How to: Get your project GOING!

Last week, I had the pleasure of recording a tele-seminar with Dallas Travers and her Thriving Artist Circle. Five brave volunteers completed a Project Assessment, detailing what project they were working on and what help they needed. Our volunteers then offered themselves up on the teleseminar as guinea pigs and I worked with each of them on their projects, which ranged from finishing a screenplay to launching a voice-over career.

Download the audio and listen to them combine their personal strengths with their struggles to come up with unique project solutions to move them forward. This one hour recording not only gives you a great example of how I help self-starters learn to be self-finishers--but is an excellent tutorial you can walk yourself through. Remember: if you focus on even ONE of the 5-steps to self-finishing, you WILL make progress!

1.     Start where you are: be nice to yourself! Just because you aren’t an expert now, trust that you’ll get there. If you set goals that are unrealistic for you--you set yourself up for disappointment.

2.    Accept invitations: even unlikely ones. Biznik is the perfect venue for this--make friends and find out what their up to. I've attended two events that connections here invited me to (that I wouldn't have thought of for myself) and they were incredible personal and professional opportunitiies. Heck, invite yourself somewhere you want to be, while you are at it!

3.    Ask for feedback: be clear about what you need and when. Also--ask folks who will give you the kind of feedback you want. Avoid folks who usually override your desires, tend to not hear you or who have interests that may conflict with your goals.

4.    Focus on what DOES work: be positive and be brave enough to re-evaluate your goals. I have to repeat this phrase to myself, "quitters are not always losers," because I tend to stick to things that are NOT working for me. If your original goal or project is not serving you, re-design it or consider re-lieving yourself of it!

5.    Make a small decision and TRY it: nothing is permanent, you can always try something else. If you can't tolerate working on something for an hour (I can hear the groans now), then give it ONE minute--no joke--you'd be amazed how much fun your brain can have with one minute, a timer, post-it pad and a pen.

6.    GET ACCOUNTABLE: when you are in the moment of choosing to watch tv on hulu.com; call a friend and be SPECIFIC about what you are doing—endcap it with a call to report what you did accomplish. Here’s a worksheet to help you start your own accountability process.

Dallas and I invite you to download and listen to the tele-seminar:  Dallas Travers & Dyana Valentine: Finish What You Start! (you may wish to complete the Project Assessment first), and enjoy the process. Write your questions, suggestions and ideas in the comments. Let me know how I can help you finish what you start!

(Originally published 5/27/09: http://dyanavalentine.com/2009/how-to-get-a-project-going/)