Big projects are never simple, so keeping your planning as organised as possible is your key to success.
Your big project could be:
- Organising a wedding
- Keeping track of fitness and health goals
- Work project
- Changing careers
- Buying your first (or next) home
- Studying at school, college or university
- Starting a business
Using a normal notebook can be useful to an extent, but as you are working on many different aspects at once using a project notebook will help you keep each project category separate thus improving your organisation to help deliver the project on time.
The difference between a standard notebook and a project book
Your run-of-the-mill notebook will either have blank or lined pages and that’s it. Great for jotting down basic notes but you need to build in your own organisation tools to make it work more efficiently.
A Project book is similar to a standard notebook, but it’s split into sections allowing you to separate your notes into different categories, for example, a basic notes and ideas section, a Planning tab for meetings or deadlines and a tasks section. This would all depend on your big project so break it down to see what works best for you.
Using a project planning book to structure your project will also mean you don’t need to carry around serval different notebooks too.
Setting goals in your Project planner
Your first step in any project should be to create goals, what do you want to achieve at the end of your project?
Using the SMART goals method is one of the best ways to structure your goals for any project, here’s a quick overview of what a SMART goal is.
S – Specific
Be exact with what you want to achieve, and think about how, where and when you want to get to this goal.
M – Measurable
Make sure you can measure your progress, you could do this by having a list of milestones that you can check off along the way.
A – Attainable
Setting big goals is fine, just ensuring they are attainable within the time frame you have set and within the realms of possibility.
R – Relevant
Double check it is relevant to your larger goal and priorities, asking yourself why are you doing this and checking that reason is in line with how you want to progress.
T – Time Bound
Give it a deadline, open-ended goals are 10x harder to achieve as there is always tomorrow, however, a looming deadline will give some motivation to get it done on time.
Customise your planner
Setting up your planner to work for you into sections that make sense for the project you’re undertaking will help keep you well-organised so you can understand at a glance where you are, what needs doing next and how you’re getting on within certain tasks.
Using the tabs in the project book separate each category into sections that suit your project structure best.
It can even be a great idea to decorate your planning especially if it is for a big life event like a wedding as it will help inspire you and will be an amazing keepsake to look back on in the future for those events.
Review your project
Use your project planner to regularly review how you are getting on, what needs more focus and where your next steps are taking you through your project.
Keeping your project updated and reviewing it will make sure you are on track to meet those deadlines and ensure nothing is missed.
Getting ready for your big project, check out these 3 perfect Project Planning notebooks to help you hit your goals:
NU EVOLVE (ECO FRIENDLY) PROJECT BOOK
