The difficult work.

As I've mentioned a few times before, my job recently changed pretty drastically in responsibility and scope. This week was the first full week of being on my own in the new role, so it's very much a figure-it-out-as-fast-as-possible period of time right now. However, I've already begun to notice a pattern on my to-do list. 

Through the transition I've kept a detailed to-do list in Trello to make sure I don't forget anything. Everything is on there from sending a specific email all the way up to completing proposals for prospective clients. Now you can probably see where this is going. As I went through the week and I move tasks to the "Done" list, I began to notice which tasks would stick around longer than the others. It was the big, difficult work. The important client proposals. The difficult conversations that needed to happen. 

In short, it was the hard work. The work that matters. Seth Godin, one of my favorite marketing and business minds, talks about this all the time. He talks about how we need to find this work and do it. That's when a real impact will be made. I'm finally starting to see the difference between this work and everything else. 

It's no joke trying to tackle this stuff though. This work is important, scary, and emotionally exhausting. 

Don't scoff at that last part. If you've done this work before you know what I mean. It takes real mental strength and energy, and you feel drained afterwards. When you complete a task and you feel physically and emotionally tired, that is when you know you were doing the work that matters. 

If you are a procrastinator like me, this is the work you put off until the last minute. So how can we make it easier on ourselves? What can we do to empower ourselves to take the important work on? I don't view this as a shortcut, I view it as spurring us on. Without any sort of progress, we'll get discouraged and continue to put it off. Creating the small wins early, like I talked about last week, can build us up to the point where we don't need help. But until we get there, let's not shy away from a helping hand. I have some ideas. 

How to give yourself a helping hand (or push)

First, set a deadline before the deadline. If a tough task is due a week from now, set a deadline in four days. But don't stop there. Put something on the line. Some people schedule an embarrassing tweet to go out, and can only cancel it if they complete the task. Some people give a friend information to freely post, or even put money down on it. These are just a few ideas, but a metaphorical deadline usually isn't enough to force you into complying. You have to put more on the line. 

Second, split the scary work into really small tasks. Break it down. It's mentally exhausting to stare an entire project in the face, so break it into chunks. Again, don't stop there. Once you've done so, focus on taking them on one at a time. Then take a breather in between. Build up your ability to take on mentally strenuous tasks. First you'll do just one. Then a week or two later you are taking on two or three in a row. This will help you not only mentally wrap your head around a big project, but it will help build your ability to focus for longer periods of time. 

Finally, talk it out. Grab a co-worker, your boss, or someone you trust and lay it out. Have them help you with the above steps, or simply ideate with them. It's always good to have a sounding board for ideas and struggles.

These tips sound awfully like productivity tips, but I think we're looking at them in a different light. Because when it comes down to it, scary tasks make us unproductive. They freeze us. We have to find a way to thaw out and get moving. 

More good stuff

At work we've been looking at project management software to help us stay organized with our different clients and projects. It's always fun to look at the pros and cons of each, but a lot of the time it ends up being a time waster. So this week my co-worker Jas and I just picked one and decided to run with it. Luckily there is a free basic version for small teams, so it doesn't require a big investment. 

Our decision came down to Asana, Basecamp, or Trello. We chose Asana. 

Trello is interesting, and I use it for some task management. But for project management and some of the features we were looking for, it was just different. I think we were looking for a little more traditional project management software, and Trello is a very unique take on that. Basecamp looked great, but it charges by project. We have so many different projects and clients that we thought this could end up hurting us in the future, so we decided on Asana. I'll be diving in next week to get it up and running. For your reference, here are some of the main features we looked for:

• File uploading ability
• Assign tasks to different people
• Calendar showing deadlines
• Different "folders" for each client or project