I've found that going through it during the review, I've allowed some projects to get sidelined longer than I've wished to, had I looked at it more regularly.
At the end of each month, I highlight one to two work projects and one personal project to focus on for the next month. Many times, it'll just be a continuation of last month's project. I make a monthly vision statement of what I want done in each project for this month. These are milestone markers to indicate progress being made in the overall plans. I'll try to break the vision down into 4 weeks.What would I like to achieve in the first week? What about the second week? And repeat that to the end of the month.
During the weekly review, I'll look at the week's vision statement. Did I get last week's vision/target completed? If not, then move it over to this coming week. I am trying to be forgiving to myself if I didn't get it done last week. Sometimes Life happens and can throw off the schedule. There's no need to beat myself up about it.
I'll schedule a timeblock at least 30 minutes a day or 60 minutes every other weekday (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) to focus on a project. If the schedule is difficult, I can schedule a timeblock on Tuesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays. But I'd like to get at least 30 minutes on those days. If I miraculously happen to have a whole half-day to myself, I can schedule additional time blocks to work on one of my projects. If I do 30 minutes time blocks on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, that means I spent at least 90 minutes a week to move my closer to the weekly vision. If I reduce my active work projects from two projects to one, that would mean 180 minutes (3 hours) for focused time on my project. If I do three one-hour blocks three days a week, that would mean 9 hours of progress. I trick myself into doing 30 minutes and can find myself continuing past the half hour and going into a full hour or more. The trick is just to at least maintain a minimum of 30 minutes each time block. I'm pretty sure I can block 30 minutes of my day to focus on a work project. That also means saying no to other people's request because I want to protect those 30 minutes as if it were a doctor's appointment or dental appointment. Can't miss those.
I do sideline most of my projects except for the 2-3 projects I want to focus on for this month and week. There are times when I do change it up. I'll pause a current project at the end of the week and resume another project. But that's not often.
Allowing for Life's interruption is also important. If it's summer vacation or Christmas vacation with the family, my projects can be all paused while I enjoy time with my family. I might have nothing for the 2 week vacation. Or it might be personal projects that take the forefront with work projects delegated or paused during my downtime.
Keeping the number of active projects I'm focused on to 2-3 has helped me stay on track and avoid chasing another. squirrel down another path. But Life or emotions can get the better of me and I'll switch over to something else if needed.
I feel good about sidelining projects because I know what I want to focus on.
