There are many
reasons why projects stall or do not happen as quickly as we hope for when
we first create the definition of a task as a new project. We often
rationalize these issues as reasons to procrastinate and fail to get our
project launched. Some of these
reasons include:
1. The project's
size seems daunting. The size and scope of the project seems so large, and will
take so much time, and because we are so busy we cannot seem to find the
time to get the project scheduled. We wait until we have more time.
2. The project's
requirements are outside our current capabilities. We currently do not
have the expertise, contacts, or talent to pull off the project. We wait
hoping we'll develop them or that they will magically appear.
3. The project's
outcome is uncertain. The project's outcome may be unknown and untested.
As a result, we are afraid it might fail and wait until it seems less
risky.
4. The project's
cost will be expensive to our current budget. We don't currently have the
finances to pay for the project. As a result, we wait until we have more
money.
Whatever the
reason, the outcome is only that we wait. This procrastination often
results in (a) someone else launching the idea and making it happen before
we do and beating us to the market, (b) stagnation and the money, time, or
capability never develop the way we thought it would, and/or (c) failure
to complete the project.
In spite of the
obstacles to procrastination, I've come to learn some valuable secrets
into avoiding procrastinating on a project to get it launched and
successfully off the ground. This article deals with overcoming the four
reasons we procrastinate outlined above. In overcoming those
procrastinating obstacles we will get our project off the ground and
headed towards the success that may indeed await us.
There are some
quick and effective methods to avoid procrastinating on your project
(company, product, service, etc.) and start getting the ball rolling to
your future success:
Procrastination
Problem #1. The size and scope of the project seems too big.
Success
Solution #1. Divide and conquer. Break the project into parts you can cope with.
There is an old
saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."
There is wisdom
within that saying. Most serious projects worth doing cannot get completed
in a week or a day. As a result, don't look at the project as a whole;
rather, look at the project in parts. Instead of seeing the entire pie,
look at just a slice of the pie. Instead of seeing a complete car, look at
the wheel assembly, look at the engine in parts, look at the interior in
parts, and so on.
For example, a
friend of mine wants to write a coffee table book that will have pictures
of models in a thematic setting to convey the topic of the book (sorry,
I'm under non-disclosure about the topic, but suffice it to say that it's
juicy!). She shared the idea with a few sharp business associates who all
thought the idea is a winner. But she was procrastinating and not getting
the project off the ground. Rather than looking at writing the book in a
week or a day, which she, as a mother, businessperson, and social person
did not have time to accomplish, she needed to break it into parts. What
part could she do now?
When something
seems too big, I recommend putting together a simple project plan. Map out
the essentials:
a. What is the
project's expected outcome?
b. What does the
project involve, that I know today?
c. Who can do each
of those pieces, who I know today?
d. What will the
project cost?
e. How might I
finance those costs?
d. What is the
first step, that I can do, starting today?
If you do not have
the answers to some of these questions, write down what you DO know, then
write additional questions to help you on your path to fill in the blanks.
the most important question: who can I ask who might help me answer this
question? If you don't know, start asking who might know who. Consider
yourself a detective on the trail of clues. As you get each clue, you have
SUCCESS in getting one step closer to making your project a reality.
Key to getting it
started: I recommend doing the first part of the project that we
KNOW we can do, from our plan. When we take the first step of action in
the plan, we subconsciously validate that we CAN work the plan, that the
PLAN is good, and we WILL REALIZE the PLAN! Read that again if you
experience any doubt and replace that doubt with FAITH in your ability to
get it done.
If you do not take
action, you will never do anything, so do the first part today. In my
friend's situation, I recommend that she buy a sketch book TODAY, and
start with a simple goal of completing THREE sketches a day, with one
paragraph descriptions of what the sketch meant. Each sketch will
ultimately end up becoming a page in her book. Once she has 240 sketches,
she will have enough to eliminate the 1/3 or 1/2 that aren't quite good
enough or that don't match the book's concept or theme. But if she just
sketches three a day, she will have this project ready to show other
people in just 80 days. She's had the idea for over a year, so there is no
reason to think she could not have already done this, but she had not
started a single sketch: all the ideas were in her head! She now has a
simple plan, and she is now sketching the drawings to make this coffee
table book idea become a reality.
Procrastination
Problem #2. The project's requirements are outside our current
capabilities. We currently do not have the expertise, contacts, or talent
to handle the project.
Success
Solution #2. Learn what you need to know or outsource your need to a
professional.
When event
planners contact me to hire as a speaker for their event, they want to know where
I've spoken in the past, who was the target audience, how many speeches
I've delivered, and can I send a copy of my speech. How did I get my first
speech? I started small, like most people, and grew in my capabilities and
confidence. I tell other speakers, "join Toastmasters, volunteer to
speak often and everywhere you can," as an effective method to get
started and gain the experience to answer the questions event planners
will ask them when they go for the bigger events.
I wonder how many
people think that Michael Jordan learned how to shoot a basketball. Did he
learn in a week? Or did he develop the skill over many years, from early
childhood, through school, through college, through the NBA, until he won
championship after championship. Well, maybe you could say that Michael
Jordan was the unusual, the rare, the gifted. Okay, then take someone else
who "red-shirts" (isn't drafted) on their team, but works really
hard at their skills, and finally breaks through. There are people who get
these breaks, such as Joe Nedney, a place-kicker on the Tennessee Titans,
who kicked field goals for San Jose State. Joe is someone I followed,
because he kicked for the Oakland Raiders, which is a team I follow. Well, Joe didn't get
drafted out of college. In fact, Joe did other jobs until the place-kicker
position opened up in Oakland. But the year Oakland drafted a new kicker
Joe lost his job. That same year Tennessee lost their place-kicker and
they signed Joe to a regular contract. I was sorry to see Joe go, but glad
to see that he succeeded in his career. He believed
in himself and stuck with it, going to tryout after tryout, until he
finally made his dream of playing in the NFL reality.
