Effective planning. It’s very easy to say " I’m doing this today and that tomorrow" but how realistic is that? Know how to break something down into its component pieces and be able complete them along a schedule. It’s basically project management, but for everyday stuff. It helps immensely to be able to tackle big projects and recognize that things are progressing even though the project still isn’t done. Hugely helpful for stress management.
So project management on a personal scale is really varied based on what level of detail you need. I’ve worked with people who have ADHD traits and they worked best with a very micromanaged day, like there is a reminder every 15 minutes to keep them on track (that’s a generalization, but not far off).
But if you’re just looking for some broader structure to help organize projects you have to do, you can look at AI assisted planners to remove some of the basic breakdown work. You can ask ChatGPT to create a rough outline for some major projects, give it a time frame, and mention any other circumstances (work, childcare, only work 1 hour at a time, etc.), it will give you a decent outline to start with. You can then break it down further if you need to and refine the time line to best fit your own needs
There are lots of ‘personal project management’ books that can help to break it down, also good youtube videos on the subject. There are 3 primary things to remember though:
create manageable goals, this might take some trial and error to figure out timing.
stick to your plan. Putting off a task because you don’t feel like it defeats the purpose of making a plan.
if you stuck to the plan the best you could and it didn’t work out, don’t beat yourself up. Use it as a learning experience for next time you need to plan stuff out. Figure out why it didn’t work and fix it.
Quick note: reading/other resources won’t hand you the answers, they will only help to provide and explain the tools you would need to be successful. Good luck!
As someone whose workplace refuses to schedule anything properly, and refuses to respect to any attempts to schedule anything or anyone, I feel this so much.
Good advice. And one of the keys is to focus on accomplishing the parts of the project you took care of today, not obsessing about working ahead or what’s on your plate tomorrow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Effective planning. It’s very easy to say " I’m doing this today and that tomorrow" but how realistic is that? Know how to break something down into its component pieces and be able complete them along a schedule. It’s basically project management, but for everyday stuff. It helps immensely to be able to tackle big projects and recognize that things are progressing even though the project still isn’t done. Hugely helpful for stress management.
ADHD sufferers feeling the pain right about now.
Do you have a good resource to read up on that?
So project management on a personal scale is really varied based on what level of detail you need. I’ve worked with people who have ADHD traits and they worked best with a very micromanaged day, like there is a reminder every 15 minutes to keep them on track (that’s a generalization, but not far off).
But if you’re just looking for some broader structure to help organize projects you have to do, you can look at AI assisted planners to remove some of the basic breakdown work. You can ask ChatGPT to create a rough outline for some major projects, give it a time frame, and mention any other circumstances (work, childcare, only work 1 hour at a time, etc.), it will give you a decent outline to start with. You can then break it down further if you need to and refine the time line to best fit your own needs
There are lots of ‘personal project management’ books that can help to break it down, also good youtube videos on the subject. There are 3 primary things to remember though:
Quick note: reading/other resources won’t hand you the answers, they will only help to provide and explain the tools you would need to be successful. Good luck!
I think the content says it all really.
Break projects into small tasks and track your progress.
I mean there’s a billion self help books explaining how someone else did it, but none of those will work for you.
I used to use the same software I use as a developer for planning things. It’s was massively helpful.
Jira? Admit it, you’re a scrum master.
As someone whose workplace refuses to schedule anything properly, and refuses to respect to any attempts to schedule anything or anyone, I feel this so much.
Good advice. And one of the keys is to focus on accomplishing the parts of the project you took care of today, not obsessing about working ahead or what’s on your plate tomorrow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.