Vincent AcelingTheAccomplisher
October 29th 2007 09:02
Accomplish Something Big by Doing Something Small
By David Berky
Many of us have big dreams, grandiose ideas or large
projects we have to or would like to accomplish. Whether it
is for our job, our business, a new business, an invention,
or just a personal goal, we all seem to have something large
looming on our To Do list.
But have you ever found yourself putting off that large
project simply because it was so large? You may not know
where to start. You may feel like you are not ready to
start. You may be afraid of not being able to finish or
accomplish a project so large.
How do you overcome these feelings and thoughts? How do
great people or people who do great things actually
accomplish their monumental triumphs? Do they just wake up
one morning and cry "Eureka!"? Or do they all of a sudden
decide to produce their masterpiece? I say "No". Even an
inventor who comes up with a great idea still has a long
road ahead. The idea in itself is usually not the
monumental task. It's the process of bringing that idea
into reality that is usually the "big project".
And what if you don't feel like you are ready to start?
What if you don't have the resources to see the project
through? How can you overcome this initial obstacle? I say,
"Just do something!" A small step is better than no step at
all, and large accomplishments are made up of small
significant steps.
Plan It Out
There are two ways to start on your project and one of those
is to take a few moments and create a plan. (We'll talk
about the other one later on.) Visualize the steps needed to
accomplish your goal. Write each step out and put them in
order. You may have some steps that have question marks.
You may have some areas where you are not sure exactly what
you are going to do or what you need to do. That's ok.
Your plan doesn't have to be perfect.
Most plans change as time goes on, as you gain more
experience, and as you try and learn new things. The main
goal of your plan is just to get you started.
Once you have started you can see the first few steps that
need to be done. What if those steps are also too big to
"leap in a single bound"? Rinse and repeat. Take each of
those unfathomable steps and break them down into smaller
steps. Write down the things that are needed to accomplish
each of those steps. Again question marks are ok. You just
need to get your brain thinking about the problem in
manageable chunks.
Next you may want to assign a time frame or due date for
each step. This gives you a series of smaller goals and a
measuring stick to track their progress. We all know (and
have experienced) the importance of deadlines. Most
deadlines are imposed by someone other than ourselves, so a
self-imposed deadline may not feel as important. But if you
respect the deadline and commit yourself to accomplishing
just this one little task, you will be more likely to
actually do it.
As you begin to step through your plan and make your minor
accomplishments you will begin to see the project take
shape. You will gain momentum and confidence in your
ability to accomplish your task. Although you need to
periodically review and evaluate your overall plan, try to
stay focused on the next goal or step. Don't let yourself
become overwhelmed with the entirety of the project.
Even if you can't see how you will accomplish the next goal,
focus on the current one and concentrate on getting that
done. Often we must take a step or two into the dark before
we can see the light. We may need to step out of our
comfort zone or go beyond our area of expertise before we
even realize how to accomplish the next step.
Also don't get discouraged if you come to a roadblock.
Imagine that your project is to develop a way to transport
something from one place to another without using any of the
currently known methods. (This may have been what Thomas A.
Edison felt like when he took on the project of creating
light using none of the then-known methods.) Don't be
afraid to plan for some testing or consultation with others
outside of your field. You may even want to have someone
inside or outside of your area review your plan or talk over
your progress. You never know when something someone else
says or does will unlock your creativity or outright solve
your problem.
Just Jump In
But what if you don't even know where to start? I mentioned
earlier that there were two ways to start your project. The
second is to skip the planning and just start. No plan, no
ideas, no worries. Just start doing something that you think
will move you in the right direction. Use your knowledge of
the current situation, science, thoughts, and philosophies
and design some steps that let you test out some ideas.
Testing and trials are a legitimate set of steps in
accomplishing a goal.
The software development department here at Simple Joe, Inc.
is a very small, tight-knit group of people. We don't have
the resources (or patience) to sit down and completely map
out every detail of the software we design. Instead, in
order to save money and to create our software products
faster, we often just start throwing together some ideas.
We jump in and start writing the computer code and trying
different scenarios.
You may ask, "Doesn't this mean that you waste a lot of
time, chase a lot of wild geese and go down a lot of blind
alleys?" That's one way to look at it, but we don't see it
that way. We see ourselves as modern day Thomas Edisons.
We don't know exactly what will work or in what ways our
products will be successful until we put something together
and try it out.
We have found that it is very hard to plan something to
exact specifications when you really aren't sure what you
want in the first place. How will you know if one way works
better than another does unless you try both ways? We try
this and we try that. We test it this way and then test it
that way and see which works better. We share our ideas and
our products with people and get their reactions and ideas.
And as we see what works best and what is liked best, we
begin to solidify the features and design of the software.
Rather than building a product and then trying to sell it in
hopes that people will like it, we already know people will
like it because they have already tested it and told us what
they like and don't like.
The point is not to get stuck before you start. Find a way
to get started whether it means mapping out each step or
just jumping right in and mucking around. As the saying
goes: The journey begins with the first step. And as we say
here at Simple Joe software: Large accomplishments are made
up of small significant steps.
