Big.little.NOW
I wanted to share a little project management process that I have used with a lot of success in writing my books and running my business.
I created this little tool that is far more powerful than it looks on paper.
Here’s how you use it.
Step One — fully frame out the BIG GOAL that you are aiming for. Write it out in enough detail to describe what the scene looks like when your big goal is achieved.
e.g. A BIG GOAL for me when writing a book might read something like this.
I have a completed, published book that has been printed and loaded onto the major e-book sales sites like AMAZON and has achieved best-seller status in its category.
Step 2 — write out the key little things that need to be done in order to achieve that one big thing over several weeks or months.
For e.g. Here’s a shortlist of little things I might have to do in writing a book.
— Complete 40000 words of writing over the next 40 days
— Get editing done
— Send to layout artist, get done and finalise
— Proofread
— Finalise cover design
— Assign book a barcode, ISBN and load details
— Organise launch and then launch
— Organise promotion and then promote
— Organise sales and keep communicating with buyers
Step 3 — in each scheduled period — this might be an hour or a half-day, choose something on that list and DO IT NOW.
e.g. I might set a target to write 1000 words on that day which is part of the first thing on the list of my little things.
One last note on this.
It is a saying I heard a long time ago and I’m sorry I don’t know who said it.
“It is easy to say NO when you have a bigger YES in mind” (unknown)
The point of this, if you’ve identified a BIG THING and a bunch of little things to achieve that BIG THING then you should be spending all your NOW’s on achieving that BIG THING.
And say no to anything that isn’t on the list of little things you need to do to get there.
As I said at the beginning, it is more powerful than it looks on paper. And I find it very useful in achieving my goals. I’m about to publish my 8th and 9th business books, so I have the results to prove it works too.
Good luck, hope you enjoy it.
