Breaking Large Projects Down

I recently received this question from a reader and I decided to respond in a blog post so others would also benefit from it. Her question...

'I don't know HOW to break a large project down into tasks. When I read your comment about quilting and one of the first things you could learn to do was to thread your sewing machine, I was amazed! My idea of learning to quilt would be to go to the fabric store and get tons of books and the best fabric and all the tools any quilter could ever want. Then I would find a beautiful (but very difficult) pattern and start cutting. When things didn't fit I would just get fed up and quit--saying I couldn't quilt. Is there a formula to figure out what goes first and so on? My husband is a logical thinker and it's so easy for him to know where to begin. I usually just jump in with tons of enthusiasm that is quickly quenched. I usually end up crashing and burning. I don't want to live like this, but seem to be stuck. Can you help?'

Great question, because in my mind this is a huge part of the reason so many projects get started, but never completed. Looking at an entire project, as a whole, is very overwhelming. Breaking it up into smaller steps, mini-goals, is less stressful and each step is more likely to get accomplished.

First off, when a huge project comes your way, give yourself time to think about it BEFORE running out to the store and buying anything.

Perhaps a thought crosses your mind that you want to learn how to play guitar. Ok, ask yourself why. Do you want to entertain friends and family? Do you want to do a solo guitar performance somewhere? Do you want to simply learn a few songs to dazzle your spouse? Once you know what your purpose is, it's easier to break the project down, or even re-assess how badly you want to accomplish that particular project with the amount of extra time you have.

Once you know your purpose and decide this is something you truly want to do, write what you want to do and the purpose of the project on an index card.

Then, grab a bunch of index cards and on each write a task related to that purpose.

Let's say your project is to learn to bake bread and the purpose would be for you to give a loaf as a gift to your sister who loves home baked bread. One index card may say, 'Research bread making on the Internet.' Another may say, 'Determine type of bread my sister likes.' Yet another may say, 'Find a very basic bread recipe and try that first to see if I like baking bread' and so on.

Once you have a bunch of index cards made, shuffle them until they're in a somewhat logical order. Get someone to help if necessary.

Then, tackle each card one by one, and consider accomplishing that task a success and reward yourself for your effort.

Before you know it, you'll be handing your sister a fresh baked loaf of bread, or accomplishing any other project to which you apply this system.

Comments

[SharonT]

Maria, THANK YOU for this detail about how to break down a big project. I can absolutely relate to the person who wrote you the letter - it sounds just like me. Your realistic approach to breaking it down makes perfect sense...why didn't I think of that?? I'm printing this out and placing it all over the house so I can stop myself from running to the store every time I get a brainstorm about a new project. Thanks again! ~Sharon