I am my least effective when I am working solo, it’s honestly really tough for me. I have to constantly keep my self motivated, and push my self to keep going when the going gets tough, which is far more difficult when you’re alone. It really drives home that saying, “ The hardest person to lead is yourself”.
I just recently wrapped up a solo project, and in hindsight there quite a few things I could have done better. So, I am going to use this post to reflect on my experience and what I could have done better.
Out of the gate, I should have mapped out more thoroughly what needed to be done and set realistic timelines for how long those tasks would take. Instead, I just kept it all in my head, and it eventually all snuck up on me towards the end of my deadline and I ended up cramming.
If I could have done it again, I definitely would have used time blocking. This would have helped me stay on track, and kept me disciplined. Instead, I just kept checking my phone, writing some code, and then checking my phone some more, and eventually, the day was over and I had only gotten a fraction done of what I needed to.
I spent way too much time stuck on one thing, I would get stuck and get fixated with finishing that task. What I should have done instead is move on to other tasks because I could have finished 3-4 other tasks in the time I was stuck on that one issue. Towards the end of the project, I made this change, fortunately, and when I would come back to tasks I was previously stuck on, I would figure it out pretty much immediately because I took a step away and worked on something else and got rid of the tunnel vision I had when I was stuck.
I way underestimated how long each of my tasks would take, and as a result, procrastinated a ton because “it’s not even gonna take me that long”. That is probably the number one thing I would have done differently. I would clearly outlined everything that needed to be done, then set deadlines for when that stuff needed to be finished. That in combination with time blocking to increase my focus and odds of getting into a flow state would have made it far easier for me to finish my project before my deadline.
I hope this can help you avoid the mistakes I made in your next solo project :)
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