Success Tips from a 2nd Grader
For those of you that have been following me for awhile…that’s ‘Baby Barefoot’ — she was just 10 weeks old when I started ‘The Barefoot Executive’ website. She’s my youngest of 4 kids and now 7 years old and in 2nd grade!!
She’s been working on an animal unit in Science class this term and the wrap up of that unit was an animal research presentation.
Baby Barefoot (her big girl name is LauraLee) chose the Panda.
This assignment was given 6 weeks ago and seemed BIG when we got it, but thanks to her teacher’s instructions and segmented tasks, it became less overwhelming.
I snapped this shot (secretly) last night while she was preparing for her presentation today. She did great! (As a side note, I’ll say she seems like a natural public speaker – yayyyyyy!!)
But you know how I am…it occurred to me that this process might be helpful for YOU if you are overwhelmed with a project or progress. Fair enough?
- We chose one topic to focus on. Pandas. Not mammals. Not all bears. Not all black and white animals. Just pandas. Ahem — you might be struggling with narrowing down your focus in a certain area.
- We had a firm due date. Shocking! A deadline? For completion? Imagine if you set a firm deadline on the ______ you have been procrastinating on!
- She had one area to focus on per week and it was in a logical order. One week we checked out library books (remember those?) One week we chose pictures. One week we focused on habitat, etc. Would it help your progress if you took a 6 week calendar and focused on one chunk or step per week that moved you logically towards your goal?
- There were guidelines for how the finished project was supposed to look. Hmmmm what if you modeled your progress is this area (You know the area you’re thinking of…it’s nagging you, I bet.) What if you modeled your progress after something you’ve seen, done or admired before? It would give you a guideline for what you’re aiming at!
- The due date was a public reveal – a class presentation! Ahhhh – a public accountability is HUGE! Can you be accountable to your mailing list? Your Facebook friends? Your church congregation? Your clients? Your ________?
Anyway… just a few thoughts as I dropped off Baby Barefoot with her Panda Project at school today. I thought the process was really helpful for moving her right along and keeping her from waiting until the last minute…and it hit me that maybe…just maybe, it would be helpful for you too!
And as always – please share, like, tweet and otherwise 😉
#CarrieOn