Where do I even begin...?
tackling overwhelming projects, my favourite acceptance speech & roundup of inspirations
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There are weeks when I feel full of energy and creativity. I come up with an idea—whether it's content for my social media, training materials for my clients, or system solutions—and suddenly, everything clicks, so I dive right into execution. What can I say, some days I'm just on fire
There are also weeks like this one when I just can't. I knew I wanted to write this week's newsletter, but whenever I opened my Mailerlite, I immediately closed it with an empty editor. Nothing felt right.
As I contemplated my stuckness, I thought, "Well, why not write this week's newsletter about getting unstuck?" After all, I'm not a stranger to the topic, and the more I write, the more I see how similar the process is to managing my regular projects.
You may know that I unintentionally created a pretty cool niche for myself by creating comprehensive Salesforce training materials and enablement projects for both higher education institutions and companies.
I love these projects because they allow me to combine my expertise in Salesforce with my passion for teaching and simplifying complex topics. Besides, they typically last a couple of months, which provides me with a stable income for a longer period—a true blessing for anyone self-employed.
Whenever such an opportunity arises, I am THRILLED.
However, despite my enthusiasm, I often feel intimidated and overwhelmed at the start. Although I know I can deliver these projects successfully, the sheer volume of work required for planning and execution can be daunting ... It's a lot to handle, and where do you even begin?
Have you found yourself in a similar situation? If so, read on. Below, I share my tried-and-tested approach to managing exciting but initially overwhelming projects.
As always - take what resonates with you, and leave out what doesn't :)
The core principle that helps me get unstuck on huge projects like this is:
While these projects may be driven by business goals, I approach them as creative endeavors, similar to writing a book.
You wouldn't expect to have the entire plot and characters figured out in your first novel draft, would you? Yet somehow, for business projects we assume that we should have EVERYTHING figured out from the get-go.
OK, so how does it look in practice for me:
STEP 1: BLESS THE MESS
They say the first sentence in any speech is always the hardest. Well, that one’s behind me, anyway.
- (from Wislawa Szymborska's Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech.)
From my experience, getting started is the most challenging part, especially when we're in our heads overanalysing all the to-dos, challenges and unknowns ( hi, I'm the problem, it's me!).
That's why I like to start with some movement, usually dance to a song or two. If you've never tried it - trust me, it is INSANE how much a few minutes of movement can do to our motivation and creativity
If you're not really a dancing queen or king, a walk is great too!
Once I've got the energy flowing, I take some time to brain-dump and get comfy in the mess. At this stage, I disregard all the advice from my business school about deliverables, objectives and key results. They temporarily vanish from my vocabulary.
The only rule at this stage is: no judgment or expectation about the outcome. It's just the first draft and it is meant to suck. Ideally, it will contain seeds of something useful.
It sounds obvious, but I've seen multiple times that when we actually sit down to work, we feel resistance to taking time to explore, sketch or mind map. We're more likely to obsess over having a neat plan and piercing clarity immediately.
I get it - if your manager doesn't understand the intricacies of creative work (and yes - consulting, building systems etc requires creativity), it's a better look to say on a daily stand-up that you came up with 5 tangible action items (even if they are unnecessary) than saying that you spent an afternoon mind-mapping and brainstorming.
But it's essential. I've learnt to trust myself that the time I spend in the messy stage, even if it seems like a waste of time, is never a waste of time. To me, writing down my thoughts = clarity. The more I write, the deeper I dive into a topic, the easier it is to discern what's the essence.
I draft my ideas on a piece of paper and shuffle some post-its around, but if you prefer Miro or any other digital tool - be my guest :)
If you're more of a verbal processor - you can record yourself or talk it out with someone.
STEP 2: WHY AND FOR WHOM?
Okay, so now that I have plenty of ideas written down it's time to discern what is useful. I tie it back to the goals and audience / end user.
You'd be surprised how many times I heard silence as a response to my question: What's the goal that you want to achieve? Why are we doing it?
I like the Feel, Know, Do framework - it's a simple yet brilliant way to set the scene for when I'm about to create training materials or system and process improvements.
When I keep the project goals and my audience needs in mind, I know I'll be good and won't waste time on unnecessary busy work.
I look at my ideas and assess - does this item align with the goals or serve the audience? Is it necessary or nice to have?
You might be wondering about the feel component - after all I am not writing a love letter to my former high school sweetheart, but guidelines for a group of account managers on how to use a system properly.
Ha! I'm glad you asked (OK, I asked myself...let's move on).
Yes, I think of emotions even in a project like creating trainings for 300+ people in a company. I want them to feel supported, independent and capable, so I use language that's easy to understand and share relevant examples. I understand they have busy schedules, so I make my materials concise and easily accessible, ensuring they simplify their work rather than adding extra assignments. Imagine if a salesperson gets an error message in a system and I give them a 10-page Word doc with words like record-triggered flow... would they feel capable or overwhelmed? Exactement.
If there's one thing I've learnt about building systems after all these years is that they don't exist in a void - they are built by people to serve people.
STEP 3: SPRING CLEANING
NOW is finally the time I do all the fun things every respectable project manager does. Draw Gantt charts, set objectives, deliverables, and plan, plan, plan. Now that we have a plan, we can celebrate successfully overcoming the overwhelm stage and just need to stick to it :)
All the prep before the planning stage allows me to make sure that I focus and plan out what's important, which saves me time and potential stress later down the road.
The project planning is a HUGE topic in itself, so if you want me to share some PM-ing tips, let me know!
Share your questions by replying to this email, and I'd love to answer them.
As always - take what resonates and leave out what doesn't. My main intention with this newsletter is to show you that there are more ways than one to achieve our goals and that it's actually pretty cool to look for ways that support you rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
See you next time,
Agata
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INSPIRATIONS
📚 Here’s a sneak peek of my to-be-read list, featuring novels, classics, and non-fiction I'm excited about! Some of these will be discussed during my book club dinners.
🎥 I really enjoyed this movie - a heartfelt, intimate portrait of a couple going through life together. I felt genuinely invested in their story, I cried, I laughed and the acting was excellent. While I wasn't a fan of the scenes jumping back and forth, overall, it's a really good romantic comedy!
🎙️ I mainly listen to podcasts for learning, but I also enjoy entertaining ones like Table Manners, with Jessie Ware and her mum, Lennie. They host guests from culture and politics over dinner to discuss food, family, and savouring life. It's funny, laid-back, personal. I've enjoyed one of the recent episodes with Colman Domingo (can't wait to see Sing Sing)
Contact me
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