CONTENTS
PART 1 CLEARING THE DECKS FOR YOUR BEST WORK
CHAPTER 1 “SOMEDAY” CAN BE TODAY
Why it’s time to focus on projects rather than ideas | The link between your best work and thriving | How living in a project world gives us freedom at the cost of uncertainty | What to do if your interests are all over the place | Why projects are bridges and mirrors | What separates the change makers from the sideliners
CHAPTER 2 GETTING TO YOUR BEST WORK
What’s really in the middle of the air sandwich between your big picture and day-to-day reality | Marc and Angel Chernoff: What Else Could This Mean? | The 5 keys to unlocking your best work | The difference between positive and negative boundaries | How we confuse courage and clarity | Discipline creates freedom | James Clear: The Difference Between Professionals and Amateurs | Getting clear about your competing priorities helps you make better plans and commitments | Ishita Gupta: Build Your Courage Muscle
CHAPTER 3 PICK AN IDEA THAT MATTERS TO YOU
Why thrashing is a sign that something matters to you | How not doing your best work leads to creative constipation | We’re built to slay dragons | The 3 gifts of failure | Chelsea Dinsmore: What to Do When Life Changes Your Plans | How not being able to do everything at once is a gift once you accept it | Why you have to let go of some ideas to trade up to the best ones | Susan Piver: Should Your Break Up with Your Idea? | 5 questions to help you sort through what matters most
PART 2 PLANNING YOUR PROJECT
CHAPTER 4 CONVERT YOUR IDEA INTO A PROJECT
How to convert an idea into a SMART goal | The 3 levels of success and why you can’t do everything at the epic level | No date, no finish | The 4 kinds of people to put in your success pack | Pamela Slim: The Principles of Enrolling a Guide | The 5 steps to activate your success pack
CHAPTER 5 MAKE SPACE FOR YOUR PROJECT
You don’t find time and space for your best work—you make time and space for it | What playing with building blocks taught us about bending time | How to use the project pyramid to break down your big projects into smaller ones | 34 common project verbs that make planning easier | Using the Five Projects Rule to prioritize and plan your work | The 4 kinds of blocks that power your best work and life | 3 focus blocks per week avoids a thrash crash
CHAPTER 6 BUILD YOUR PROJECT ROAD MAP
The difference between a flat list and a road map | Using your GATES to fuel your project | Jonathan Fields: Your GATES Point to a Deeper Spark | 5 categories to consider for every project budget | Jacquette M. Timmons: Your Money Needs You to Give It Direction | Deadlines guide your project; capacity drives your project | The 7 steps to building your project road map
CHAPTER 7 KEEP FLYING BY ACCOUNTING FOR DRAG POINTS
Why every plan has drag points | The 3 kinds of no-win scenarios we often don’t realize we’re telling ourselves | Jeff Goins: The Myth of the Starving Artist | Why we choose mediocrity and what it really costs us | Seth Godin: Only the Tall Poppy Gets Full Sunlight | Don’t be down with OPP (other people’s priorities) | 9 ways to handle derailers and naysayers | Jeffrey Davis: Let Wonder Intervene with Derailers | 6 questions to ask during your project premortem
PART 3 WORKING THE PLAN
CHAPTER 8 WEAVE YOUR PROJECT INTO YOUR SCHEDULE
How momentum planning keeps you going | The 7 environmental factors to make work for you | Joshua Becker: How a Minimalist Workspace Enhances Focus | Why batching and stacking makes you more efficient | The relationship between frogs and your dread-to-work ratio | When you’re working can be more critical than what you’re working on | Mike Vardy: You Don’t Have to Be an Early Riser to Be Productive | Rethinking “first things first” | The 5/10/15 Split makes daily momentum planning a breeze | Why planning too far in advance can be much worse than a waste of time
CHAPTER 9 BUILD DAILY MOMENTUM
3 ways to celebrate small wins—and why it’s important to do so | Srinivas Rao: Don’t Break the Chain | 6 routines that will help minimize decision fatigue | What Hansel and Gretel taught us about project management | 10 ways to mitigate distractions and interruptions | Cascades, logjams, and tarpits—3 ways projects get stuck and how to handle them | How to get your projects through the creative red zone
CHAPTER 10 FINISH STRONG
The underappreciated reasons why we should run victory laps | Transition time and space between projects help us avoid burnout | Todd Kashdan: Curating and Trimming Relationships | The value of CAT time | How after-action reviews make your next projects easier | 5 doors you may have unlocked by completing your project
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FURTHER READING
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT SOUNDS TRUE
COPYRIGHT
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