Gary Ryan Blair, the Goals Guy, is somebody you need to know. His book Everything Counts! is right on. Everything does count if you want to create the life and career success you want and deserve. The other day I got an email from Gary talking about the importance of breaking down large projects so they don’t seem so overwhelming. Check it out…
In computer science there exists a term called the divide-and-conquer algorithm.
What this algorithm basically does is that it breaks down a larger problem into smaller sub-problems and each of those sub-problems are then broken down into even smaller sub-problems.
You continue to break down all the sub-problems until you have a bunch of small and easily solvable problems — if you solve all of these small problems, then you’ve solved the main, bigger problem.
You can apply this same algorithm to your life and to your goals.
I find that many people have big dreams and big aspirations but when it comes time for them to actually start working on them, they stand there confused and unsure about which direction to take. The most common complaint they have is that they don’t know where to start.
This reminded me of the career advice in Tweet 87 in my career success book, Success Tweets. “Break large projects into small chunks. They are not so overwhelming that way. Set mini milestones for yourself.”
Jill Koenig, the Goal Guru and one of my on line friends, posted this bit of wisdom on her Facebook page a while back…
To accomplish big things, you must do the small things. This overcomes inertia. To accomplish the small things, visualize the big picture outcome. This overcomes overwhelm.
That’s exactly the kind of career advice I’m talking about in Tweet 87. Small steps and mini-milestones, will help you overcome the inertia that can stop you from beginning a big project. At the same time, you need to keep focused on the big picture to avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer number of small tasks involved in completing a big project.
I’ve written 15 books. Writing a book is a huge project. It can be difficult to get started. I’ve found that breaking down the writing process into manageable chunks helps me to get started, and keep my momentum. I am in the process of finishing a new one called, My Corporate Climb: A Common Sense Roadmap for Becoming the Corporate Career Success You Are Meant to Be! I am in the final editing stages. Here’s how I went about writing My Corporate Climb.
First, I created an overall model of corporate career success. This model has seven main components:
- Clarify the purpose and direction for your life and career.
- Commit to taking personal responsibility for your life and career success.
- Build unshakeable self-confidence.
- Become an outstanding performer.
- Create positive personal impact.
- Become a dynamic communicator.
- Build strong, lasting mutually beneficial relationships.
Then I spent time figuring out the career advice that would tell readers exactly what they need to do to apply each of these components to create the life and career success they want and deserve. Check it out…
Clarity
- Figure out what career success means to you personally.
- Create a vivid mental image of yourself as a career success.
- Determine your personal values.
Commitment
- Take personal responsibility for your life and career success.
- Set and achieve high goals.
- Choose to react positively to the people and events in your life; especially the negative ones.
Self Confidence
- Choose to be optimistic.
- Face your fears and act.
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Find a mentor to help you create your career success.
- Share your knowledge and wisdom through mentoring others.
Outstanding Performance
- Keep your skills up-to-date by becoming a lifelong learner.
- Master the numbers. Understand your company’s balance sheet.
- Manage your time, life and stress well.
- Live a healthy lifestyle.
Positive Personal Impact
- Create and nurture your unique personal brand.
- Be impeccable in your presentation of self; in person and on line.
- Know and follow the basic rules of business etiquette.
Dynamic Communication
- Develop strong conversation skills.
- Write clearly and succinctly.
- Master public speaking skills.
Relationship Building
- Become self aware. Use your self-knowledge to better understand others.
- Pay it forward; give with no expectation of return.
- Resolve conflict in a manner that strengthens — not weakens — relationships.
Once I had these 24 ideas down – and this took quite a bit of thinking and work – I was ready to begin writing. Each chapter became a mini-milestone. Writing 24 focused chapters was easier for me than writing a book on such a large and complex topic as career success.
This process works for me, primarily because I break the overwhelmingly large project of writing a book into a series of small steps that are relatively easy to accomplish. That’s the beauty of the career advice in Tweet 87 in Success Tweets and in Gary and Jill’s advice on achieving your goals.
One more piece of career advice. I always start large projects late in the afternoon. I do this to create momentum. Even though I barely scratch the surface of the project, I get up the next day ready to go because I have accomplished something on the project and have momentum on my side. Try this the next time you are faced with a big project. It works.
The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Successful people are good at taking on and accomplishing big projects. They follow the career advice in Tweet 87 in Success Tweets. “Break large projects into small chunks. They are not so overwhelming that way. Set mini-milestones for yourself.” Jill Koenig nails it when she says, “To accomplish big things, you must do the small things. This overcomes inertia. To accomplish the small things, visualize the big picture outcome. This overcomes overwhelm.” Gary Ryan Blair gives great career advice when he suggests breaking large problems into small, manageable ones. Small steps in the right direction are the best way to get big things done. One final piece of career advice here: start big projects late in the afternoon. You’ll have momentum on your side when you get to work the next day.
That’s my career advice on breaking big projects into manageable chunks. What do you think? Please share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained. It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.
Speak Your Mind