Let it snow let it snow let it snow #uksnow

As the traditional song goes: Oh the weather outside is frightful, / But the fire is so delightful, / And since we’ve no place to go, / Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Well MASSIVE AMOUNTS of snow has hit the UK and by that I mean a couple of inches in most areas! Apparently we have ran out of salt/grit for the roads and the whole country has shut down – what a terrible excuse for a lazy day in. But we love a day off right!

Today brings perfect oportunites – not to stay in bed this morning, not to lazy around on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle – but to grab that extra time to hustle some more on what your passionate about. If your fed up or unhappy even the slightest in your current job and want to do something you love – do it.

There is plenty of time to develop that new idea you may have and nurture your new business venture whether that be after-hours – once your home from work spend a few hours on it – don’t just leave it for the evenings of a weekend if your passionate about it and want to be happy – WORK.

Today the whole country is on lock down it would seem and snowed in – WORK – put your head down and get hustling on that thing your passionate about. If its starting a new blog – get drafting some ideas to post and do, if your starting a new business work on that, whatever it is your passionate about and want to do in life in order to be happier do it today!

Don’t make today “another snow day” where you have laid around in bed – get up, be active and crack on with your project.

Facing multiple projects

Its not uncommon at all for me, you or him over there to deal with multiple projects albeit professional work projects or personal “projects” but how can we deal with these better?

Well first of all what are projects?

There are two general types of projects I will cover: Professional and Personal.

Projects are S.M.A.R.T - did you know that?

S – specific, significant

M – measurable, meaningful, motivational

A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T – time-based, timely, tangible, track-able

Professional projects may consist of various things depending on your situation and career but it may involve taking on a new position in the work place, training someone, building a new web application, developing the internal systems or follow up last years enquiries.

So personal projects are similar they are things that need to be managed, kept on track and measurable these vary between maybe planning a Wedding, planning the birth of your next child, looking for a house, choosing your career path, writing a CV and cover letter to send out or whatever it is in your life that requires more than a couple of thoughts to process and achieve.

So how exactly do you manage multiple projects efficiently?

The answer – find it right here but on a serious note dealing with either multiple projects or multiple choices in which project to take on board can be difficult so here are five tips on how to manage this better:

Decide what factors will influence you in taking on a new project

Typically this would be financial influences more money or cheaper to take on, but for others the influences could be emotional satisfaction or beneficial to others that could improve their lifestyle.

Don’t be afraid to fail

Its all about progression and doing the best you can without worrying about failure too much – it is of course a concern but if you worry about failure and not achieving perfection then you will inevitably fail.

Have a trusted system and method of managing your projects

This does NOT mean using fancy web 2.0 todo lists that track your every move in the project or huge Microsoft Project files all of which take longer to keep updated than actually spending time working on the project. Use a system that could be as simple as pen and paper which works best most of the time as its physical and manageable remember its easier to strike off something on a piece of paper than it is to login to that cool web app and tick off the todo item and then change the colours of the status and then setup the blah blah blah.

Collaborate don’t shut yourself in

Working on your own can be great – shut out annoyances, remove the office noise, get more done ….. right? Well yes but often in projects no matter how small or large you will often need someone else to collaborate with that doesn’t mean they take all the glory, take over as “project leader” or even affect majorly the outcome or course of your project. But having a second mind to bounce ideas off, brainstorm, converse and use for testing or reference. They may never know they are part of a larger project but people can be very useful for no matter what project personal or work that you are developing.

Its all about the end – isn’t it?

Don’t focus on the end of your project otherwise you will never get there – even worse if you are tracking and working on multiple projects you will be so concerned with fixating dates, milestones and how perfect the end result will be that the actual project will never move forward or progress further.

“How do you manage projects either single projects or multiple at the same time either personal or professional ones?” @seanprice

New Year – new start to hustle

Its 2010 and there has never been a better time to put your head down, focus and hustle in what you love. 2009 saw so many great advances and new comings in technology and at the same time many depressions in the economic world – what 2010 will bring along no one knows.

Last year was all about investing in yourself, learning and developing yourself during the recession this year is where it all comes together and you can push that great idea you had or market that product that last year you couldn’t find the resources, niche market or time and attention to.

There is no excuse in 2010 to not start pushing that great idea and getting a huge start on what you need to get done it doesnt matter if its a business idea, new project /current project to get going or a change in your personal life – don’t hold back, don’t worry about failure – move forward and do it.