Conceptualization, big-picture thinking, crowdsourcing ideas, and/or collaborative planning sessions often result in next steps. It is not unusual for those identified next steps to get lodged in a variety of progress impeders like process, apathy, time restraints, or lack of clarity. One of the greatest impediments is requiring perfection, supporting Voltaire’s famed, “Perfect is the enemy of done.” Progress is often lost in the want for perfection.
Guess what? Baby steps – as long as they are measured and intentional – take a longer journey to perfect, but a much faster pace to done. Done-ish is fine. Continuous improvement is fine. Iterative progress is progress. Very few plans in life require perfection as the end state.
In the simplest terms, Brain Traffic shares, “Strategy is where you will focus your efforts to achieve your goals, and how you will succeed.”
These can be simple steps or significant investment and can really apply to all facets of life. We primarily hear strategy within the confines of business, but it’s just as common to identify your holiday shopping strategy or a self-improvement strategy.
Strategy tends to drive progress in all the things. Think about the times when you:
- Are feeling too under qualified to apply for your recently posted dream position?
- Can’t quite move a new functioning system to production because it still needs a bit of aesthetic work or configuration tweaking?
- Have a real hard time getting into a health-focused fitness routine?
- Find yourself hesitant to finalize the presentation you’ve been working on for months?
Without doubt, overthinking and lack of confidence impact the ability to complete. How does one get from progress to comfortably done? At least with this phase or draft?
Where are you?
First things first, as it pertains to your goal or quest, identify where you are in any process.
Where do you want to be?
What is your desired outcome or final state?
Map from where you want to be to where you are right now
Whether ten feet or ten years between now and then, what does that path look like? What hurdles do you need to identify and map your way around or actively through? Sometimes you simply can’t jump hurdles; you must influence those blocking your way to pass to the next step.
Plan the steps to get there – starting with the first step, effective immediately
Don’t pre-stress over the impediments. Make a list. What are the steps to progress, to done. Not perfection, progress.
Share, discuss, refine those steps with team members, leaders, confidantes, family
You need a hype team. A team – whether family, business partners, or church mates – that believes in you, believes in your goal, believes with no doubt that you are capable, but also is not a diehard ‘yes’ person. You need discussion, reality, support – in all orders.
Listen to feedback – on the ground often sees what higher level and self do not
There is no such thing as useless feedback. It might be anecdotal (experience of others matters!) and it might be more valuable later (so tuck it away), but feedback from others at all levels unearths blind spots and chips away at cracks in your own self-awareness.
Socialize the plan with clear points of progress, measurable steps and outcomes
“Here’s why I want to do this, how I’m going to get there, I’ve taken the first step, I plan to celebrate my progress when I reach my first milestone. And I want you to celebrate with me!”
Whether the goal is implementing a finance system, building up more physical endurance, or reading ten books a year – each effort starts with a first step. And reaching done can take a million minutes so it’s important to acknowledge accomplishments by celebrating along the way. Keep it going.
Over-communicate
If this is a solo effort, surround yourself with people that care about your success; people that never tire of hearing good things about you. If this is a team effort, bring everyone along as an integral piece of the whole story. “Why are we doing this? Well let me tell you why, and what this will result in, and how this will impact you in a great way.”
If others are arms-locked and working together, praise your partners. Praise every soul that supports this effort, no matter how small the assistance.
Execute
Start. Get moving. Progress starts with one simple step. You’ve got to get moving.
Complete
This goes back to the initial question, Where do you want to be? A pre-defined completion point makes it simple to tie the bow and celebrate the end. The end can be of that one phase – but there must be an end. What you start you must finish.
Revisit
As with everything, continuous improvement of successful completed efforts ensures that great work won’t die unattended on a vine. For example, you apply for your dream job, go through the full interview process, ultimately you learn that you did not get selected because they went with someone with more public speaking experience. OK, now what?
Next steps?
Your next step might be to take a public speaking course, or to volunteer far outside of your comfort zone to present an update to fifty coworkers, or maybe find a mentor who is adept at public speaking and ask for their assistance. You might even have discovered throughout the interview process that the role you thought was your dream job isn’t. On the plus side, perhaps it’s provided clarity on what that new dream job might be instead.
Repeat: Where are you, where do you want to be, and so on
Does this feel too simplistic? Give it a try. Walking through the simple steps above gets you where you need to be – professionally, personally, or both – most of the time. After a few quick wins, you’ll find yourself click on the autopilot as new goals, projects, and challenges appear.
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