7 Steps To Doable

A while back I agreed to do something that’s been making me a little crazy. Yesterday I worked through a 5-step plan to help me curb some of the irrational fears taking up space in my head. Then before I headed to the studio, I spent a few minutes thinking about a doable plan for meeting this goal. For a listmaker like me, you'd think that would take more than a few minutes, right? But it's really just seven simple steps.

1. State The Goal. Putting it in writing makes you more likely to frame it in terms that are realistic and attainable.
2. Define Success. You get to choose how you define success. The only rule is, your definition must be based on terms that are reasonably within your control. Set A Budget. This may be stated in terms of time or materials rather than money. You have limited resources. What are they?
3. Channel Perfectionist Tendencies. Even if perfectionism isn’t your curse most of the time, certain situations can raise this specter in any artist. If you can’t fix it, feature it. Pick one small thing you can make perfect, and allow yourself a reasonable amount of time to make it so.
4. Schedule Critiques. Allow a healthy amount of evaluation as you work, but defer criticism to scheduled times. Don’t let it pull your focus away from the your work the rest of the time.
5. Make A Simple Master Plan. Make an outline that can be revised quickly as needed. Perfectionists tend to make detailed lists to allay the fear that something important might fall through the cracks. But when we make the plan too complicated, it’s actually easier to overlook those important elements. KISS.
6. Negotiate Changes. You can’t have everything, and changes are going to cost you. If it’s worth it, fine. But decide what you’ll give up in return.

Tomorrow, I'll share my own personal productivity plan for this project. I might have to cheat a little bit, but hey, they’re my rules so I can break them.

In the meantime, what works for you? Hit the comment button to share.