Are you a multi-tasker? Do you like to have several projects on the go at once, thinking you’ll shortcut things and get more done in one go?
But do you frequently find that you never quite finish the projects you start and you move on to the next one, leaving a large pile of unfinished projects and to do list which never quite gets ticked off?
I do. Or at least I did. But then I realised that approach gets me nowhere and here’s why…
Say for example, that you have 3 projects with the goal that they’ll all ultimately produce an additional income stream when they’re completed. Each project lasts 4 weeks.
Now, if you work on each one simultaneously, you might organise your schedule to spend 1 week on Project A, the next on Project B, the next on project C….until all 3 are completed. Your progress would look something like this:
Week 1: Project A = 25% complete
Week 2: Project B = 25% complete
Week 3: Project C = 25% complete
Week 4: Project A = 50% complete
Week 5: Project B = 50% complete
Week 6: Project C = 50% complete
Week 7: Project A = 75% complete
Week 8: Project B = 75% complete
Week 9: Project C = 75% complete…
After 12 weeks all projects would be up & running and generating an income. Fantastic right? Well yes, but there’s a smarter, more efficient way of doing it, which goes like this:
Week 1: Project A = 25% complete
Week 2: Project A = 50% complete
Week 3: Project A = 75% complete
Week 4: Project A = 100% complete
Week 5: Project B = 25% complete –> Generating income from Project A
Week 6: Project B = 50% complete
Week 7: Project B = 75% complete
Week 8: Project B = 100% complete
Week 9: Project C = 25% complete –> Generating income from Project B (and project A)
So within the same timeframe, using the 2nd approach, you’ll be generating an income from 2 complete projects y the 9th week, versus the 1st approach you’ll be generating nothing until the whole 12 weeks is up.
The added benefit is that the lessons you learn from working on a project from start to finish can then be applied to each new project, instead of making the same mistakes across all the projects you’re working on concurrently, then having to go back to them all to correct them. This is how you can work smarter, not faster.