It’s Valentine’s Day! Have you ever fallen in love to the point of dropping everything for the one you love?
And for your projects and your brilliant ideas, does it happen the same way? Just like a relationship with a person, the relationship you have with your dear project is crucial to moving it forward and bringing you the joy and satisfaction of having accomplished it.
Fall in love with your idea
So the first step is to fall in love with your idea.
Your relationship with your idea
What is your vision? What do you want to achieve with this idea? How will you feel once this idea is realized?
Anchor yourself in this image, feel the positive emotions.
Write down this goal, see create a visual.
Go back to this writing, this visual every day, to remind your brain of what you are aiming for. The why you are doing this project is an essential part of your motivation to do it in the long term.
Falling in love with your idea is great, but if you plan to sell it or offer it to others, it is important to check that it will also appeal to others.
Your idea and others
Lead your investigation: create a survey to find out if your idea meets a specific need. Then contact as many people as possible, via your network, social networks, friends, family, etc. and ask them your questions.
This step will allow you to check that you are on the right track.
If not, listen to what the interviewees tell you. Clues are certainly part of your exchanges. You may have a great idea, but the way you plan to realize it may need to be adapted to the actual demand.
That’s the next step.
The feasibility of your idea
Before you start, you can see if your idea is feasible.
For example, if it requires materials and design, like launching a clothing brand: can you access what you need? If not, how are you going to go about it? What will your resources be? What are your current skills? Which ones do you miss? Who can help you? etc
List all this information and proceed in small steps.
Maybe you can’t know in advance if your idea will work or not. In this case, you can create prototypes and test them.
Once you have passed all these steps, you have a clear vision, you have confirmed that your idea will bring value and that it is feasible (at least its prototype), you can start planning.
Meet with your idea
Your idea will be desired. It will be necessary to devote time to her/him and meet her/him regularly to advance this relationship (and your project).
List the first steps you know
Take a moment to list everything you already know and everything you imagine you need to do to make your project a reality.
You won’t know everything in advance and that’s okay. What matters is finding the first steps to get started. The next steps will be revealed over time.
For each of the actions you have identified, see if they have a logical order of priority. If you are in doubt, ask yourself: what can I do first, to make the result of my project available as soon as possible? What smallest element has the most value, so that I can test it?
Decide how much time to spend on it
Once this prioritization is done, decide how much time you will devote to each action.
Again, if in doubt, decide and adapt as needed. It is by dint of doing things that you will know how much time you will need. You may need more time in the beginning for some tasks because you will have to learn. Then it will be faster.
What matters in this step is that you have a plan to follow. Allow yourself to change it if necessary. the only condition being to progress towards your vision.
Plan
Once you have your actions prioritized and with a timeline, put them on your favorite calendar or time management tool.
- Begin with the moments of rest. They are just as important as active times.
- Also put your personal, family activities, etc. To be sure not to forget anything.
- Put first the actions that will be recurring.
- Then place the other activities, according to the priority and the duration that you have decided.
Remember to come back to your plan regularly, to adjust as you progress and learn.
The secret to realization? Get started!
nurture the relationship
All this preparation is necessary to move on to the realization of your idea. Consider this framework as a solid anchor to hold on to in case of doubts, fears, hesitations, etc.
Overcome obstacles
Distractions will be many and tempting. Think about strategies in advance. You know yourself well: what are the biggest obstacles you can face in the creation of your idea?
Once these obstacles have been listed: what strategy(ies) can I put in place to counter these obstacles?
Write down this information and keep it handy. In case of a slack, you can use it to get back in motion.
Appreciate your progress
One of the secrets to success is to regularly review your progress. The mistake most people make is comparing where they are with their goal. But the gap can seem huge and discouraging.
Instead, you can devise a strategy for measuring your progress and celebrating it regularly.
Look ahead: your vision, but also behind to see all you have accomplished and learned so far.
Allow yourself to enjoy even the smallest victories: an email sent, a new contact made, a task completed.
Train yourself to love your journey, as a path of opportunity, learning, and self-development.
Love your ideas, love your journey, love who you are and who you are becoming in this process.
