Author: Charlie Gilkey
_Charlie Gilkey_
Reading time: 19 minutes
Synopsis
Start Finishing (2019) shows you how to turn your ideas into finished projects. It gives simple steps and advice. You will learn how to choose the right idea, how to make it possible, and how to solve any problems you meet.
What’s in it for me? Learn how to finish your ideas as projects!
How many ideas have excited you but never became real?
If the answer is “too many,” don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many people have lots of ideas but never finish them. They wait for a day or time when things – like their mood, energy, and everything else – feel right. Others start working on their ideas right away. But they quickly stop when they meet problems.
But ideas don’t need to wait for the perfect day. You also don’t have to give up when you face the first problem. These blinks show you clear steps. You can use them to start turning your ideas into possible projects today.
In these blinks, you’ll learn
- which ideas are your best work;
- who should be on your team to help you; and
- why crumbs are good for your project.
Blink 1 – To do your best work, first turn your ideas into projects.
Here’s a question: What do Aristotle, an old Greek thinker, and the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist leader, have in common? They both teach that people do well when they take action.
But not just any action. People do well when they do things that match their own experience, knowledge, and way of seeing things. The author calls this doing best work.
So what’s your best work? If you’re not sure, look for clues in the ideas that you constantly think about. These ideas can lead to your best work. To do well, you need to find these ideas and start working on them.
The key message here is: To do your best work, first turn your ideas into projects.
When you hear the word “project,” you probably think of school or work. But a project is anything that needs time, focus, and effort to finish. Life is full of them. Getting ready for the first day of school is a project. Moving to a new city is also a project.
Projects show what you truly feel and think. Think about it: If you hate Mondays, it tells you a lot about what you don’t enjoy. Also, if you enjoy working late on a project, it shows what you are passionate about. And best work projects – projects where you do your best work – help you do well.
But how do you know which idea to turn into your first best work project?
Try this simple exercise: First, write down all your ideas. These can be creative ideas at work, organizing your garage, or going on a dream trip. Next, cross off the ideas that don’t feel important to you. Also cross off the ones you wouldn’t mind letting go of.
The ideas you’re left with are important to you. But you still need to focus on one idea. To do this, think about: Which idea would you most like to celebrate finishing? Which one will change your life the most in five years? Maybe there’s an idea you would happily wake up early or stay up late for. Or one you would be very sad to stop.
The idea that matches most of these points is the one to work on first. And the following blinks will show you exactly how to do this.
Blink 2 – To complete best work projects, you need to cultivate certain qualities.
If you have ever started a project, you know there will be some problems. Best work projects are the same.
Some problems often stop you from starting or finishing best work projects. For example, other important things can distract you. And you often have to deal with head trash. These are thoughts and ideas that tell you you can’t do what you planned. Maybe your plans for your projects are not real. Or you think you don’t have the tools you need. Or maybe the people around you don’t understand your goals or what you need to reach them.
Luckily, there are ways to handle these problems.
Here’s the key message: To complete best work projects, you need to cultivate certain qualities.
Having certain qualities when you work will help you finish your best work projects. For different problems, you might need all of these qualities at once, or just some. How much you have or lack these qualities depends on how you grew up, your personality, and your life experience. But if you choose to develop a quality, you can make it stronger. Then you can bravely face the problems you meet while doing your best work.
The first quality you need is intention. Having clear intentions for what you want makes it easier to plan real steps. Next, there’s awareness. This helps you understand yourself and the world better. With this, you can see other important things that might distract you. You can also find ways to use your resources best. You’ll also need to set boundaries. These will help you make time and space to work on your project.
By building courage, you can face the problems that come your way. This includes fighting bad thoughts or speaking up when you need help. If you don’t have courage, you might not even start your best work projects. Courage helps you start. Discipline – the final quality – helps you keep going. Discipline helps you stick to your plans and keep your boundaries. It helps you build the habits you need to finish your projects.
Blink 3 – Planning your project involves creating a SMART goal and a support network.
Ever heard the saying, “A goal without a plan is just a wish?” Well, the same can be said about a project.
Sure, choosing one idea from many is a great first step. But if you don’t know exactly how to do it, or what you need, you’ll find it hard to make any progress. It’s a bit like swimming in the ocean without knowing where the shore is. Or if there’s even a shore at all.
