This is my husband’s iPhone.
My husband. As in the person who I discuss all of my digital solutions with in great detail and who edits every single one of my posts.
This man has 34,000+ unread emails, 119 unread text messages and 86 un-listened to voicemails.
How could he – of all people – not even try to get his stuff under control?
Ouch.
“Can’t do it. It’s too big. Especially after last month where I gave up gluten and dairy and sugar and lost 15 pounds, in case you forgot,” he says.
Fair point.
I actually have noticed from this month’s mammoth posts about cloud storage, inbox management and platforms with auto syncing capabilities, that I might have overwhelmed a few folks. I received comments about the solutions being daunting and too time intensive. It’s true. They are big scary projects.
It makes me think of what I’m trying to do here at Hackerella.
This blog (and what I want it to become) – it’s an ambitious project. It’s new and amazing and crazy and a large step outside of my comfort zone. I have my work cut out for me.
Each posts takes hours to research and write. Half the time I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m not a health or wellness or anything expert. I’m competing in an ultra crowded space. And my approach is a bit unconventional. Who writes about gluten one day and then email management the next? Will people give a crap about what I put out?
When I think about it that way, yes, it’s all sorts of frightening.
But I’ve learned something valuable from my years of blogging and starting new projects (and for those of you who know me, there have been many). I’ve learned how to take that first step, even if I didn’t have all the answers. I’ve taught myself how to focus on the process, not the prize, and how to look at new projects not as these massive and seemingly impossible undertakings, but as a series of small, manageable tasks. Little action items that I simply check off the list, one at a time:
- Write 1000 words. Check.
- Test out photo storage apps. Check.
- Promote latest post on social networks. Check.
- Edit guest post to submit to a popular site. Check.
- Review rejected guest post and try to understand why it wasn’t accepted. Check.
It’s the only way I know how to get things done.
Because of this mindset, big projects don’t faze me. The idea of clearing out 1700 pictures and 34,000 emails and moving and organizing 8 years worth of old photos and videos into a new storage platform? Not a big deal.
The point is, whether it’s a photo project, an email purge, a new blog or anything you’re thinking about starting, big or small, don’t focus on the difficulty of what you’re taking on. Focus on the process. Break it down into pieces. Start with something that’s so easy and so quick that you can’t not do it. Today. In 10 minutes.
Create a Gmail account. You can do that in under a minute. Create one folder in Google Drive. Maybe two. Purchase a storage plan and throw all of your files in there. Spend 15 minutes deleting random photos on your iPhone. Hire someone to do it for you. Email me. I’ll help you. If you really want to get projects like these done, just do something and forget about waiting for more time or energy or ideal working conditions.
And as for me and my adventures with Hackerella, I’ll continue to focus on what I can do today. I’ll put words and sentences together the best way I know how, share the work and rely on you guys to let me know if you’re digging my stuff or not. I’ll keep writing and sharing and improving because that is my process. That is how I will get better and get one step closer to where I want to be.
