Starting a New Project

Hello! How are you guys? I wanted to share this process that I do that may be useful to you on any given day, but especially if you're finding yourself at a new chapter in your career or in your life. Or, maybe you're starting a new job or a new role, and you have a blank slate in front of you. I'm going to give you the process that I've used in corporate consulting as a staff augmentation person. I go and help plug-in to existing teams and existing processes. I have to learn all the new things, for every project that I start with. In corporate consulting, being new can be really scary. When I was a kid, my dad was Air Force, and we moved a lot. We were only stateside, nothing exotic or super fancy, but we would move every 2 or 3 years. I don't just remember, it's become part of my identity that I'm kind of “the new kid,” and the resiliency that that pain afforded me of being new(and of not knowing people) has really helped me be adaptable to help my leadership coaching clients. Hopefully, when you start something new, you can use some of the same thoughts that I use(you can totally borrow my thoughts here). You can lean into this process and consider it from a slightly different angle, one that can help you create the intentional outcome that you want, with whatever work you find yourself beginning.

First of all, congratulations on starting something new(even if it's a new week)! I'm not saying that to be silly, I do want you to know that you're choosing to show up today. If this is a new week, a new task, a new project, or a new job, you are actively making a decision to do this new thing. That requires bravery, complex thought work, and requires intention. I just want to pause for a second and let you give yourself credit for doing that, so well done! Amazing! Here's the process: It's a couple steps of introspection, and then we can dive in into some of the specifics. 

The very first thing I want you to do, even if it feels stretchy, or it feels like you didn't have a choice in the circumstance, because sometimes changes happen, and we begin new chapters that we didn't invite in(they really are neutral shifts that happen outside of our control, and that impact our current circumstance) is to pause now, and think about why this is the right beginning for you. You've already made the choice. I know the answers are there in your brain. Let's just pull those answers up to the forefront of your mind, or the forefront of your thoughts. “This was the right thing for me to start because…” Or, if it's just another Monday(or another day in the middle of the week) and you're just starting your day, why is it the right thing for you to do that? 

Okay, you’ve got that answer. Now, I want you to think through how you're going to know that you've done it well. Thinking about the example of me being a new kid in school, I will know that I’ve done that well if I can navigate to my classes, and if I can find people, events, or organizations that are interesting to me. What about if it's just a normal Monday, or middle of the weekday? How are you going to know that you've done this day really well? What's your proof going to be? That you’re going to lay your head on the pillow at night and know that you slayed it? Is it going to be that you got a thing done, or you made progress towards another thing? Is it going to be that you smiled at someone, made eye contact, or had a challenging conversation and stood your ground? You get to decide, but I'd like you to think through it. How are you going to know? Those are the big visioning questions. Now, let's get a bit more specific.

Let's say you're starting a brand new job. You love your reasons. You can see why this is the right decision. Even if it's not your forever job, that's okay. Or, maybe it is your forever job. You know why you're doing this. You know how you're going to recognize that you've done it really well. Now we're going to go into the more project management side of your brain. We're going to get more granular and plan through what this day needs to look like with this event, with this chapter, and what this experience can look like for you. This doesn't have to be an elaborate exercise. Certainly, if you have the luxury of time, you can make it as elaborate as you like, but I want you to write down everything that needs to happen in order for you to feel that success. For you to recognize that success that you just defined, what's it going to take? In project management, this is the beginning of your project plan. This is also something that's called a work breakdown structure. 

We're going to list all the big ticket items, all the things that are essential for that success. Once you've got that list, looking at each of those as discrete deliverables, as something specific, I want you to check-in on a couple of things about the list. The things on your list need to be things that you have control over. In other words, I don't want you making your success reliant on anyone else's behaviors, thoughts, or feelings. If anything is on the list that isn't yours to own or to take action on, you can just move it aside. That comes off the list for now. The only things on that list are things that you can take intentional action to create. For each of those things on that item, we're going to break it down further. I want you to list out every nitty gritty thing that has to happen in order for that task, deliverable, or milestone to be complete. What goes into it? If I'm starting a new job, and I have a vision for a committee I want to lead, what has to happen in order for that committee to get started? I'll have to build up support. I have to introduce the concept. I may have to think through some change management around it. I have to determine who my key decision makers are. I have to make warm introductions, and maybe set a couple of introduction committee calls, feeler calls, or meetings(if you're in real life, not virtual). 

Once you've got that list, then I want you to look at your week. It's a much bigger list than your week, and that's completely okay. We're not here to jam-pack your week. I want you to look at that list again, take a deep breath, and close your eyes. When you open them again, look at that list with fresh eyes, and determine what on that list is essential. What has to happen in order for that success to be part of what you're creating for yourself, for this new chapter, for this day, or for this week? Anything that's optional, and we're going to pull it off the list for now. That can go into what we'll call a backlog: a list that you can always refer back to if you have additional capacity. When you do this exercise the next time, you can also reference the backlog and see if anything has increased in priority, or has become more important to you. For now, we only want to look at the things that are the most essential. 

