Last updated on April 3rd, 2021 at 01:57 pm
Part 4 of Niya’s highly useful 5-day guest post series! Enjoy!
Maintaining the Vision
It sounds preachy/cult-esque and vaguely multi-level marketing oriented, doesn’t it? This isn’t about divine vision, or drug induced vision, or biological vision. Those are all things you can maintain on your own, should you decide you want to. I’m sure there are other reasonably well-written blogs that can help you with those things.
This is about the vision that you had when you made that plan. Remember the one, way back when, with a project charter, and Gantt charts? Okay, so many of you don’t have a Gantt chart. Regardless, that vision of the project that you’re working on, the one of what it’ll look like when it’s complete. That’s the vision I mean.
What does that have to do with making it without an assistant? A lot, actually. Vision is stellar because it’s where you build from. It’s the basis that defines the project you’ve chosen to take on, regardless of what the project is. That vision defines the scope of the project. For example, I’m throwing a bake sale to raise money for the Japanese red cross society. That’s the vision. It means that I’m not throwing an art auction, country fair, or cocktail party—even though those are all possible fundraising ideas. It also means I’m not establishing an annual giving campaign. It’s a bake sale. That’s the vision.
This is important because once you’ve mobilized your network (you are doing this in order of the steps provided, right?) they’re going to have lots of great ideas. They are going to beg, bribe and otherwise attempt to convince you that you should incorporate and implement their ideas. If the ideas fit within the scope of the project and are feasible (remember that thing about integrity and keeping promises?) by all means. But if they aren’t, decline. If you agree to things that are out of scope, you will find yourself in over your head, and sorely wishing for an assistant.
Maintain the vision can be done in a lot of ways. Personally, I like words and contractual sounding agreements. This is why I love project charters. You may be a vision board sort of person. Do what works for you. Whatever form that concrete vision of achievement takes—that’s the one you should use. It’ll also be helpful when you’re making your point about not doing beyond the scope of the project. For those of you who have a hard time saying no to those networks that you love and cultivate so well, remember that you aren’t limited to a single project. You can make a list of the really awesome-sounding ones, and shelve them for when you have time.
I hope these things are working for you! Please leave feedback about what you’ve done to implement these little changes. I’m terribly curious about what you think! Also, come back for the last part on inspiring support!
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