0019: How to start a month
Translate noise into projects.
What about this?
When are you going to start that?
Isn’t this due?
Remember you need to deliver that.
Don’t forget this month’s thing.
Our mind gets clogged with seemingly endless things that we need to do.
With a Journal and a pen or pencil I quickly turn these clouds in my head into concrete plans. They key is to think about them in term of Projects.
Identify your Projects
Start with any cloud in your head and ask these questions in sequence:
What project is this?
What do I want to accomplish this month for this project?
How am I going to do that specifically, list a handful of ideas.
Anticipate how long each idea will take to complete in total.
Repeat until you have 5 projects.
Then ask is there any project i need to do that is more important than these 5?
If yes, bump one of the projects off to next month, and bring that project into this month.
5 projects a month is plenty, sure you might have to work on a thing here or there, for this month do the minimum to move those things along but focus on your chosen projects.
Schedule your ideas for your projects, ensuring there is enough month do do all of it, and if not trim the fat, remove the unessentials.
My projects include Books I’m illustrating, Substacks I’m writing, Community work (Illo Guild), and thing to advance my illustration career.
What Projects are you working on this month?
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