Besides
developing the skills to do the project there is another answer to this
problem: outsourcing. That is, outsource the particular skill to someone better suited to do the
work. For example, my friend with the book project is not a photographer.
Yet, her book will use photos as their primary content. She will need to
hire an outstanding photographer, who has the other connections to
complete that aspect of her project. So, if you don't know how, either
start learning how, or hire someone else who already knows how to handle
your need.
If you don't know
who to hire, ask other people who have achieved similar goals who they
worked with. Network until you find the right fit for your project. Check
their references if you don't know them, then move forward and trust them
to do their part.
Procrastination
Problem #3. The project's outcome is uncertain. The outcome may be
unknown and untested.
Success
Solution #3. Test parts of the outcome. Build upon small successes.
I always wondered
how Thomas Edison created the light bulb. How did he know which filaments
to use, or even that the bulb would require a filament? Who created the
word filament, for that matter? Obviously, inventors face many tasks,
included naming new processes for things they create. As it turns out,
Edison tested each filament repeatedly under laboratory conditions. He
also tested over 1,000 different filaments for the light bulb. Did he stop
at the first one and say "whoops, that failed, bad idea?" No. He
believed in his project. So part of the solution to this problem requires
tenacity, persistence, and practicality. If at first you do not succeed,
try and try again. If you believe in your idea, you must have faith in it.
How do you validate faith? Through testing the waters.
A woman used to
cut the feet off of her panty hose because she didn't like the way they
made her feet look, but wanted the support of the hose for other reasons.
She couldn't understand why she couldn't just buy hose without feet. As a
result, she created "Spanx" panty hose for women who wanted a
shapely rear-end but not the "feet" on the hose. Keep in mind
that the woman who created "Spanx" panty hose was originally
turned down and told her idea would not sale. Today, Spanx and Spanx
knock-offs are in department stores around the country. Her company is a
growing and thriving woman's apparel company simply by taking an idea and
working hard to develop it, test it, finance it, and promote it.
So develop your
idea, and test it. And even if it fails the tests, just continue to hone
it and develop it until you have a marketable product. Eventually, someone
will believe, too, because you stuck with your idea, and then you'll have
a partner to help you promote your project.
Procrastination
Problem #4. The project will be expensive to our current budget. We don't
currently have the finances to pay for the project.
Success
Solution #4. Finance the part of the project you can now. Get the
project to pay for itself, or ask for more money when more of the project
is completed and people can see more of your vision in form.
Let's go back to
our expression "Rome wasn't built in a day." Well, it probably
wasn't financed in a day, either. Sometimes, we receive financing WHILE
THE PROJECT IS ALREADY IN PROCESS.
Ask a book
publisher to finance or publish your book and they will ask you how many
copies of your book you've already sold. If you can show them you've
already sold 10,000 books, they might have more interest than if you just
mail them a sample text of the book.
When I started
AspireNow, I didn't know how much money it would take to launch my
company. It was a new type of company, part coaching firm, part consulting
firm, part portal, part publishing firm. There were many aspects I was
trying to do, and do well, all at once. I learned valuable lessons about
cash flow in relation to focus. With money focus is a key to success.
Focus on the things you know you must do now, and what they cost. Pay for
those, then take action on the other parts of your plan. By then, either
you will have more money, or developed the skill, exposure, or contacts to
be able to ask for additional money. Or, the aspects of the project you
launched that pay you back can start earning their keep by paying for
their existence.
To summarize, here
are the most common procrastination problems and success solutions to
launching your projects (dreams, companies, products, services):
Procrastination
Problem #1. The size and scope of the project seems too big.
Success
Solution #1. Divide and conquer. Break the project into parts you can cope with.
Procrastination
Problem #2. The project's requirements are outside our current
capabilities.
Success
Solution #2. Learn what you need to know or outsource your need to a
professional.
Procrastination
Problem #3. The project's outcome is uncertain or untested.
Success
Solution #3. Test parts of the outcome. Build upon small successes.
Procrastination
Problem #4. The project will be expensive to our current budget.
Success
Solution #4. Finance the part of the project you can now. Get the
project to pay for itself, or ask for more money when more of the project
is completed and people can see more of your vision in form.
When you can move
beyond procrastination and take steps to success, you start positive
momentum. With positive momentum, you can create new products, programs,
and services. Success follows positive action, so I urge you to act now.
Don't wait until you know enough, have enough expertise or money, and
watch someone else launch the idea ahead of you and regret your inaction
later. A good friend of mine once told me that upon launching a dream,
"you will not regret that which you did -- even if it failed. You
will only regret that which you did not do, which might have
succeeded."
Scott
Andrews is CEO and Founder of AspireNow (www.AspireNow.com),
a leading business productivity and personal development firm based in
California. AspireNow helps organizations launch new products and
services, maximize sales, and innovatively change businesses through
cutting-edge and empowering business models and processes. For more
information, contact Scott@AspireNow.com,
or visit http://www.AspireNow.com.
