I was talking to an Academy member the other day, who was needing some help figuring out how to chunk and sequence her 12-week project. Instead of focusing on a "work" project, she made the excellent and hard choice to focus on "getting herself together" (her words), since the last year has been a … [Read more...] about Your Morning Routine: Start Small and Stack
4 Practices to Balance Your Solo and Collaborative Work
Over the last few weeks, I've felt that I was in an "I've fallen and can't get up" spiral when it comes to writing. I was on a great streak of drafting posts every day and then I stopped. This isn't the first time a daily blogging stint has expired after about a month. In fact, it's actually more … [Read more...] about 4 Practices to Balance Your Solo and Collaborative Work
Make Some Old Friends
I stumbled upon "Old Friends" by Ben Rector this morning and had tears of joyful nostalgia. It made me think of the many teenage moments I shared with old friends, especially Scott: The time he shot me in the groin with a BB gun. The time he fell through the hole in my grandma's house. … [Read more...] about Make Some Old Friends
What Are You Listening To?
Editor's Note: Angela wrote a companion post, Care in What You Consume, about her experiences in 2004 during Charlie's deployment, and in 2020 with COVID-19. This post provides Charlie's perspective of the same two time periods. --- When I deployed for my Operation Iraqi Freedom tour back in … [Read more...] about What Are You Listening To?
How Many Projects Is COVID-19 Creating for You?
In Start Finishing, I defined a project as anything that takes time, energy, and attention to complete. Too many of us are only counting our work or business activities as projects, but the reality is that they only make up a fraction of all of the projects we're carrying. Weddings, backyard … [Read more...] about How Many Projects Is COVID-19 Creating for You?
Three Little Things to Get the Day Back on Track
This morning got on like the start of a country song. I stayed up too late last night, got up late this morning, misplaced things I just had in my hands, and lost twenty minutes in a social-media-and-news clickhole when I was getting my laptop hooked up to my monitor for the day's work. In the … [Read more...] about Three Little Things to Get the Day Back on Track
How to Use Your GATES to Make Your Project Easier
A few years ago I got an email from a reader — let’s call him Arnie — seeking advice on how to grow his (written) blog. In his email he mentioned that he wasn’t good at writing and didn’t enjoy it. A sentence or two later, he mentioned how much he loved talking and creating videos. Being distant … [Read more...] about How to Use Your GATES to Make Your Project Easier
3 Questions to Triage What Needs to Be Done
The last few weeks have thrown up in the air a lot of our rhythms, plans, and confidence. But it's not just that those things have been unsettled – it’s also that new stuff has been added on top of what we had before. What I've been reminding folks (who are open to it) is this: while a lot of new … [Read more...] about 3 Questions to Triage What Needs to Be Done
What Matters Now?
Rather than just jumping in and talking about how we're updating our plans and adjusting to COVID-19, I've been making sure to ask my clients "What matters now?" first. It's not that the goals we set and plans we put in place a few weeks ago are all irrelevant – it's just that now some of them are, … [Read more...] about What Matters Now?
When Does It Hit You?
How long does it take for something that touched your heart to really hit you? For me, it's almost always time-delayed by at least three or four days. Sometimes it's three or four months. It's not that I don't feel whatever I went through as it happened. It's just that the impact often doesn't … [Read more...] about When Does It Hit You?
In Times Like These
So much of the last few weeks has revolved around COVID-19, but our lives are much bigger than that. Elders are passing. Babies are being born. Lovers are meeting, breaking up, and making up. Fetch water, carry wood. In the long view, we'll most likely remember COVID-19 the way we remember 9/11 – … [Read more...] about In Times Like These
Do It for the Love
A common thread I've heard in my conversations with clients, colleagues, and friends is that they're hesitant and more than a little guilty about wanting to keep at their best work. Doing their best work during a pandemic – and, gasp, enjoying it – feels wrong. Here's the deal: many of us need to … [Read more...] about Do It for the Love
How to Stay Sane and Productive While Working from Home
We know a lot of you are looking to be as productive and balanced as possible in your new work-from-home situation due to COVID-19, which is why we hosted a webinar on “How to Stay Productive and Sane While Working from Home”. You can watch the recording of the webinar above or over on … [Read more...] about How to Stay Sane and Productive While Working from Home
How Success Packs Push Your Project to Done
In my experience, the chief reason people don’t finish their most meaningful projects is because they’re trying to do it alone. Given that the more a project matters to us, the more we’ll thrash with it, it’s even more important that we build a team of allies around us, yet it’s the fear of having … [Read more...] about How Success Packs Push Your Project to Done
The Five Projects Rule: Defining Your Best Work
A common challenge I help people work through is figuring out how much work they’re doing and whether they’re going to be able to finish the projects they have on deck in time. Most people have committed to too many projects — especially when we add in their personal projects — and they’re … [Read more...] about The Five Projects Rule: Defining Your Best Work
How Do You Prevent Project Fatigue?
On our February 2020 Monthly Momentum Call, someone asked a great question about project fatigue. Shortly after the call, I had a hit that it’d be a great topic to share publicly, too. Before I jump into that, though, if you’re unfamiliar with our Monthly Momentum Calls, they are free Q&A … [Read more...] about How Do You Prevent Project Fatigue?
5 Questions to Make You Rethink Your New Year’s Resolutions
Psychologists agree that 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February (that’s next week, if you’re keeping track). And the social fitness network Strava is even more pessimistic: Their research, analyzing more than 31.5 million online global activities, proclaims that the … [Read more...] about 5 Questions to Make You Rethink Your New Year’s Resolutions
How to Find the Right Level of Success for Your Next Project
As you’re thinking about that next big project you want to tackle in 2020, it’s important to consider just how big that big project will be. Which means you’ll need to define not only what success looks like, but the level of that success you want to achieve. [The information below is a modified … [Read more...] about How to Find the Right Level of Success for Your Next Project