How to Quickly Move Your Large Project Forward

Overview

Today I want to talk about how to move big projects forward. This is something that I have struggled with a lot in the past. Some people are stalled due to a lack of confidence; some are hindered because they are overwhelmed as it is.  Whatever is holding you back from moving your project forward, know that help is on the way! Keep reading...

It's Time to Move the Needle

If you are anything like me, you want your decisions to be well researched and to make sure that you're doing things the best possible way that you can. And so, when you're faced with a larger project with a lot of decisions and a lot of things going on, you end up either starting it and abandoning it, or it just becomes so overwhelming that literal years pass and you find that you haven't even moved the needle on the thing! This has happened to me, and if I can be honest, I still have a million to do lists all over the place right now! Thankfully, I have found a new approach, and it has already proven to be successful.

Many of the concepts that I am going to share today are derived from The Life Coach School, run by Brooke Castillo. Castillo has an amazing podcast that helps with a large variety of entrepreneurial endeavors. Among the wealth of information that she shares is the idea to commit to one single task per day that will move your project forward. Sounds simple, right?

No Need for Perfection

If you are starting your own practice, right now your tasks might seem insurmountable. Perhaps you have to pick an EMR for your practice, or you have to choose a supplement company, or you have to build your website. No matter where you are on this journey, your to-do list is most likely expanding, not shrinking at this point!  Let's look at your EMR decision, for example. I see my physicians whom I've worked with struggle greatly with choosing an EMR because there are just so many different options. There are pros and cons to each, and it is often not an obvious choice. The first thing is to become comfortable with your decision potentially not being perfect.

Change your standards to the "80% Rule." You don't need to be 100% correct or certain. Strive for 80%. For example, if you're choosing an EMR, when you make that decision, you have to be comfortable with it, but you can also realize that you might change that decision later on, knowing that it's 80% correct. This same concept can be used with writing, for another example. When you need to write an email, or if you need to create a blog or newsletter, just be okay with what you can put out there right now. You don't have to have it perfect to begin.  (Note: this 80% Rule obviously doesn't apply to treatment plans for patients; you obviously want to research that and make sure it's as good as it possibly can be.) Just begin writing. 

What decisions are blocking your progress? What is holding you back from moving the rest of the project forward? Instead of ruminating and researching, why not just begin?

Focus Time

Start by taking just one or two hours a day of focus time. If you're still working in the hospital or in an outpatient clinic setting, you might not have a lot of time to focus on opening up your practice, but try to devote one daily hour, and put that hour aside on your schedule. This can be first thing in the morning before anybody gets up, which worked for me when I was building the Incubator program. These early hours are when I did the majority of my work because I knew that once I got in the office started my day, I would not be able to devote time to my project. If I pushed it off till later, it would infringe on family time, or family would infringe on my focus! So, for me, from around five to six in the morning proved to be most successful for my focus time. That is when everything is quiet. I would get my coffee, I would open up the computer, and I would focus for an hour, turning  off all my notifications. I made sure I didn't even look at my email. I didn't even look at my portal messages. I didn't open my calendar.  Of course, distracting thoughts did enter my brain, but I made sure that I had a piece of paper next to me, and every time something unrelated to my focus time came up, I just dumped it over there on the paper to think about or get to later. You just have to refuse to work on other tasks.

One Thing at a Time

After you have devoted one hour each day into your schedule, you then need to choose your one task. Let's use the EMR decision as our example again. If choosing your EMR is your designated task, you are not just devoting the hour to EMR research. You are planning to DECIDE on your EMR at the end of the hour. Your task for that focus time should be on one thing, and one decision should be made by the end of it.  Your hour is devoted to deciding on and purchasing your EMR. The goal is for the daily task to be completed, not "chipped away at." Another example is if you are doing a community talk, and you need to create a presentation. Devote yourself to those one or two hours on the presentation, and have the goal to be to finish your slides. Again, they don't have to be perfect, but at least get the task of the slides done.

Even though our brains are really good at multitasking, multitasking is not where you get really great work accomplished. Your brain needs to focus on that one thing, complete it, and then you can actually move on. You have to be comfortable with knowing that you don't have a crystal ball. You cannot see into the future, so focus on the now. You don't know in hindsight what would have been the right or wrong decision, and you have to be okay with that. Allow yourself to be a beginner, and once you get your momentum rolling, you'll have more space to be creative. (Then you can add animations and fancy features to those slides that you finished!) I always feel that I can be most creative when my brain isn't constantly a ticker of things to do.

Brain Data Dump

In the beginning of every week, Monday morning before you do anything, you should download your brain of all the little things you'd have to do.  Write it ALL down-- change the light bulb in the garage, shop for a Mother's Day present, call the kids' pediatrician, etc. When you write your tasks down, they are less likely to pester you during your focus hours. Your focus time, during those five days each week, needs to be protected for those really deep decisions that need to be made and your deep creative processes. You can find minutes here and there to do the more "mindless" tasks that don't take as much brain power, such as organize the linen closet or pay that bill. If you try to do too many deep things in one day, your brain gets burned out, but you're doing too many little projects, you're not moving the needle forward for the big tasks.

Keep in mind that even if it doesn't feel like a big task has been completed in a day, just the fact that you have accomplished something from your list will train your brain to keep that momentum going. You are creating a habit of completion. The additional beauty is that when you now rest, it actually feels rejuvenating because you have completed what you said you were going to complete. You did what you said you're going to do and kept that promise to yourself. It's difficult to truly rest with looming thoughts and tasks floating around in our brains and nagging us awake. Thankfully, these methods have helped so much. Work is being done, and rest is being had.

Show Yourself Some Grace

Remember, you are going to make mistakes. You are going to change your mind. You do not have to get everything perfect before you get going. But the point is to get going! Be gracious to yourself. Give yourself the time to be successful at this. Create that hour of time; prioritize it. Two hours is ideal for bigger projects, but starting with one hour if you have a lot of commitments is fine. Keep in mind that early morning is when a lot of people have the most space. Your brain is the most awake and active before the whole house wakes up and work starts happening. Keep chipping away, one completed task at a time. And, reach out to us for any help! 

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