How can you stay focused and organized while working on long-term projects?

Long term projects are like marathons, they need your attention on how you breathe in and out, meaning, your touch to the ongoing process is valued and monitors every second.. practicing the love for process than the destination is how you can train your mind to stay focused..cheers

In my last company, there is a very practical goal-setting system for inserting goals. This keeps them in a consolidated location for both us and our leadership, which helps everyone stay focused on what matters!

Embark on your long-term project like a tortoise, not the hare! ???? Set small, achievable milestones and celebrate each tiny victory. ?? Keep your workspace clutter-free – a tidy desk is a tidy mind! And don't forget, coffee is your co-pilot. ??? #SlowAndSteadyWinsTheRace

Work closely with your manager to set Realistic goals. They can often see your blindspots and can offer valuable feedback. The reason we often become unmotivated to work on a long term project is because we bite off more than we can chew.

To stay focused on a long-term project requires a high amount of planning and discipline among team members. Without proper planning, a long term project wouldn't be able to take off smoothly. If the goal of a project wasn't figured out before the project was planned, how are the team members supposed to know what to achieve? Leaders need to clearly explain to team members about the goals and purpose of a project especially long ones. If members aren't in the know about everything in the project, they wouldn't be able to contribute to the project. They might even give up as it's a long project.

Platforms like Microsoft Planner, Jira, or Asana allow us to define details relevant to the best way to execute each sub-goal. After the implementation of this type of solution, we achieved very positive results in terms of deadlines. It also demonstrates the team’s quality when it comes to measuring the results achieved and brings security to leadership when planning initiatives.

I’m a big fan of creating a plan. The act alone of developing a plan and breaking things down to small actions makes the work a lot more feasible. I have found that helps me create momentum

To work on a long term plan, we have to of course first have a plan. Without one, we would just be blindly doing our work without knowing whether it can be done or not. We have to study about what we're going to do before we put it in a plan. If we don't find out the pros and cons as well as the consequences, we would be in trouble if we were to execute this not well planned plan. Therefore, we musn't do things at the spur of the moment. Everything needs a thorough and proper planning. Without a good plan, we might even lose our job or money.

We used to use a really great spreadsheet template that I would be more than willing to share; feel free to DM me if you'd like to see it. Our team has since transitioned to Asana and that's also fantastic. I might have anxiety about a project at the start, but when I sit down with a cup of tea, create a project in Asana, start dropping in tasks, and see the big picture, I'm inspired. #ThisIsNotAnAsanaAd

One thing that has been really helpful for me when managing teams and individuals is to block out your time each day. Every week, I block out segments of my day for various tasks and projects (ie. From 9am-9:30am I respond to emails received overnight, 2:30-3:30 tackle strategy for Campaign A's paid media budget). Even put in breaks for yourself. While it sounds tedious, it opens up your day more than you realize and helps you with future project management.

I'm a big fan of the Eisenhower Matrix: On any given day, week, month, quarter - segment your activities and objectives into the Eisenhower Matrix: Urgent / Important: Do it first! Urgent / Non-important: Schedule it! Important / Not urgent: Delegate it (or do it to break deep work) Non important / Not urgent: Delete it from your list or outsource it if it's something you'll have to do anyway at some point (admin?)

Setting milestones really helps to keep things on track. Plus it feels great to check things off the to do list. By breaking up projects into shorter segments, it’s much easier to keep focus on the short-term needs that will contribute to long-term completion.

A system for staying on track is essential, but more importantly, someone responsible to own the follow up and holding others responsible for meeting deadlines. It doesn’t have to be a formal project manager (which is the best) but someone who has authority to move things along. Tools enable organization of tasks, but people bring the action.

It's also vital to establish clear boundaries between work and personal time. This helps in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, essential for long-term productivity and well-being. I've learned to set realistic goals and celebrate even small milestones, as this provides a sense of accomplishment and keeps motivation high. Additionally, staying connected with friends and family and sharing my progress and challenges with them has been invaluable.

A long-term project can really tire one out. If it's possible, we should always take breaks in between this long-term project. This is so that we can clear our minds and gather our thoughts all over again. We could also reward ourselves by maybe buying ourselves something that we've been wanting for a long time. We could do this after we've finished a certain part of the project. Once we've refreshed ourselves, we can think better and therefore help us in our productivity. When we're stressed out, we are usually unable to think clearly. If our minds are not clear, how are we going to finish this long-term project?

Something that can help with staying on track with your goals is once you develop your goals, try to get an "accountability partner". This is someone who can help you make sure you're staying on track, and it's much easier to stay committed to our goals when we feel like it's not just ourselves who is depending on our performance. On a formal project, this accountability partner might be a project co-owner or your manager. But on a less formal project, you might need to ask a teammate or friend to play this role for you.

Two of the most helpful ways I've found to stay focused and making progress on long term-initiatives are: 1. When you don't "feel" like working on a project, time-box your effort. Say you'll work on it for 30 min, and if you still don't feel like it, stop until the next day. In most cases, you'll gain momentum and work for much more than 30 min. 2. Remind yourself how proud you'll be of having finished this in three months, six months, one year. Remember hard things you were able to get done that required incremental progress. You'll never get to mile 26 if you don't start with mile 1. But when you do, you'll be halfway before you know it.

Considering the opinion of client areas is always a good idea. Sometimes, we get carried away with projects that aim to serve our clients in the best way possible and work on them using only the support of previously successful projects. The client area is at the forefront and has the key information to feed us with ideas that can become trends.

One thing I’ve found helpful when tackling large projects is breaking it down into milestones that are achievable in much shorter time horizons. This way you can always be incrementally working to a vision, but constantly making progress. Also, thinking about quarterly deliverables helps break down an annual project in a much more realistic way.