Let's look at those and see what needs to happen first. This is a really tactical, practical exercise. What you're doing is ordering your operations. What has to happen in order for that success to be realized, and what has to happen first, in order for the other things to fall into place? This is called identifying your dependencies. You can start by moving those dependencies around on the list, putting them in the order of when they need to happen and how long you think they'll take, then review it. We're going to see if the math adds up. We're going to look from the top to the bottom, to see if the sequence makes sense. In other words, can you accomplish these things in this order? Then, I want you to do the same from the bottom up. Let's imagine that that success is real. That's the last step. You recognize that you've done what you wanted to do, in the way you wanted to do it, for reasons that matter. Working from the bottom up helps you see the whole picture slightly differently. You may start to notice that there are some gaps in your process. It’s okay to go back and fill them in. We’ve looked at this whole, beautiful process to create your success, to create an outcome that you want on purpose, for a purpose that you love. 

Now, let’s measure out what you want to do in a reasonable amount of time. What you may see are things that can't be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time, and that's okay too. If that's the situation, where you're looking at this list and you're starting to feel your heart, your throat, and your brain is exploding, that just means that there's a capacity limit. There's a boundary here around some of your resources, your time, your money, or your energy. You're going to ask two additional questions here:

1. Is everything on this list truly essential? If the answer is no, peel it out. If the answer is yes, great. 

2. How can you get help to accomplish these things? Sometimes that looks like delegating. Sometimes it looks like recruiting change agents. Sometimes it looks like reaching out to other resources. All these are options for how to accomplish it. Start to put other people's names by it, or other places where you want to outsource to or from. When you've got the list cleared out, looking at the things that you can own, that will directly create the intentional result that you want, look at your week and start to hold place in your calendar for you to be able to focus on these tasks. That's the simple part. That whole process is the project planning exercise. That whole exercise is(basically) how you plan any project, whether it's a project for a charitable organization, a project at work, or just something that you want to create in your life. 

As you’re reading this, you're probably nodding your head and saying, “Tarah, I know this,” to most of what we covered. The hard part comes in when it's something you have to be personally accountable for. We call this self-integrity. In my life coaching module with my clients, we talk about self-integrity a lot. It's deciding that you're going to honor what you said you were going to do because it matters to you, and because it's moving you towards what you want. Now, this requires that you continually prioritize yourself, your intentions, and your wants. It also requires you to follow through with it.

Sometimes, when this is hard, it's because you're undervaluing what it is that you want. Maybe you're doubting that it's possible. This happens all the time. We second guess ourselves. And I’ve got to tell you, of course you're doubting that it's possible. It hasn't happened yet, so that's not(in and of itself) a bad thing. The cure for that is to take action. It's that moment of making a decision. That moment of discomfort, and your willingness to feel the doubt and take a step anyway, will create the self-integrity that you need to see this whole project through. 

Another reason why things might be hard is that as you go through this planning exercise, if you're feeling resistance, pressure, obligation, maybe even a little hint of resentment, that may be showing you that this is not something that you really want, or that you're taking action for reasons that you don't love. This also is a beautiful sign. This is not a guilt trip. This is you getting really clear indications that it's time for you to consider what you want. What reasons motivate you? Where are your values in the schedule of your life, the schedule of your week, and this season of your life? Are they out of alignment with the actions that you're taking? What we just reviewed is the tool for doing the planning, but it's also a great catalyst for you to do this introspection work. This tool can also be used for you to help see opportunities to step into that integrity, if it is something that you really want. 

Looking at all of these things is thought work. Looking at all of these things are opportunities for leadership coaching to really help you out. If you are in a new chapter of your life, you're looking at maybe starting a new chapter, or you're doing things and you're like, “Tarah, why are you being so mean to me? Why are you telling me that all these things are for reasons I don't love?” That's also completely okay, and a really strong sign that it may be time to learn more about coaching. Let's schedule it. Let's just chat, and you can tell me where you're at. We'll look at where you're going, what you do and don't want, and we'll make a plan to go from there. If you are leading a team in a season of change, or if you are starting a new job, executive coaching skills are invaluable to helping you inspire others to take aligned action, and inspire yourself to show up in integrity towards what you really want. It's totally possible, and I would be thrilled to help you do that. I hope you have a beautiful day, a beautiful week, a beautiful season, a beautiful project, and it's okay that it's hard sometimes. That's part of it.

If you’d like to book a discovery call to learn how coaching can help you lead well and live well, book your call here:

Or you can always reach out to me directly at tarah@tarahkeech.com