Introduction:

Weird enough, in spite of all your theoretical training and extracurricular studies, the most important things one learns about managing projects come from daily observations, the kind that get a whole new perspective once you apply them to Freelancing, Productivity and Project Management. This is the first article in a tiny series of daily-life inspirations to being productive at work.

1. Start small:
   Context: Wash a cleaner plate at first. Just for fun. It will get that sense of accomplishment that keeps you going.
   Lesson: Whatever the project, whatever intimidating, it will look more approachable once you GET something DONE. It’s motivating to just see some results going. In the programming world, for instance, a simple “Hello World” program that compiles and runs successfully could be such a first easy but motivating.
2. Don’t start hard:
   Context: Never start by washing the messiest plate – it will just mess up the other dishes in the sink and makes things take longer than foreseen (just think of how hard it is to scrub the burned grease from an oven tray). Instead let the plate soak for a while while you wash the others. In the end it will get cleaned more easily.
   Lesson: This is a no-brainer and completes the previous tip: Whatever the project, there is always a tricky part, a critical one that needs a lot of work. Starting with it is tricky – will most certainly be more difficult than expected, it’s messy and probably ends up by demotivating you. Just go to step 1 and start instead with the easiest tasks that make sense, working your way up. Not to mention that other tasks you accomplish along the way might actually help solving this particular hard one.
3. Big and easy:
   Context: Remember that huge plate that takes up all the space in the sink? More often than not, it’s more intimidating than it is difficult to wash. Having it around makes it hard to access the others. And no, I’m not contradicting the previous point – I’m talking about plates that only look like hard to clean, but although intimidating they are actually average. Once washing them up, the others can be washed more easily.
   Lesson: This comes straight from the Paretto principle: 80% of the gains are made with 20% effort(and vice-versa). Sure, it takes inspiration to understand which is what, but if you get the parts right then you are 80% along the way. So look closer on the most intimidating tasks of your projects – are they real problems, or are they phonies? Once the easy but hard-looking tasks are done, your project is light years ahead.
4. Get your hands dirty:
   Context: You can’t wash things without getting wet(or dirty). Washing your dishes with industrial-strength protective gloves is not working. To get things really clean you have to scrub.
   Lesson: You know this already: you can’t be successful without effort; you always have to dig deeper in the problem. No real websites can be developed just by point and click, no real Ruby on Rails applications can be made just by scaffolding, etc. Get used to working, since without it there’s no success.
5. Shit happens. You might break stuff.
   Context: It’s part of the game: whether you wash glasses or plates, accidents can and eventually will happen. Just clean the mess as much as you can and get over it.
   Lesson: I had one project that looked easy at first but turned out to be really ugly instead. After three months of struggle I had to let it go, as I was way behind the schedule and couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, I lost plenty of money and opportunities along the way, got an unsatisfied client and lost some of my reputation. But having stubbornly sticked to a project I knew was a dead end only caused me pain and distress. By realizing it was broken I found my peace, joined a better project and let the past go.