Introduction
In a world brimming with ideas and potential, many of us struggle to turn our thoughts into tangible results. Charlie Gilkey's book "Start Finishing" offers a comprehensive guide to transforming ideas into completed projects. This book is perfect for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by their own creativity or struggled to bring their visions to life.
Gilkey presents a clear, step-by-step approach to project completion, addressing common obstacles and providing practical strategies for success. Whether you're an entrepreneur, artist, or simply someone with a dream, "Start Finishing" offers valuable insights to help you achieve your goals.
Turning Ideas into Best Work Projects
Identifying Your Best Work
At the heart of Gilkey's philosophy is the concept of "best work." This isn't just any task or project, but rather the work that allows you to thrive by utilizing your unique experiences, knowledge, and perspective. To identify your best work, Gilkey suggests looking at the ideas that consistently nag at you – these are often the ones that will lead to your most fulfilling projects.
From Ideas to Projects
The first step in realizing your best work is to transform your ideas into concrete projects. Gilkey defines a project as anything that requires time, attention, and effort to complete. This broad definition encompasses everything from professional endeavors to personal goals.
To choose which idea to focus on first, Gilkey recommends a simple exercise:
- Write down all your current ideas
- Cross off those that don't deeply resonate with you
- From the remaining ideas, consider:
- Which would you most like to celebrate completing?
- Which will have the most significant impact on your life in five years?
- Which would you happily wake up early or stay up late for?
- Which would you be heartbroken to abandon?
The idea that meets most of these criteria is likely the best candidate for your first best work project.
Cultivating Essential Qualities for Project Completion
Gilkey identifies several challenges that often hinder project completion, including:
- Competing priorities
- Self-doubt (or "head trash")
- Unrealistic planning
- Lack of resources
- Lack of understanding from others
To overcome these obstacles, Gilkey suggests cultivating five essential qualities:
- Intention: Setting clear goals helps develop realistic plans.
- Awareness: Understanding yourself and your environment helps identify competing priorities and maximize resources.
- Boundaries: Establishing limits creates time and space for your project.
- Courage: Facing obstacles, challenging negative self-talk, and asking for help when needed.
- Discipline: Maintaining habits and routines that support project completion.
These qualities work together to help you start and finish your best work projects. While some may come more naturally than others based on your personality and experiences, all can be strengthened through conscious effort and practice.
Planning Your Project
Creating SMART Goals
Effective project planning begins with setting clear, achievable goals. Gilkey recommends using the SMART framework to ensure your goals are well-defined:
- Simple: Easy to understand and execute
- Meaningful: Aligns with your values and motivations
- Actionable: Broken down into clear, manageable steps
- Realistic: Achievable with available resources and skills
- Trackable: Progress can be measured and monitored
By creating SMART goals, you provide yourself with a clear roadmap for project completion and increase your chances of success.
Building Your Success Pack
No project exists in isolation, and Gilkey emphasizes the importance of building a support network, or "success pack," to help you achieve your goals. This pack should include:
- Guides: Experienced individuals who can offer advice and inspiration
- Peers: Fellow creators or professionals with whom you can share ideas and experiences
- Supporters: Friends or family who can provide practical assistance or emotional support
- Beneficiaries: Those who will be positively impacted by your project
When assembling your success pack, aim for no more than five people per category. For each person, identify three ways they can help and maintain regular communication to keep them engaged in your progress.
Breaking Down Your Project
One of the biggest obstacles to project completion is the perception of not having enough time. Gilkey argues that instead of trying to find time, we need to make time for our projects. This involves breaking the project down into smaller, manageable parts.
The Project Pyramid
Gilkey introduces the concept of a project pyramid to help visualize how a project can be divided into different time-based activities:
- Base: Daily tasks or "chunks" (1-2 hours)
- Level 2: Weekly activities
- Level 3: Monthly activities
- Level 4: Quarterly activities
- Top: Yearly activities
By breaking your project down in this way, you can more easily allocate time and resources to each component.
