Hey friend,

Do you struggle to finish projects you’ve started?

I’ve definitely have.

That’s the topic we’ll be tacking today—along with the 5-step framework that you can use to help you get better at finishing off what you started (and that includes intentionally deleting a project from your to-do list!).

Unlocking this framework has helped me complete more projects I care about, without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated at my lack of progress.

Now Lets Get into It…

Why is finishing projects so hard?

Before we dive into the 5 simple steps to help you complete more projects you care about…

Lets chat about a few reasons why this happens to the best of us.

1. Having too many projects on the go: This spreads people thin. For example, when you’re trying to juggling 10 projects at a time, each project might only get 10% of your time and attention. Worse, people might think they’re making progress, but they’ve spent 0% of their time on it.

2. Lack of focus: People might have too many project ideas they’re excited and try to pursue them all. Or they may feel they have other even better ideas to chase down. Unfortunately, this scattered focus sucks up time and energy that could have been better spent working on a project they care about..

3. Lack of systems to track and manage projects: This is the biggest problem my clients have told me they struggle with. They’re ambitious capable coaches and consultants. But they’re trying to juggle family, business and career without systems that support their efforts.

4. Lack of clear alignment to values, goals or life vision: When the going gets tough, a lack of clarity or alignment makes it easy for people to just give up. Without articulating the “why”, it’s tough to slog through the hard parts (and every project has it)

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s not your fault.

Our schools don’t really teach us how to intentionally prioritise and manage projects (and the related tasks) effectively.

Most workplaces don’t have clear systems for how work is managed or done. People are often given an outcome to achieve… how you do it is up to you.

We’re thrown in the deep end to figure it all out ourselves.

As a result, people feel stuck or stressed with trying to juggle multiple projects, and even feel like a failure when they don’t finish the project by the deadline (or abandon it completely).

At least, that’s how I sometimes felt going through school, and then working up the ranks through different management roles.

To overcome this, here’s the strategy I use in Notion to become a Project Finisher.

5-Step Strategy to become a Project Finisher

1. Start with alignment

Projects that don’t align with at least one area of your life are destined to fail.

Because if a project doesn’t fit into an area of life… is it truly important?

At a minimum when I cook up a project idea, it has to fit in one of my buckets below in Notion.

2. Before committing to a project, use the 5-Why’s Method

The 5-Whys Method is a powerful tool for figuring out if a project truly aligns with your values, goals and vision for your life.

It’s simple.

Ask yourself why five times.

Each time you do, you’re digging deeper into your true motivations.

Ultimately, that helps me get clear on why this project is important to me. A clear inner “why” helps you push through the hard parts of the project.

Here’s a snippet of the my project template in my own Notion Workspace.

At the top of every project page, I make sure to fill out this simple sentence:

I want to [what] so that I can [why] by [how].

The 5-Whys Method helps me get to a clear and simple sentence describing the project.

If you did just this one step and ignore the other 5 steps, you’ll experience a huge shift your project completion rates.

3. Practice Slow Productivity principle “do fewer things”

Two key strategies Cal Newport talks about in his book, Slow Productivity, to “do fewer things” is to limit your projects and use a pull-based system for managing projects.

Here’s Newport’s simple system:

• Have two lists: Active and Backlog Projects List

• Limit your active projects to a maximum of 3 projects in any broad areas of your life (e.g. 3 work projects, 3 personal projects)

This dramatically reduces what you’re committing your time, energy and headspace to at any one time (without sacrificing accomplishment or your mental health).

When you sit down for some focused deep work, your goal is to only work on projects on your active list.

If you want to work on something new, you gotta move something on your active list onto your backlog list.

(btw, if you need help putting in place something like this in Notion, let me know—happy to help!)

4. Sequence projects

Sequencing work is a must if you want to avoid project overload.

Sometimes it makes sense to work on projects concurrently in the same period of time, but not literally at the same time.

I try to focus on 1 big project a month at a time. That focus allows me to marinate on related ideas during my idle times like when I’m doing the dishes or going for a short walk.

Switching back and forth between different projects in the same day can be particularly mentally draining. So that’s something I avoid if I can.

5. Reconnect with your projects monthly

The truth is, not all projects are destined to be completed.

Your circumstances may change and make a project irrelevant. A project may evolve into something different.

A monthly check-in is the perfect time point to reassess—not too long, not too short.

Project check-ins is part of my multi-scale planning and review process in Notion.

Here are the 3 prompts I like to ask myself when I’m doing my monthly review and planning process:

1. Am I on Track with my projects? Why or why not?

2. Is this project still aligned with my goals and vision for life?

3. What’s the next step to move this project forward?

Reconnecting with your projects is especially critical when you feel like giving up on a project.

If it’s still aligned with your goals and life, it’s your chance to recommit to it and schedule the next action straight onto your calendar.

If a project is no longer relevant or serving you, let it go.

Don’t be afraid to hit the big red delete button.

That’s it! I hope you find this helpful in becoming a Project Finisher!

Just one more thing, do you do a monthly check-in to review how your month went?

Have a slow week!

Janice

P.s. A fun little update from the Notion team… you can now upload your own custom emojis. Use them in your page titles or anywhere—just type /emoji or : followed by the custom emoji name.

📌 Resources for Coaches and Consultants

1. A Single Creative Project Can Change the Trajectory of Your Life (Tiago Forte)

   Projects can be life changing. To stay on track and motivated, specify a tangible artifact that will come out of your project (e.g. 3-week trip to Peru, a written book, a coaching program).

   → Check out the article

2. Is productivity a waste of time? (Khe Hy)

   A productive chat between two productivity gurus, Khe Hy and Nat Eliason. A spicy takeaway I like from the show: if you spend more than 1 hour on learning productivity a year you're wasting your time 😲

   → Check out the podcast episode

3. The Best Way to Overcome Worry (No Sidebar)

   Worry steals out limited mindspace and adds stress to our lives. Action is the anti-dote to worry, but read on to understand exactly why that’s the case.

   → Check out the article

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