How do you get started on a project or goal?
How do you get started on a project or goal?
How do you organize yourself? What do you need to feel ready? If you can, please share any stories of successful or unsuccessful ventures.I get bored. When I get bored, I normally do anything to remain busy. Organizing my clothes, cleaning the apartment, sewing a new outfit together, working on a puzzle, creating a new calligraphy page, changing the garden, etc.
For me initially it was a sense of urgency, age was creeping up, there was a story to tell, and unless I wrote it, all would be lost.
Then I discovered an old manuscript written by my grandmother that never made it to publication. It was much too valuable to ignore. So I published that, in her name of course.
Once I made these small incursions into the art of writing, others seemed to follow as a matter of course. I enjoy picking up a topic, teasing my mind with it, researching it, and finally putting it into print.
Surprisingly (to me) it seems to appeal, not just to a small circle, but to a wider market. I joined a class with a fine tutor, and now try to put someting of interest out with fair frequency.As a professional procrastinator the key is NOT to be organized. Proper organization has always backfired on me; I realize there is still plenty of time to do a task and do not take it seriously until the very last minute. But if I try to plan I will waste a lot of time doing "work" in the days before a due date but never really accomplish anything until the day before and then get it done quickly and efficently in that single day. So I just spend the days beforehand having a good time and then cram last minute like the cramming professional I am.
My best writing has been completed in the wee hours of the morning before the assignment is due or before my hub is published. No distractions and an impending sense of urgency just seem to fuel the creative process. But I don't know very many people like me!Simple but elusive to most of us.
Commit by doing something to get started right then and there. Then do your research and get to know all there is about your project. With the ball already rolling, combined with your new found knowledge, you can't loose. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land amounst the stars...I'm a planner and love to work things out on paper. My first instinct is almost always to grab a pen and start an outline in a notebook.
The way I start a project, especially a project that I don't want to start, is to pick a small, easy part of the project and just get going on it. As I complete this small task, I find that I wind up to the project as a whole and I can keep going on to the larger and more difficult tasks.
For me, the first step is always the idea- the thought appearing on the horizon.
I usually think about it a bit, until I've got the basic structure clearly in my mind.
Then I take action...
(I've published two books so far, so this system seems to be working for me....)
