Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Dealing With an Enormous Project
Sorry my posts have been a little irregular the last couple of weeks. I've been working on a complete site redesign and rework of a client's site that will eventually redo all 600 pages of the site and add about 1000 more. Most nights I've shut down the computer and then realized as I got ready for bed that I hadn't written a blog today.

But I'll share some of the lessons I'm putting into practice from this project. Tonight I'll look at how I keep (at least partially) sane while doing it.

I'll be honest with you. I get a little obsessive about my work and doing something that is this long-term can be pretty stressful for me. My tendency is to get frustrated at how far the end of a project like this is. So I need to break it down into bite-size chunks if I have any hope of avoiding feeling overwhelmed by it.

Now that I've gotten past the planning stage and into the actual grunt work, I'm setting up a detailed priority of what pages I revise in what order. That way I don't sink down and down and down as I see the end so distant in the future. Instead, I can look at it as a series of four-hour tasks and cross each one off, one at a time.

It gives me the feeling of accomplishment I need to keep going and it eliminates those moments where my mind starts jumping from one component of the job to another. It helps me avoid beating myself up because I've been so busy with component A of the project that I feel I've left component B dangling in the wind. Once the priorities are set, I don't have to worry about the ones farther out. I just have to focus on the one I'm doing right now.

Another important thing I do to keep sane during a long-term project is to allow myself to feel good about what I accomplish. I can't do everything at once. But instead of looking only ahead, at what remains undone, I remind myself to look back at the growing list of things that are completed. That's another important part of keeping sane.

And when the massive scope of things still feels overwhelming despite the safeguards on my peace of mind that I've set up, I've found it important to simply walk away and do something completely different for a while. There's nothing like doing a short project around the house or in the yard and GETTING IT DONE to recharge the batteries when I start feeling overwhelmed.

I've seen a lot of new business owners in the same position—trying to get everything done at once and beating themselves up when they don't. It doesn't have to be that way, though. You run your business; it shouldn't run you. If you're one of those who feels overwhelmed by getting started, hopefully, you can use some of these same techniques to keep your business (and yourself) moving forward.
Jeff