How I Achieved More In A Year Using A Simple Tool

Neera Productivity

Projects.

That’s right.

I like projects.

Because they have an end date.

By a specific date, the grind is over, and a piece of work is done.

That’s why I try to turn everything into projects.

My projects fall into three categories – small, medium, and big.

Two weeks, four weeks, and three months.

Anything longer than that, there is a chance that it will not get done. Or It will keep going on and on and on… until one day I will lose interest and abandon it altogether.

When you plan long-term projects, you are too occupied with them and don’t have the bandwidth to be open to new opportunities arising along the way.

Tim Ferris agrees with me. He reckons you should throw away five-year plans because to follow a set plan means you have to aim below your maximum capabilities. So you would only do what is in the sphere of your plan and are unlikely to pick up anything going sideways.

“I like pushing myself to the limit and pushing the envelope, and in my mind, that is not really compatible with a reliable long-term plan. I generally treat my life as six-month projects and two-week experiments of various types. Then I take the most attractive door that pops up, and rinse and repeat.”

– Tim Ferriss.

Tim is young. He has the luxury of having six-month projects.

I am on the south side of midlife, so I only plan three-month projects. If I can do three in a year, I am being extremely productive.

Projects can only succeed if there is a project plan.

A project without a plan is not a project but a wish. If you won’t build a house without a plan, then why would you do a project without one?

You don’t need an elaborate plan with Gantt Charts and risk analysis. A one-page plan is sufficient. The five key elements of a project plan are:

  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Milestones with end dates
  • Obstacles and Mitigation
  • Resources

I created one for the Write Your Book Sprint I plan to run this year using the template I have in my Author Planner And Bullet Journal.

A barebone plan is better than no plan. It took me half an hour to block the dates and think of key milestones, obstacles, and resources. As I work on it and identfy more steps ans issues, I can add them to the list.

I have not run a course in the past 18 months because I didn’t create a written project plan. As soon as I created the plan, I was able to build the course and launch it within the timeframe.

It helps to have all project plans, monthly goals, weekly to-do lists, and daily tasks at one place in one place. I used to do that online, but I found a physical journal is less stressful and more freeing.

This year I created one and published it on Amazon. It is available in hardback and softcover; you can get it here.

With the help of this simple planner, I have been able to:

  • Write and publish three books
  • 100+ articles
  • 72+ newsletter issues
  • 200+ LinkedIn posts
  • Launched the Write Your Book In 30 Days course and ran it successfully twice.

Sometimes simple solutions are the best ones.