What Are You Going To Do? 5 Steps To Get You Started

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” ~ Henry Ford. When Henry Ford said this, he was talking about business, but this goes for just about anything you or I do. I’ve had several people say; one day I’m going to organize my photos, or I’m going to look into my family history sometime. So what’s stopping you from starting?

Here are 5 things to get you started

1. Make a plan. Why should you make a plan? Well, it helps you rein in the huge job you have bouncing in your head. Often we put off that huge project because it’s well; HUGE. When you plan to get started you need to take baby steps. So it might be to collect all my photos in one place? Rather than; collect all my photos, scan everything, oh and arrange all the photos in my computer, name and tag them all, upload them to the cloud…. you get the idea. That would make most people run away and never get the job done.
2. So this brings us to keep your plan manageable. Now that you’ve decided what you’re going to do, now you need to decide when you’re going to do it? Again, be realistic. So if setting aside an hour each day is overwhelming then make it a winter project that you’ll do once a week until the job is done. Say for one to two hours each Sunday.
3. Get the right tools.  Whatever the project is you need the right tools. So if it’s photo organizing then get some archival boxes to put your photo in or a Flip-Pal®to scan photos. Or if your project is to start your family history by gathering what you have. Then the same idea works. You might want to get a box and put all the family documents you’ve accumulated together in one place. Or you might start by choosing a genealogy software program to begin entering your genealogy information.
4. Work your plan.  If you have to write your plan in your calendar program then do that. Block off the time you’ve committed to getting the job done (and make it a reoccurring appointment).  You’re more likely to do it if you have an appointment with yourself.
5. Adjust your plan. Sometimes you need to make a small adjustment to your plan.  Nothing you do is set in stone, after all, it’s your plan and you can change it if something isn’t working for you. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that every second Sunday you go to your aunt’s for dinner. The idea is to not stress over your project but to get the project done. So make the change to your calendar and keep working the plan.

Once you’ve completed the plan you start the whole process again with a new plan. Keep repeating this and eventually, you’ll have all your photos, organized, scanned, named, tagged and stored in the cloud. Think of it as eating that elephant one bite at a time. Then your reputation will be about having done the job rather than just talking about doing the job.