Let’s face it. The project planning process can be tedious and long. But having a step-by-step guide and system in place for each project will allow you to breeze through your projects, accomplish goals quicker, and see much more progress over time. Today, I am going to teach you an amazingly easy technique to plan out your next big project to help eliminate stress and boost your productivity. This project planning technique will allow you to not only finish your project in a timely manner but do an outstanding job at it!

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What is a project?

First, let’s clearly define what a project really is. A project is a major task or list of tasks within a single category that has a foreseeable deadline or goal. Some examples of projects include: completing a school or work report, submitting 20 scholarship applications, finally finishing that kitchen remodel, getting accepted into college, starting your own business, losing 10 pounds, or acing a final exam.

Personally, for each individual project (no matter the size), I will complete the entire project planning process I have laid out below. Once I began doing this, I saw an immediate change in my productivity. I now have clear goals to work towards, know exactly what tasks are needed to be completed next, and am able to finish large projects quicker than ever before.

Related: Complete Guide to Planning – Everything You Need to Know

Supplies:

As you will see below, I use a binder system. This allows me to keep my planning sheets, calendars, tasks lists, and other important paperwork in one place. Over the years I have used different supplies but have narrowed down the favorites that I use.

• The Olden Chapters Student Printable Planner: This is a printable student planner that includes over 50 incredibly useful planning pages, including monthly and weekly calendars, study plans, budget sheets, assignment trackers and so much more. It is perfect to add the front of your binder!
• Staples Better Binder: I prefer this 1.5-inch binder with D-rings, incredibly durable and stops the paper from curling in the back.
• Avery 5-Tab Dividers: These are my favorite dividers because they allow you to use page protectors while still being able to see the tabs. They even have folders on each divider!
• Zebra Mildliner Highlighters: My all-time favorite highlighters. I’ll never use a different highlighter again. They have two tips (regular sized tip and fine tip) and come in beautiful mild colors. I will use these when I am color coding any tasks or projects.
• Five-Star Reinforced College-Ruled Paper: This is incredibly nerdy but I swear by this paper. Very little bleed-through, it is 8.5×11 inches (surprisingly hard to find) and has reinforced holes so you don’t tear your pages!
• Getting Things Done by David Allen: This is an amazing productivity book. I won’t lie, I have two copies (paperback and audiobook) and have read it three different times, so yeah, I really like this book. David Allen is a productivity guru and has created an amazing planning and organization system. Some of the tips he uses I have listed below but it is definitely a must read!

Related: 15 Planning Essentials You Need to Ensure Success

Ten Easy Steps for Project Planning:

The entire project planning process can be done in ten easy steps. Each step is outlined below with a brief description and useful tips for each one.

Step One: Decide what your project is

Of course, you need to begin your project planning process by stating what exactly it is. Furthermore, you probably have more projects currently going than you even realize. Each month, I will do a quick project evaluation to see if I have completed any projects, or started any new projects without even knowing it.

Below, I have created a list of questions you should be asking yourself. Run through these questions now to see if you have any outstanding projects that should be reviewed currently! You can also use this list to revisit every month or so to see if you have any new or upcoming projects that should be scheduled.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Monthly Planning

School:

• What classes are you currently in? Each can be considered a project.
• Do you have any major assignments, essays, presentations, or labs coming up?
• Are you an officer or want to become an officer of a club or sport?
• Do you have a major goal in school that you are wanting to work towards? Perhaps graduating Summa Cum Laude, joining a research team, completing a thesis, or even adding an additional major or minor?

Related: How to Study for an Exam

Work/Career:

• What do you have currently going on this week? This month? What is coming up next month?
• Do you have any major meetings you need to attend and/or present at?
• Do you have any major work projects currently going on that you haven’t planned out yet?
• What is currently in your email inbox? How about your current task list? Are they large enough tasks that they could be turned into a project?
• Do you have any major goals that you are working towards in your career? Perhaps a promotion, license, transfer, pay raise, new client, larger network?

Personal/Health/Financial/Home:

• What is currently on your personal task list? Do you have anything major on it that can be turned into a project? Cleaning, maintenance, new apartment search, home buying, surprise birthday parties, vacation?
• What events do you have coming up? Birthdays, anniversaries, family get-togethers, travel, holidays, appointments?
• Do you have any major personal goals you are working towards? Losing weight, becoming more educated, stress management, paying off debt?

Related: How to Eat Healthy in College

Step Two: Create a Project Binder

This is my favorite part of project planning! You can choose to either create a physical binder (which I prefer, here is my favorite binder to use) or you can create an individual folder on your computer to collect all of your project related items. If you choose to use a physical binder (again, I highly recommend), you can choose to have one binder for each project you are working on, or combine your projects into one binder. Either case works, just choose one that will work well for you!

