Projects

In the last Focus On: post we dumped our minds and came up with a massive list of stuff. This time, we'll focus on what to do with all of that stuff. This is where the Calendar and To-Do list will eventually come in. But for now we'll just focus on the massive list. First, we get to organize the list. You can rewrite each of these on separate pieces of paper. You can put stickers next to list items, star them or highlight them as we go along. Do whatever works for you.

There are two ways to look at organizing the list.

One way is to think about what you want out of life, your mantra, manifesto or end of life goals and narrow down your focus so that everything you do reflects the type of person you want to be. The other way is to think about everything you do on a daily basis and then work up the chain once you have those under control.

Since you're reading this blog, chances are you're like me and prefer to start with what you want the big picture to look like.

In either case, you'll want to go down your list and put your items into groups. Since most of the things on my list were bothering me because of my thinking that I want my life to look a certain way, my groups are based on things that appear to be a part of some large goal or project. They are areas of my life that I want to change. Here are some examples from my list.

1. Many things on my list focused on things I wanted to get, organize, or get rid of. When I looked at it again I realized that it was all about creating a spacious, organized, inviting place to live and work. So I labeled it "Home". This category has everything that deals with tangible items that I want to do something about, apartment search ideas, chore lists, etc.
   
2. Another category was "Things I Want to Learn". This turned into "Education/Career".
   
3. Other categories were lists of things I want to change about myself. "Personal".
   
4. Some things didn't seem to go with anything so they stayed by themselves

If you notice, some of these are evident in my "10 Things" list from earlier this year. This is how I decide what my goals and projects will be. Categorizing your list should help you see the types of overall goals and projects that you want to work on. Many times the things on our minds are bothering us simply because we didn't take the time to think them through and do something about them. Don't think too much about the categories if you get stuck. They'll become clearer as you work through the list and add more to it each day.

Using the categories on your list you should be able to clarify a few of your projects. Some of mine are

1. Create a clean, organized, open area to live in.
2. Learn Spanish, French, and Japanese
3. Be more organized, productive, and accountable
4. Get in shape

You'll notice that I used the word projects instead of goals. Mostly that's because I haven't yet defined a way to know when I'm done. In my world, projects can go on forever, but goals have to be measurable. I can keep "Improving my cooking skills" but once I "Learn 5 new recipes" I have to move on to something else. In the next post we'll focus on setting new and better goals, but for now we'll just pay attention to the projects you have. This will help us to get started, organized and be productive as quickly as possible.

The most effective way to make progress on your projects is to pick one or two to focus on at a time. I suggest picking the one that needs to be done first or the one that bothers you the most. That way you'll be able to appreciate how the system works and how much progress you're making. For me, I need to make money, so I'll be focusing on my job search. For the rest of your projects, remember, we want to write everything down. You may want to keep a notebook page, or an entire notebook devoted to your future projects. I have a whole notebook filled with things I'll do when I have free time, get bored, finish one of my other projects. For example, I want to learn several foreign languages, build a glass top table over a fish tank (i like pet fish!), and learn to cook a 5 course meal, but now isn't the time. I'll keep the ideas in my notebook until I can use them.

My Current Projects List

1. Blog
2. Career
3. Church
4. Home
5. Money
   
6. Personal

Next time I'll let you know some of the goals I've come up with for each of my project categories.

If you can't quite understand the whole process of getting from a random list to a projects list, I recommend that you read Getting Things Done by David Allen. That's where the whole process is taken from. He explains more in depth how to work from concepts down to tasks, and from tasks up to concepts when planning out your life.