But just as there’s a way to help you choose an idea for your best work project, there are also steps you can follow to plan it. And it all starts with making your goals SMART.
The key message is this: Planning your project involves creating a SMART goal and a support network.
When you know where you are going and how to get there, it’s a lot easier to reach your goal. To do this, use the word SMART when creating your goals.
The S stands for simple. Your goal should be simple so it is easier to finish. The M refers to meaningful. A meaningful goal makes you more willing to do the work. Luckily, the idea-choosing exercise helps you pick something meaningful.
But even if a goal is meaningful, you won’t get far without clear steps that make it actionable. This is what the A in SMART stands for. Your actionable steps should also include the last two letters: R for realistic, and T for trackable. Realistic means that you can get the tools and skills you need. And trackable means you can clearly see your progress and when you finish. For example, “stopping hunger in children” isn’t trackable. But “feeding 100,000 hungry children by the year 2025” is.
Once you have a SMART goal, think about your success pack – the people who will help you reach it.
You need experienced guides for advice or inspiration. You also need peers to share ideas and experiences with. Your supporters, such as a friend who watches your children to give you time to focus, will help with the project or do some work. Lastly, your success pack includes the beneficiaries. These are the people who will benefit from your project.
Ask a maximum of five people per category to be in your success pack. List three ways they can help, and communicate with them regularly.
Blink 4 – Think of your project as a series of smaller parts that build on each other.
People often don’t do things because they think they don’t have enough time. This could be a good idea or cleaning the garage. It’s easy to feel this way about best work projects.
But here’s the thing about time: you’ll never find enough of it. You have to make time instead. And once you make time for one project, that same slot can be used for any projects that follow.
So how do you make time? You start by breaking the project into tasks that you can do in hours, days, weeks, and months.
The key message here is: Think of your project as a series of smaller parts that build on each other.
To understand how to break your project into tasks for different times, imagine the project as a pyramid with five levels. The bottom of the pyramid has tasks you can finish in a day. The author calls these chunks. Above the bottom, you have tasks that take weeks to finish. Then months, then three-month periods, and finally, a year. A bigger project will have more parts and take longer. For example, someone starting a business would need a few days to find ideas. They would need a few weeks to make a business plan. Successfully launching the business would then need many months of work.
Once you’ve broken the project into tasks, you can connect them to a timeline. This will show you how long the project will take. Then you can make space in your schedule.
Look at your weekly schedule and make time slots for parts of the project. Focus blocks are 1.5 to two hours long. You use them for working alone to move the project forward. These are very important to finish the project. You need at least three each week to keep things moving. And every project needs some admin work to move it forward, like making phone calls or planning. So you need admin blocks of about 30 to 60 minutes each. Activities where you work with others, or connect with loved ones or your success pack, are called social blocks.
Working well is important, but you should also rest and get your energy back. You don’t want to get too tired and stop completely. So, you should schedule one recovery block for every two focus or social blocks. Spend this time doing anything that gives you energy. This could be exercising, reading, or going to a party.
Blink 5 – Know the various factors that can slow or stop your project.
So you’ve made your project a priority and planned it. Things are moving forward. That’s great news. But no matter how well you plan and schedule, things will come up that delay your project. Or even stop it completely. Engineers know what slows down cars and planes. You also need to know what might appear and slow down your progress.
Other priorities are one such factor. You are not the only one with priorities; other people have them too. And their priorities can easily slow you down, if you let them. Let’s say your dad calls you just as you start working. He wants to chat. But spending time with him means you won’t get your work done. What can you do?
Here’s the key message: Know the various factors that can slow or stop your project.
The good news is you can handle these other priorities. If you are willing to do something, it can be as simple as scheduling time. For example, you could tell your dad you’re busy. Then set a time to talk later. But if you simply don’t want to do something, it’s best to be clear. So avoid giving someone a reluctant “maybe” when they ask you to do something. Instead, say no right away.
You should also know the different ways your projects can get stuck.
One is cascades. These happen when one project falls behind, causing other projects to slow down or even stop. To handle these, focus on the project causing the problem. Also focus on any other important projects to finish. Then promise to work on fewer projects in the future. Doing fewer projects also helps stop logjams. These happen when you have too many projects and can’t finish anything on time. If you have a logjam, work on the small parts that will make the most progress for each project.
