If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.
My dad has a t-shirt with this saying on it. It’s one of those sayings that I think people would be better off remembering in their day-to-day lives.
Recently, I completed a month-long project for Praxis. My original goal was simple: create a Shopify store, learn how to run Facebook Ads for it.
About half-way through the month, I got bored. Trust me, it was still hard. People weren’t buying things from my store and I knew I wasn’t going to make back the money I was spending, but I wanted a new challenge. I started running an Instagram account, researched dropshipping on eBay, and wrote a long blog post on Facebook advertising among
Part of this can be attributed to my personality type. Sometimes I have a hard time sitting still and I’m always anxious to do something new. I’m like a project magpie, constantly on the lookout for a shiny new project to grab up. This makes finishing books a bit of a challenge, but I’m a determined magpie, and I’d rather work hard to get a diamond than grabbing up every piece of tin foil that catches
How do you know if you need to make a hard challenge even harder?
- You’re bored
- You’re not as impressed with yourself as you think you could be
- Other people aren’t as impressed with you as you think they should be (how dare they, you’ll show them)
- You realize you want new/better results/goals
- It’s easier than you originally thought it was going to be
How do you make the challenge harder?
Add a second project related to the original one
For example, the Facebook blog post I mentioned above. It was totally different from actually running ads, but it was closely related to my original goal. It gave me a new task that was unique enough to satisfy my inner magpie, but still pushed me towards my ultimate goal of learning.
Change the end-goal
If your original goal was to write a series of blog posts on a related subject, compile those blog posts into an eBook. That’s much more ambitious, challenging, and impressive. Ask yourself, “Is this cool enough to brag about to my friends?” if it’s not, make it brag-worthy.
Up the stakes
In the example mentioned above, these are the results you could expect from the first one: improved knowledge on a subject, improved writing skills, an interesting read for those who know about your blog.
These are the results you could expect from the second goal: improved knowledge on a subject, improved writing skills, knowledge of how to edit, format, and publish an eBook, the opportunity for national or even world-wide recognition, a potential source of income, more impressive work ethic, marketing experience if you choose to promote your book, and all the little skills that come with getting a cover, writing a blurb, etc.
Think about what you can gain from the project you’re thinking of doing. See if you can alter the project to gain even more.
These three steps are what separate the diamonds from the quartz in terms of projects. If you’re a project magpie like me, don’t get distracted by the abundant quartz available. Take the time to find the diamonds.