Procrastination is something everyone is guilty of now and then - yes, even me. My particular form of procrastination involves random cleaning/organizing and some form of social media. In fact, after I wrote the intro above, I may or may not have gotten up from my desk and gone and made my bed.
I think this urge to step away and do something else (something easier, perhaps) stems from a perception that the project will be difficult, expensive or just hard to get started. The key word there is perception. Your thoughts control your actions, and if you think something will be difficult or that you don't know where to start, you just might think yourself right out of taking action.
Here are some tactics that can help you get moving when stalled on a new project.
Know what you need to know and what you don’t. There are some projects where it is essential to understand exactly how something is set up. For others, you only need to know enough to keep things moving. Take setting up an email newsletter, for example. If setting up Mailchimp or Constant Contact is not intuitive for you, and you’re wasting hours doing something you don’t love, let someone else do the initial set up. You can still handle it monthly from there, even if you were not the one to build it in the first place.
Ask the question: What other information do I need? Sometimes we need to do research to get started with a project; sometimes we already have all the information. If you need more information, decide specifically what that is and make a plan to get it. If you have everything, look at it all together so you can see the big picture of the project to feel more confident.
Don’t ask for too many opinions. While it’s nice to have the support of family and friends, ask yourself how much they really know about the decision you’re trying to make. For example, when I was choosing the name of my business, I asked my sister, my husband, a few close friends and my former CEO - and got several different answers and opinions. In the end, I went with my husband's idea, Hey Emily!, which just happens to be how my former CEO would often call out to me from his office to get me started on a project. Of course, that's the one he picked too.
Side note: Asking for too much input is often just another way of procrastinating.
Break the project down into phases and tasks. Sometimes, a project like updating your website can seem like a huge and complicated job. But if you break it down, you’ll see more manageable chunks of work. Phase one: Find another website to emulate. Phase two: Go through each page on your own website and look at how you can improve the layout and content. Phase three: Begin with the home page and make the needed updates. The last phase would be to have someone else review your whole website, because by this point you won't be able to see your own mistakes. Here's why!
Don’t keep the details in your head – write them down. When I don’t have a written plan, I can waste a lot of time spinning my wheels trying to remember what I’ve done and what to do next. Spend some time up front and write a detailed plan to help you see the entire project. It will always save time and work in the long run.
Be okay with learning as you go. With most business projects, it's better to get started now than to wait until you feel 100% ready. If you have a plan and a starting point, you're halfway there - and once your project is in motion, the only way to go is forward.
Overall, the hardest part of any new project is getting started. I hope these ideas will help you get past the temptation to put off the next big idea that could finally take your business over the top!
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