedule time to sit down and read them, and have a method for ‘processing’ them. I take notes while I read, and create tasks for myself to apply what I learn or do further research on the issues they cover. I cut out and scan articles on techniques I want to try, including reminders in my task-list to do so. I do the same thing with photography and business books.

Classes & Organizations
Additionally, I make sure that I take one class, attend a seminar, or do an online webinar at least once a month. Several organizations and vendors to professional photographers offer ongoing education opportunities. Nothing motivates me as much as being in a room with other photographers, learning about the solutions they found for problems that I’m facing. Instructors teaching me how to do something I always wanted to know, or maybe even something I didn’t realize was possible, is a great enthusiasm builder. There are several local organizations for photographers, who meet monthly to network and bring in guest speakers. I never leave these meetings without a desire to get home and get to work on my business.

Remind Yourself Why
At a seminar I recently attended, the speaker said “When the ‘why’ is strong enough, the ‘how’ becomes easy.” Stop for a second and really think about that. Seriously. I want you to take a second, think about just one of the goals you’re working towards, and consider that quote. I write my goals down every single day, and next to them I write why I am working toward them. Not once in a while, but every single day. And not perfunctorily either; but deliberately drawing up my emotions, ‘feeling’ why each is important. If you were to try only one of these focusing methods yourself, this should be it. If the ‘why’ underlying a project doesn’t motivate you, you should consider if you should be doing the project at all.

I’ve applied these same ideas successfully to other projects. For a fitness program, I’ve worked with a trainer, joined a gym, subscribed to fitness magazines & newsletters, taken a yoga class (I paid in advance to compel me to go to all of them), joined online groups, and tried to subscribe to an online fitness community (if you have an invite… I’d love one!). Learning a new language, renovating a home, searching for a new job, investing for the future (retirement or a child’s college), dating, and strengthening a relationship with partner; these are all “projects” that would benefit from these methods.

I am always interested in tools for staying on-task and accomplishing goals. I know some of you have done some pretty amazing things in your life, I’d love to hear how you did it; how you stayed motivated and drove yourself to your success.

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Tue 11 Oct 2011

Making Time

Posted by chris_engel under Uncategorized
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I am chronically late. Ask anyone. The only things I’m always on time to are events where being late causes serious problems. I get to the airport early. I get to business meetings on time. I never arrive late for court. Otherwise, expect me ten to fifteen minutes after I’m supposed to be there. My friends call it “being on Engel time”. This is a common problem for folks with ADHD. We want to try and squeeze in just *one* more thing before we leave for an appointment. We really do want to be on time, we simply have a hard time pulling it off.

The coping mechanism I’m trying to build to deal with this issue is centered around weekly and daily planning sessions. I sit down for about an hour at the start of each week and review my project/task list and my calendar. I go through and block my entire day, from waking up to going to bed. I look for any appointments where someone else is relying on me being there, which are the highest priority. I schedule in my “dailies” (things I do every single day to keep moving toward my goals). That means I block out an hour in the morning for working out, then I block out my weekday time at the consulting gig, and then time for my photography business, and time for writing. I know I have to eat and take care of household chores, so I schedule time for those as well. The whatever time remains, is available for tackling my non-photography tasks.

I also ensure enough time for commutes. It takes time to get back and forth from appointments, and that can take a serious bite out of my day if I’m not careful. This is probably the piece that makes the most noticeable difference to other people. I dedicate time to figuring out how long it is really going to take me to get from A to B. I put reminders into my calendar to tell me “Leave in 15 minutes” which gCal sends to my phone as an SMS. The reminder prompts me wrap up whatever I’m doing and prepare to leave. The trick is paying attention to my phone and heeding my own messages.

Remember the Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com), my todo-list software, allows me to include estimates of how long any task will take. As a rule, I never add a task to the list without attaching the estimate. When I review each day’s list, I can see if the estimated time for the scheduled tasks exceeds my available time that day. If so, I decide what gets bumped to another day, dropped altogether, or kept. Once done, my whole week will be booked out, with realistic expectations of my time. I try to include some slack in my schedule too. If every single minute is planned out, it only takes one delay to trash the plan. Leaving some wiggle-room is just a pragmatic hedge.

As I move through the week, I check off things I’ve completed, and add new tasks as necessary. Each time I add a new task, I take the time to consider where it fits into my plan, based on it’s importance, urgency, and the resources it will require.

At the end of each day I take ten minutes to review. With undone stuff, I decide to either reschedule, drop, or delegate it (delegating being my favorite). I review the next day’s plan too, adjusting if needed. Something unexpected, like a last minute invitation to dinner, a pet getting sick, or a task taking much longer than expected can all change the course of a day. I don’t sweat it when that happens, and simply deal with the changes during my end of day review.

This system, like any, is only as good as my commitment to it. When I follow my own rules, it works; when I don’t, it breaks down. Two things have to happen for this to succeed: First, it has to be IMPORTANT to me, and second, I have to make it a habit. Really important things stay on the front burner of my mind, and I find myself thinking about them when I’m not thinking of anything at all (while I shower, commute, run, etc). If I make a deliberate effort to build the necessary habits (sitting down Sunday for my weekly review, listening to my phone alarms, etc) then I can greatly decrease the amount of thinking I have to do to keep up with everything, and less decision-making equals more productivity (the less I think the more I do). I’d be interested in hearing how you make sure you’re on time, and how you get everything done in a week that you need to. Especially those of you with families. As difficult as I find it to wrangle myself, I’m blown away by the productivity of my friends with children. Where do you guys find the time?

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Tue 4 Oct 2011

Brisk Morning Runs and the Value of Persistence

Posted by chris_engel under Uncategorized
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There are some basic things everyone should learn early in life; how to tie your shoes, saying please and thank-you, and the value of persistence. Most everyone masters the first two pretty early (although some folks could use an occasional reminder about saying thank you). The persistence thing can take a while longer to really sink in, especially for someone who has “a touch of ADD” like yours truly. It is a really amazing thing though.

Like lots of people, I put on a bit of weight in the 10-15 years after college. It crept up on me, until one day I realized I was fat. Not just a bit overweight, but *fat*. There is no way to make that stuff go away overnight. It takes months, or even years, of making a daily effort to eat more mindfully and exercise consistently. But sticking with the effort and getting back on that horse every time you fall (because we will fall), pays off. I have watched my weight come down steadily the last few months, as I watched what I ate, and incorporated regular exercised into every day. I have slipped up and eaten poorly for a few days, or missed a few workouts, but each time I picked up where I left off. The small steps I take every single day move me in toward my goal, and sticking with it through the bumps and setbacks guarantees that I will get there.

This morning I went for a 3 mile run through my neighborhood and along a park trail nearby. It was dark and only fifty degrees when I stepped out my door, without gloves, a hat, or a light. Pretty quickly I had chilly fingers and ears, and was thinking about how warm my bed had been. But then I realized how quiet it was as the sky slowly brightened, how relaxed I felt running, and how optimistic I felt. When I started building my fitness routine, and set a goal of getting to my target weight, I couldn’t do this. Back then I wouldn’t get out of a warm bed, in the dark, to go outside in the chill. I couldn’t run three miles, or up any hills at all. When I did exercise, it took too much effort for me to notice anything other than my tired muscles and ragged breathing. Before starting down this path, my dour days outnumbered my upbeat ones. All that has changed, slowly, gradually, and consistently. By setting a goal, making a plan, and persisting through the months, I am succeeding. You could call it “working” toward a goal, but it feels pretty darn good for “work”. And let me tell you, the hot shower when I got home felt terrific.

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