Time Blocking
Once you've divided your project into smaller parts, Gilkey recommends using time blocks to schedule your work:
- Focus blocks (1.5-2 hours): For concentrated, solo work that moves the project forward
- Admin blocks (30-60 minutes): For planning, organizing, and other administrative tasks
- Social blocks: For collaboration, networking, or connecting with your success pack
- Recovery blocks: For rest and recharging (schedule one for every two focus or social blocks)
By incorporating these different types of blocks into your weekly schedule, you can ensure steady progress on your project while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Managing Project Obstacles
Even with careful planning, projects can encounter obstacles that slow or halt progress. Gilkey identifies several common challenges and provides strategies for overcoming them:
Competing Priorities
Other people's priorities can often interfere with your project work. To manage this:
- Schedule time for important relationships and commitments
- Learn to say "no" to requests that don't align with your goals
- Communicate clearly about your availability and project needs
Project Sticking Points
Gilkey describes three ways projects can get stuck:
Cascades: When one project's delay affects others
- Solution: Prioritize the causing project and limit ongoing projects
Logjams: Too many simultaneous projects prevent timely completion
- Solution: Focus on chunks that will create the most progress across projects
Tarpits: Projects that remain stuck for extended periods
- Solution: Break chunks into smaller tasks and commit to regular work sessions
By recognizing these sticking points and applying the appropriate solutions, you can keep your project moving forward even when faced with challenges.
Building Momentum
Consistent progress is key to project completion. Gilkey offers several strategies for building and maintaining momentum:
Efficient Task Management
- Batching: Grouping similar tasks together to reduce context switching
- Stacking: Combining different activities to save time (e.g., discussing project ideas during a hike)
- Tackling "frogs": Completing unpleasant but necessary tasks early to avoid procrastination
Optimizing Your Schedule
Work with your natural rhythms by scheduling important tasks during your peak energy and focus times. This might be morning, afternoon, or evening, depending on your individual preferences.
Creating Crumb Trails
At the end of each work session, leave yourself a "crumb trail" – a note about your next step or a small, easy task to start with. This makes it easier to dive back into your work during the next session.
Post-Project Activities
Completing a project is a significant achievement, but your work isn't quite done. Gilkey emphasizes the importance of several post-project activities:
Celebration
Take time to celebrate your accomplishment, both for your own satisfaction and to acknowledge the support of your success pack. This could involve announcing your achievement or organizing a gathering to mark the occasion.
Recovery
Allow yourself time to rest and recharge between projects. This is crucial for avoiding burnout and maintaining long-term productivity.
Clean-up
Projects often create physical, digital, and social "messes" that need to be addressed:
- Organize and archive project materials
- Clear out unnecessary files and documents
- Reconnect with neglected relationships
- Fulfill any outstanding commitments
After-Action Review (AAR)
Conduct a thorough review of your project experience:
- Consider the people, processes, and tools involved
- Reflect on what went well and what challenges you faced
- Identify key lessons learned and strategies that were particularly effective
- Note any habits or routines that significantly contributed to your progress
This review process helps you learn from your experiences and improve your approach for future projects.
Final Thoughts
"Start Finishing" provides a comprehensive framework for turning ideas into completed projects. By identifying your best work, setting clear goals, building a support network, and implementing effective strategies for planning and execution, you can overcome common obstacles and achieve your creative and professional aspirations.
Key takeaways from the book include:
- Focus on projects that align with your unique skills and passions
- Use the SMART framework to set clear, achievable goals
- Break projects down into manageable chunks and schedule regular work sessions
- Cultivate essential qualities like intention, awareness, and discipline
- Build a support network to help you stay motivated and overcome challenges
- Implement efficient strategies for task management and scheduling
- Recognize and address common project obstacles
- Take time to celebrate, recover, and learn from each completed project
By applying these principles consistently, you can develop a sustainable approach to turning your ideas into reality. Whether you're working on personal goals, professional projects, or creative endeavors, the strategies in "Start Finishing" can help you overcome procrastination, build momentum, and achieve meaningful results.
Remember that becoming proficient at project completion is a skill that develops over time. Each project you undertake is an opportunity to refine your approach and build your capabilities. By embracing the process and learning from both successes and setbacks, you can continually improve your ability to bring your ideas to life.
Ultimately, "Start Finishing" is about more than just completing individual projects – it's about developing a mindset and set of habits that allow you to consistently do your best work. By implementing the strategies outlined in this book, you can unlock your creative potential, achieve your goals, and make a meaningful impact in your personal and professional life.
So, the next time you find yourself excited by a new idea or overwhelmed by an unfinished project, remember the lessons from "Start Finishing." Break down your goal into manageable steps, surround yourself with supportive people, and take consistent action. With patience, persistence, and the right strategies, you can turn your most inspiring ideas into completed projects that reflect your unique talents and vision.