Hey ,
I am currently working on a big project and it got me thinking about the strategies we can use to get a project finished.
The picture of eating an elephant helps me. Just the idea - not a real picture ... or elephant! How do you eat an elephant? One bite, one mouthful at a time!
My university course was a big project. It took six years of part-time study. Once I started, all I could do was face the 'bite' (subjects) I had each semester. It was great watching the list of subjects I had completed grow - it showed me I was making progress. Finally it happened - I finished and graduated.
The same with running, too. How to finish a 10 km race? By setting a schedule and running some kilometres each week in the months before the race. If I did my training runs each week, I knew I could finish (I am not a super athlete - a 'win' for me was simply finishing).
Even in a race, the markers every kilometre were a sign that I was moving forward and getting closer to the finish line.
I also use this strategy with my knitting. Thinking of a completely finished project is too much when I knit the first few rows. Instead I think about it one piece, or even a section of one piece at a time. When I finish one section, then I can think about the next one.
Which leads me to my current project - a baby blanket. I have never knitted a baby blanket before. Too many really long rows. Just backward and forward. No changing the number of stitches. But silly me asked a pregnant friend what she wanted for her new baby...
The good thing? She wanted stripes. That made it easy to picture - each stripe is a 'bite' of this elephant. Surprisingly it has taken me a lot less time than I expected. As I write this, I have one and a half stripes to go (I should finish it this week 😀).
I am curious - how do you work through a big project? Do you talk about bites of an elephant, too? Do you use a totally different strategy?
Let me know.
'Bye,
Andrea
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