Dream, plan, act.

L ook around, most of what surrounds us were once someone's dreams. They went through the phase of dreams, and then they were planned and realized. Something was done by a big teamwork; something was done by one person. "Oh, what is that on the shelf? ... Yes, yes, on a top of the shelf." This model is a boat I wanted to do when I was 16, oh, how much time and effort it took, but it was still one of those dreams that came true. However, that boat I did not make by myself, my two friends helped me (a lot). Now the times and dreams have changed, but I guess it was the beginning of an understanding of the importance of the surrounding and the contacts for a realization of dreams.

I have a colleague, who has new ideas every week. Today he is interested in holograms, tomorrow wind power generation, and the gliding the day after. He has so many ideas that he concludes nothing. I call him a dreamer. Another employee is a real workaholic. If you describe him a task, he will perform it very accurately, efficiently and on time. Nevertheless, he absolutely does not know how to come up with something new. Still, there is an employee who is very good at drawing, is able to work with different applications, and likes to try new things. She is a very practical person.

Sometimes we go to lunch with the dreamer. He shares ideas, which provoke me into thinking over my own. Sometimes I share, and he complements them, suggesting new opportunities and directions. The workaholic helps in the implementation. He is reliable, and if he promises to do something, there is no doubt he will do it. The practical person shares the technical innovations and helps to trim the sails to the wind. She helps to organize and plan my ideas. One of her findings it is the iSmartLife application. The app helps me to dream, plan, act...

Dream

Dreams form not only contacts and surroundings, but also what we read, look, where we are and much more. Dreams give an opportunity to step over stereotypes, to invent something new, extraordinary.

Recently, when getting on the subway I drew attention to people around me and to their clothes as well. They were dressed well, but very monotonously. No, there certainly were classy clothes, but most were all similar. I was like, why not make trousers with separate left and right halves (I think, it is not a problem to combine them). You wake up in the morning, come into the dressing room and think not of trousers to wear, but of left and right halves of trousers. You can combine different colors, styles, designs, to replace the old and damaged halves. Well, to my mind, in the public transport it would look brighter and more cheerful.

Now, hold off on the article for a second and come up with an idea... Got it? I think your idea is exactly as smart as my own, and possibly even brilliant and can become a dream. Well, the truth is, you will probably forget it. The ideas come spontaneously but are also quickly forgotten, as a dream after a morning sight through the window. Some may be useful, and I use the notes in the application to remember them. Likewise, I make notes on important links of articles, moments (photos), reflections and all that consider interesting. Sometimes, I review the notes and delete unimportant ones. Some of the notes may create a dream, and when I feel I am ready to reach it, notes turn into the goal. The goal is a dream but has the deadline, superficially examined the subject matter, and there is an understanding of what needs to be done in order to reach it. Notes and goals help me to form and visualize dreams. Then comes the planning...

Plan

A friend of mine is always complaining that she has a lot of work, and not enough time. When I advised her to write down all the tasks, she said there was no time for that, they needed to be done. The wise planning is 50% of the work done. When we write a task, we think about it in more detail, highlight the difficulties that may arise. These tasks are performed faster. Planning helps to reconsider and think about the tasks, allocate time, improve the quality.

So, I have "dreamed" a goal for myself and am ready to achieve it. At this stage, I already imagine what I want to do, understand how and who will do it, and how much money approximately I need to spend. If the goal is big, I break it into projects. Projects allow grouping tasks and plan in large blocks. If the goal is small, I create tasks.

I try to describe the tasks in a simple and clear way the other person could carry them out, or realize for myself what was done after a certain period. I bring value to some tasks; it helps to plan the budget. Sometimes I write down useful links, pictures, or complement with the messages. I try to plan very short tasks, so they can be done at a time. I like to plan tasks for a week, as I know well what and when I can do. Planning of work for a week helps me to focus on those tasks I'm going to do and consider them more carefully. I actually have 3 stages of task planning. Superficial - I imagine the task (s) while creating a goal or project. Detailed - when I create the physical task. Spontaneous - when I improve or modify the task. I have often noticed I come up with simpler or better solution to the tasks I am going to implement the next day. Sometimes I delete the tasks. It usually occurs due to 2 reasons: the task loses its relevance, or I reschedule the task more than 2 times. It happens very rarely for weekly planning.

The delegation is the other very important part of the planning. In my contact list, I have collected many useful people who sometimes implement a part of my tasks. It increases productivity and provides an opportunity for faster achieving the goal. Thus, my dreams first appear in the notes, and then the goals are formed, which further are splintered into projects, which are filled with tasks. Left a little - to do it...

Act

Sometimes I use the «Pomodoro» method. It helps to focus on the task and do it faster. In addition, I like to alternate physical and mental tasks. For example, I can mow the lawn, and then sit in the garden and write a part of the article. The alternating helps not to get tired of monotonous tasks. There happen not very interesting tasks I always put on a waiting list. Some of these tasks do not create anything new but improve quality. They definitely need to be done, but it requires efforts to get on the task. Such tasks I split into smaller ones, and then they become easier to be done. When dealing with a task you should always keep an eye on quality. Do not sacrifice quality for the sake of speed; it will definitely lead to remarks and additional work.

If some of my contacts implement the task, and he cannot cope with it, or I do not like the quality of his work, I give him the second task in order to test him. If the result of his work on the second task does not satisfy me, I remove him from my list of contacts and no longer entrust him anything to do. When I finish a task to do, I mark it as done. Sometimes I picture the result (or photo is made by the one who did the task for me) and attach it to the task. It helps to analyze the work done. Each implemented task brings me closer to the goal, and it is a strong motivator to take up the next one. I keep track of the progress of the tasks tied to the project. I had 8 tasks in the project for this article, and now I'm finishing the fifth one. Oh, I think in 2 days I will finish this project :). The same works with the goal: when I see the progress, it motivates me to continue and complete all planned.

From time to time, I analyze reports that help to consider the work done during the period and decide what can be improved. Therefore, step by step, the task after the task, I am complying with everything planned.

So,

notes and goals help to create and visualize the dreams;

projects, tasks, budgets help to plan the work;

reports help to improve processes;

contacts help to dream, plan, act.

As I have written in the introduction, most of what surrounds us were once someone's dream. Maybe tomorrow, I will look at your dream, which you dreamed, planned and acted.