By David Berky
Many of us have big dreams, grandiose ideas or large
projects we have to or would like to accomplish. Whether it
is for our job, our business, a new business, an invention,
or just a personal goal, we all seem to have something large
looming on our To Do list.
But have you ever found yourself putting off that large
project simply because it was so large? You may not know
where to start. You may feel like you are not ready to
start. You may be afraid of not being able to finish or
accomplish a project so large.
great people or people who do great things actually
accomplish their monumental triumphs? Do they just wake up
one morning and cry "Eureka!"? Or do they all of a sudden
decide to produce their masterpiece? I say "No". Even an
inventor who comes up with a great idea still has a long
road ahead. The idea in itself is usually not the
monumental task. It's the process of bringing that idea
into reality that is usually the "big project".
And what if you don't feel like you are ready to start?
What if you don't have the resources to see the project
through? How can you overcome this initial obstacle? I say,
"Just do something!" A small step is better than no step at
all, and large accomplishments are made up of small
significant steps.
Plan It Out
There are two ways to start on your project and one of those
is to take a few moments and create a plan. (We'll talk
about the other one later on.) Visualize the steps needed to
accomplish your goal. Write each step out and put them in
order. You may have some steps that have question marks.
you are going to do or what you need to do. That's ok.
Your plan doesn't have to be perfect.
Most plans change as time goes on, as you gain more
experience, and as you try and learn new things. The main
goal of your plan is just to get you started.
Once you have started you can see the first few steps that
need to be done. What if those steps are also too big to
"leap in a single bound"? Rinse and repeat. Take each of
those unfathomable steps and break them down into smaller
steps. Write down the things that are needed to accomplish
each of those steps. Again question marks are ok. You just
need to get your brain thinking about the problem in
manageable chunks.
Next you may want to assign a time frame or due date for
each step. This gives you a series of smaller goals and a
measuring stick to track their progress. We all know (and
have experienced) the importance of deadlines. Most
deadlines are imposed by someone other than ourselves, so a
self-imposed deadline may not feel as important. But if you
respect the deadline and commit yourself to accomplishing
just this one little task, you will be more likely to
actually do it.
As you begin to step through your plan and make your minor
accomplishments you will begin to see the project take
shape. You will gain momentum and confidence in your
ability to accomplish your task. Although you need to
periodically review and evaluate your overall plan, try to
stay focused on the next goal or step. Don't let yourself
become overwhelmed with the entirety of the project.
Even if you can't see how you will accomplish the next goal,
focus on the current one and concentrate on getting that
done. Often we must take a step or two into the dark before
we can see the light. We may need to step out of our
comfort zone or go beyond our area of expertise before we
even realize how to accomplish the next step.
Also don't get discouraged if you come to a roadblock.
Imagine that your project is to develop a way to transport
something from one place to another without using any of the
currently known methods. (This may have been what Thomas A.
Edison felt like when he took on the project of creating
light using none of the then-known methods.) Don't be
afraid to plan for some testing or consultation with others
outside of your field. You may even want to have someone
inside or outside of your area review your plan or talk over
your progress. You never know when something someone else
says or does will unlock your creativity or outright solve
your problem.
Just Jump In
But what if you don't even know where to start? I mentioned
earlier that there were two ways to start your project. The
second is to skip the planning and just start. No plan, no
ideas, no worries. Just start doing something that you think
will move you in the right direction. Use your knowledge of
the current situation, science, thoughts, and philosophies
and design some steps that let you test out some ideas.
Testing and trials are a legitimate set of steps in
accomplishing a goal.
The software development department here at Simple Joe, Inc.
is a very small, tight-knit group of people. We don't have
the resources (or patience) to sit down and completely map
out every detail of the software we design. Instead, in
order to save money and to create our software products
faster, we often just start throwing together some ideas.
We jump in and start writing the computer code and trying
different scenarios.
You may ask, "Doesn't this mean that you waste a lot of
time, chase a lot of wild geese and go down a lot of blind
alleys?" That's one way to look at it, but we don't see it
that way. We see ourselves as modern day Thomas Edisons.
We don't know exactly what will work or in what ways our
products will be successful until we put something together
and try it out.
We have found that it is very hard to plan something to
exact specifications when you really aren't sure what you
want in the first place. How will you know if one way works
better than another does unless you try both ways? We try
this and we try that. We test it this way and then test it
that way and see which works better. We share our ideas and
our products with people and get their reactions and ideas.
And as we see what works best and what is liked best, we
begin to solidify the features and design of the software.
Rather than building a product and then trying to sell it in
hopes that people will like it, we already know people will
like it because they have already tested it and told us what
they like and don't like.
The point is not to get stuck before you start. Find a way
to get started whether it means mapping out each step or
just jumping right in and mucking around. As the saying
goes: The journey begins with the first step. And as we say
here at Simple Joe software: Large accomplishments are made
up of small significant steps.
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Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
This is great advice, I tend to get stuck with some things that worry me.
Tracy
Comment by TheGifted
Thank you. I am trying to use the advice too...hope it will help us a lot...
siv
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life