New WebSite: Cleansing the Soul
Monday, November 23rd, 2009I’ve been working on a new website here and there for about a month. I must say it’s definitely a soul searching venture. There are ideas just running though my head and most of them defy what I set out to do in the very beginning.
However, by working on personal projects I can take my time and really analyze what I want to do, what I want to communicate, and set out on a journey to push myself in a new direction.
I don’t know if anybody else is but I’m typically plagued by start-a-new-personal-project-until-I-lose-interest-and-let-the-idea-die-itus. It’s a horrible disease. But I’m learning to overcome it.
So here is some advice I gave to myself to ensure I would finish personal projects. Be it web or otherwise. Here’s an example of what I did for my new website. (Which is launching in Phases)
- Boil the entire site experience down to one or possibly two words
- This time I wanted clarity. My family thinks I fix printers. I can only imagine what other people think I do.
- Create a plan of phases
- Picking away at it has made the process tolerable and even fun. It also allows life to interrupt.
- Write down the tangents
- I sit on them for a few days. If the idea is still relevant, I start implementation.
- Show your support group
- This is a great trick I learned from my wife. Show other people that you’re working on it, so they ask you about it. It’s a great opportunity to get feedback and it helps to keep the project in the front of your mind.
- Set a target date
- The toughest yet the most important. Self deadlines are my worst enemy. But if you’re showing your personal project to people they’ll ask when it will be completed. Use that as motivation to get the next phase of the project completed.
It’s not fool proof but it’s helped me finish out a few personal projects on my plate that I wanted to get done before the 2009 Calendar year.
