30 Aug Project Managing My Life

Sometimes I envy people who can wake up and have a day from scratch without a worry in their head. No Plans? No problem! Directions? What to wear, not an issue! Seriously, sometimes I wish I had only five pieces of clothing to choose from just so I wouldn’t have to choose at all. Picking out little outfits for myself every day is the worst. It probably wouldn’t be so bad except that I put that task last on my list all the time. When my to-do list became a mile long I knew I needed to start project managing my life.  Often times what seems like a pretty easy thing to-do gets left for last or doesn’t happen at all. And this is just fine for some things or some people. The problem is sometimes the easy things take longer to complete because of volume not difficulty. Everyday, I have to do this thing – consider style and comfort, indoors and out, sometimes more than once a day. It’s little, yeah, but also fundamental. Cut to me standing in front of the closet hoping the outfit genie will just leap out at me.

To combat the dread of mass decision-making I had to do a couple things:

• Admit I’m not that spontaneous
• Plan my ass off

Not having spontaneity in your life doesn’t improve your overall happiness, but stressing over things that should be relatively simple is a recipe for unhappiness. Better to be honest and accept the real you.

In order to be the best person that I can be I have to make intentional and reasonable plans that I can be accountable for. The intentional part is easy, but how do I know if I’m being reasonable? Here’s what works for me. I make two lists. One list contains the big things.

The Big Things:

• Take care of my wellbeing
• Take care of my family
• Help guide women entrepreneurs to success every day in every way
• Grow Built By She to a global platform for women entrepreneurs

The other list contains the little things that have to happen in order for the big things to happen.

The Little Things:

• Clear the clutter
• Make plans for every action
• Put in my reach the things I need to carry out those actions ahead of time

Having a system is everything. Everything.  Tech tools makes things easier for some, but I like to kick it Old School when it comes to planning my life. There is something about getting it down on paper that frees my mind. The list transfers the mess from my brain to my pen to the page. And like magic a burden is lifted. When I type a list into a computer or onto my phone, somehow it’s still trapped in the ether and still burdening me with worry about what’s next to-do. For me at least there is a great satisfaction with drawing a real line with a real pen through something I have completed. It’s done for real and I don’t have to think about it anymore – for now.

Once I have a list down on paper, I figure out what tools I need to complete those tasks and the most efficient order that I need launch things in. The last thing that I need to do before I start anything at all is clear the clutter.

Annnnd… with that I feel you cringing. If you have allowed clutter to close in on you in your life then you might be feeling it’s impossible to un-do the clutter right now. But don’t close this window! There’s only one thing that makes all things impossible and that is your mindset. So long as you believe something is possible, it can surely be done. Just the other day I thought it would be impossible to clear the clutter on my desktop screen. And I always think this way two seconds right before I do overwhelming tasks. But what I needed, what I always need is a system. I have to be positive and I have to change the angle of my view and suddenly things are easier to do.

What Works For Me

I view all the files on Finder in a list instead of the millions of little square icons covering every inch of the screen. I sort the files in alphabetical order. Then I file final files in Dropbox under their category and delete everything else (screen shots, copies, drafts). Let’s be honest, you’re never going to look at those again. If there are duplicate files on Dropbox, I keep the latest version. There was a time when I had to save every version of everything until I tried deleting earlier versions and much to my surprise the world did not come to an end.

Once the clutter is removed from my desktop – the world unlocks. My mind is now free to roam the creative countryside. It’s beautiful on this side of the fence. Come join me, won’t you?

After removing clutter from the universe, I make that list I was talking about before and now I’m out in front. There can never be more than three things on the list. If there are more than three, I start rating the order of importance. One completed thing should lead to another thing to start on and finish in order to reach your goals in a best-case scenario.

Next I need to set out the required tools in order to execute the actions on the list. The tools can be just about anything. First, I find all the files and data that I need ahead of time so that I can understand the landscape. Then I set it up to run. I need other things too. I need to know the location of my lip balm, hand lotion and my eyeglasses.  My list may not look anything like your list, but I have determined that if I don’t have these things within my reach I’m itching for a delay. I can kick myself and say I’m weird or I can accept that lip balm is my best friend and get over it.

Making a plan, creating a list and clearing the clutter is how I’m project managing my life. I can always pivot and make a new plan, but accountability is my boss and how I became the boss of me.