(Photo by Richard Summers)

With all your various tasks, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. At best, you over-stress yourself and over-deliver your services. At worst, you over-stress and under-deliver. Before you start a new project, make sure to develop a checklist to ensure you don’t forget any key pieces and ensure you sequence your sub-tasks appropriately:

1) Deadline. What are the real-world constraints facing you? Are there other people who will take your work and then use it to start their workflow? Are there submission deadlines (for publication) that need to be respected?

2) Estimates. Overconfidence in scheduling is highly dangerous. If you’ve done this same work hundreds of times, and can crank it out with a high degree of certainly, that’s great. For the rest of us, guess how long something will take and double it.

3) Constraints. Is there: a sequence to getting the work done, a fixed budget, or specific resources required? Hidden constraints generally show themselves at the least opportune time. Be sure to double check your assumptions.

4) Reward. Extrinsically, what’s the reward for achieving your goals (money or fame)? Intrinsically, how important is it to you to achieve the goals (satisfaction, confidence, or education)? To keep nourishing your business, find something intrinsically valuable in every project you work on (and be sure to remind yourself of it when frustration is high).

5) Risk. What’s the chance for failure? Whatever part of the project worries you the most schedule the earliest. If there’s a big obstacle, you want the most time to be able to focus your attention on it. Too often people schedule the hardest for the last, assuming that things will work out. You don’t want to sound a last-minute alarm to your clients.

If you prioritize, you’re not guaranteed smooth sailing. But you will be guaranteed that you’ll arrive at your planned destination.