Don’t forget to download your free project planner checklist and dashboard to add to your binder! 

Tip: If you choose to create one project binder for multiple projects, it is incredibly useful to color code your projects so you can easily distinguish between them.

Note that we are just roughly setting the binder system up in this step. As we move through the rest of the steps, we will be filling out different sections.

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Binder Sections to Create:

1. Goals: The goals and tracker section is where you are going to distinctly write out your goals and keep track of them.
2. Calendar: Pretty straightforward, here you will have a monthly calendar to keep track of deadlines, important dates and days you block out for yourself to work on a specific task. If your project is small, you may be able to use one calendar for multiple projects. However, if it is a large or major project, such as an entire class, you may want to have just one calendar designated for it.
3. Tasks: This section is where you will organize and create your task lists.
4. Notes: Here, you will keep any useful notes about your projects such as meeting minutes, brainstorming sheets, or other important pieces of information you may need to reference later.
5. Other: This last section is incredibly flexible. Depending on your project, you may need to keep different paperwork or documentation here. Here are a few examples of how I have used my “other” section:
   1. Scholarship Project: Essays, Transcripts, Letters of Recommendation, Contracts
   2. Class Group Project: Rubric, Directions, Group Contact Information
   3. Work Project: Budget, Contact Information, Official Documentation, Contracts

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Step Three: Create a Goal and a Deadline

Next, you need to create a specific goal and add it to your “Goals” section. Like the famous David Allen says, you must start with the end in mind. Before you go any further into your project planning process, be sure you know where you want to end up and when you want to be there.

Use your free project planning dashboard to add your goal and deadline too! 

For your goal, be sure to follow the SMART goal rules:

• Specific: Your goal is simple enough to understand but with enough detail to know the reason why you are pursuing it. Example: I want to be accepted into law school so I can pursue my career as a criminal lawyer and help make this country a safer place.
• Measurable: There is an actual value attached to your goal. Example: I will apply to 10 different law schools.
• Achievable: Make sure your goal is difficult enough for you to work at, but not unrealistic. Don’t set yourself up for failure before you even begin. Example: “be accepted into one great law program” instead of “be accepted into every ivy league law program in the US.”
• Relevant: Be sure to evaluate if this goal and project are currently worth your time. Is this going to benefit yourself or someone else? Is this the right time? For this law school example, the person applying would need to make sure it is before the deadline, but not years in advance.
• Timely: Finally, be sure you have a deadline in mind for the entire project and goal. Example: Finish all of my law school applications before the first deadline of March 1st.

So, to combine all of the examples for the examples above, this full SMART goal would be:

I want to be accepted into at least one law school so I can pursue my career as a criminal lawyer and help make this country a safer place. In order to do this, I will apply to 10 different law schools before March 1st.

Action Step: Turn to your “Goals” section in your binder and write down the specific goal you have come up with.

Related: 24 Amazing Stress Management Techniques to Try Right Now!

Step Four: Create a Tracker

Now that you have your specific goal, create some type of goal tracker to add to your “Goals” section. Your tracker will depend on your goal. If my goal was to workout 20 times next month for 30 minutes each, my tracker would be a list including the dates I worked out, how long I worked out, and perhaps what my exercise was. Or, perhaps my goal is to be awarded $20,000 in scholarships before the beginning of the school year, my tracker would be a column that I can fill in, like the picture below.

Action Step: In your “Goals” section of your binder, add in the tracker you have created for your specific goal.

Related: 12 Secrets to Winning Scholarships

Step Five: Brainstorm + Research

The next step in the project planning process is to begin brainstorming ideas and tasks to allow you to complete this project successfully. If you have already been thinking about this project, or perhaps been assigned it, you probably have some notes or paperwork associated with it. Now is the time to dig all of those papers floating around and put them into one place.

Action Step: Now, flip to your “Notes” section in your binder and begin scribbling all of your ideas and tasks related to this project. You should be answering the question “what all is needed to be done for me to reach this goal?” Once all of your ideas are written down, begin researching your project and add any additional tasks you may need to add to your list. At the end of this step, you should have a completed task list that will result in your goal met and the project completed.

Tip:A great way to make sure you have all of your tasks written down is to go through the Getting Things Done trigger list.

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Step Six: Group Your Tasks

Now that you know exactly what is all needed to be done, begin organizing all of your tasks into groups. These groups will be categorized either by theme, the location of where the task is being done, deadline, or perhaps similar tasks. For example, for a recent class project, my sub-goals were based on each major component of the project: essay, powerpoint presentation, bibliography, and field trip write up. Another class project required different deadlines be met, so that is how I organized each task.