With tarpits, your project doesn’t just get stuck – it stays stuck for a long time. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to start working on the project again. The trick to getting out of a tarpit is to start moving and then keep moving. Break the parts of the project into even smaller tasks. Promise to finish one in the next three days. Then work on it at least twice a week.
Blink 6 – Efficient strategies and schedules help you build momentum.
Imagine this common situation: You set yourself a big goal, like losing weight or learning a new language. It’s exciting to think about finishing the goal. You can’t wait until you’ve finally done it. So you create a plan and start working on it.
But there’s a problem: You can’t get into a good rhythm. Some days, you do everything you planned. But on other days, you struggle to do anything. You’ll never reach your goal if you keep going like this. To make progress, you need to build momentum. To do that, you need to take steady and smart steps. And it’s the same when you’re working on your best work project.
The key message is this: Efficient strategies and schedules help you build momentum.
There is only so much time in a day. But you can get a lot done by using it wisely.
One way to do this is by batching or stacking tasks. Batching means doing similar tasks all at once. For example, making phone calls. This saves time and brain power that you lose when you switch between tasks. Stacking, however, saves time by doing different things at the same time. For example, you could go for a walk with people from your project and talk about it.
When you batch and stack tasks, don’t forget the ones you need to do but don’t want to. These are called frogs. This name comes from the writer Mark Twain. Twain said, “If you have to swallow a frog, do it first thing in the morning.” You should handle your project frogs the same way – as soon as possible. Thinking about them for a long time only makes you more stressed and worried. This takes time and energy from your project.
Another way to work better and keep going is to schedule work at the right time. The saying goes, “The early bird catches the worm.” But not everyone works best in the morning. Some people focus and have more energy in the afternoon. Others do better at night. Schedule important work for when you are most awake and have the most energy. This helps you make steady progress more easily.
Making it easy to start your tasks again also helps you keep going. You can do this by creating a crumb trail at the end of each work session. This can be a note about your next step or a small task that doesn’t require too much effort. If you do this regularly, you won’t lose time or feel lost at the beginning of your work sessions.
Blink 7 – After completing your project, make time to recover, clean up, and learn from it.
After weeks or months of working hard, you’ll finally finish your best work project!
You will feel relieved and proud. So, you should celebrate it. Not just for yourself, but for your friends, family, and support team. They cheered you on and helped you. They also deserve to share in your success. You can do this by telling them what you achieved. Or by having a dinner or a party.
But celebrating shouldn’t be the only thing you do. It’s also important to take a break. This helps you get ready for your next project.
The key message here is: After completing your project, make time to recover, clean up, and learn from it.
You might be excited to start a new project right away. But it’s very important to take some time off between projects. You put time, effort, feelings, and energy into projects. And bigger projects make you more tired.
Taking a break before starting another project also gives you the chance to do some cleaning up. Working on a project creates a mess in your physical space, your computer files, and even your social life. So it’s important to do some cleaning, archiving, and clearing away in each area. If you put that off, you’ll likely have to deal with it during your next project, which isn’t ideal.
In your physical and digital spaces, throw away anything you no longer need from the finished project. Store the rest for later use, or organize it so it’s easy to find. In your social life, think of relationships you might have ignored. Or commitments that you need to fulfill.
Another good thing to do during your break is an after-action review, or AAR. In the US Army, AARs help people look at training and learn from it. Having your own version lets you learn from finishing a project.
To do an AAR, think about the project. Also think about the people, steps, and tools you used. Then ask yourself: What went well? What did you learn? What problems did you have? What mistakes did you make? What lessons did you learn? Also, note any habits, routines, plans, or events that really helped you move forward and made a difference. With every AAR, you’ll learn something new. This will make your next best work project easier to finish.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks:
Ideas you never find time for often point to your best work. This is the work that helps you do well. Turn these ideas into projects and SMART goals. Then you can start this work. To find time for your projects, break them into smaller parts. You can finish these in weekly focus blocks. To keep going, work when you have the most focus and energy. Do unpleasant tasks right away. And make it easy to start your work again.
Actionable advice:
Make your project easier by playing to your strengths.
Like most people, you sometimes make things too hard for yourself. You don’t use your strengths. These are your skills, the things you enjoy, and the things you are good at. Working without these strengths makes things harder. It also limits what you can do. But if you think about your strengths for a project, you can use less time and effort to finish it.
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Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/start-finishing-en