Friday Tip

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s a blustery Friday here in Boston and I was trying to come up with a tip that suited the weather, but instead the chaos that is my sewing room/office/video recording and editing studio inspired this.

When facing a big task,  break it down into tiny ones.

Looking at a big project can be daunting, but making it a series of much smaller projects can help a lot. You know what they say about how to eat an elephant — one bite at a time.

You could make detailed to do lists. For example, if I’m making a new costume, I’ll start by listing every costume component, and then writing down every step for each one. Sometimes it can get pretty granular if I need the motivation of more things to check off the list. “Prep fabric” could be one item, or it could be broken down to “buy fabric”, “wash fabric”, “dry fabric”, “press fabric”.

Another approach is to set a timer for a short time, like 15 minutes, but no goofing around, you have to spend all the time on the task. I find having a hard end time helps me keep focused to do as much as possible before the timer goes off.

And then there’s the number method — pick a small number of items to deal with, like put away five pairs of shoes, or answer three emails.

Have you tried any of these techniques to accomplish a big task? Do you have tricks of your own?

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 17 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.