Action Step: In your “Notes” section, organize each task and note into categories. This can easily be done by simply highlighting your tasks in different colors (these are my favorite highlighters) based on what groups you have decided on. These groups can be as complex or as simple as you would like. Keep in mind that the larger your project is and more tasks you have, the more groups you will probably end up with. 

Step Seven: Create Sub-Goals

This step is quick and easy. Once you have your groups, create a goal and a deadline for each one. For example, in my class project explained earlier, my “powerpoint presentation” had a goal of “complete Alpine Fault powerpoint presentation” as the main goal and the deadline of when I was scheduled to present.

Action Step: Flip to your “Tasks” section and create a much more organized and cohesive list of tasks organized by their new sub-goals and in order of deadlines.

Step Eight: Create Rewards

At this point, you should know 1. your big, overarching project goal, 2. your sub-goals for this project, and 3. each task that is required to meet these sub-goals. Now you need to add a bit of motivation. During the goal creation step, you should have answered why you are completing this project. If you haven’t, answer that question now. That should be your large goal. However, now give yourself a bit more incentive to complete this project and, if your project is large enough, an incentive to complete each additional sub-project.

Action Step: In your “Goals” and “Tasks” sections, add one or multiple rewards onto your project planning freebie, if you choose, smaller rewards to each of your sub-goals. You can also add these rewards or reminders to your goal tracker!

Reward Ideas: Movie night, new workout clothes, cheat meal, new shoes, a day off, spending that gift card you have been saving, etc. Mine almost always have to do with finding a new hiking trail.

Step Nine: Schedule Check-Ins and Deadlines.

Phew! Now we are really getting there! So, now you need to add in some project check-ins and sub-goal deadlines.

Action Step: Turn to your calendar. If you haven’t already, print out a simple one or two-page monthly calendar (or weekly if you need) and insert them here. Now, schedule your project check-ins and sub-goal deadlines (explained below). Also be sure to note any major tasks, deadlines, events, or any other important notes that are associated with this project. It is also useful to add in any major events that will halt you from working on your projects.

Project Check-ins:

Project check-ins are days that you reserve on your calendar to take 5-10 minutes and really evaluate how your project is going. These can be done once a week, once a month, twice a year… whatever you feel is appropriate. The goal here is to make sure you are setting aside a few minutes every so often to be sure you are keeping the big picture in mind.

During this project check-in, you should be asking yourself these questions:

• Am I meeting my deadlines? If not, what do I need to change in order to do so?
• Are these sub-goals and tasks still relevant to my project and goal?
• Have I met any recent deadlines? Can I celebrate those yet? (I sure hope so!)
• What sub-goals and major tasks do I have coming up? Have I scheduled them to be done yet?

Sub-Goal Deadlines

Sub-goal deadlines are the deadlines you have already created in step six. These are deadlines you have created for yourself to get different groups of tasks completed.

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Step Ten: Create a System

We are almost there! This last major step to create a unique system that you will follow in order to make this plan functional for you. Below, I have lined out a few different techniques you can use to create your own system. Choose one or a combination of these systems to create your own and allow yourself time to work on and finish your project! Personally, I use a combination of the three listed below but I like switching it up from time to time as well!

Routines:

Establishing routines is an incredibly healthy way to manage mundane or smaller tasks that need to be repeated every day, week or month. When incorporating your project tasks into your routines, I recommend creating a list of things you do every morning and evening and adding any daily tasks associated with your project to this task. Then, during the day, be sure to reference this list until it becomes a habit and/or your project is completed. For example, I am currently in a civil engineering fluid mechanics class. This final for this class is 35% of my grade so I have made it a daily task to study at least 15 minutes for the final every day of the semester. So, on my morning routines list, I have “study fluid mechanics for 15 minutes.”

Routines can also be established for weekly and monthly tasks. These are reserved for tasks that need to be done on a regular basis but don’t require attention every day, such as completing weekly homework assignments or cleaning out your fridge.

Tip: An easy way to remember to complete weekly and monthly tasks is to add “reference weekly and monthly routine list” to your daily task list. For example, let’s say you have seven weekly tasks on your routines list. If you reference this list daily, you could complete one of these tasks each day of the week.

Time Blocking:

Time blocking is when you reserve a specific time, day, week, etc. to complete your projects but they do not have a specific task list involved. Here, you will just schedule out some time and complete the next tasks on your task list. One of the best ways to do this is to assign a project to a day of the week. For example, every Wednesday I work on scholarships and every Friday I work on weekend homework assignments for at least one hour. Once you do this each week it will become a habit.

Related: How to Stop Wasting Time (Game Changing Time Management Tips!)

Scheduling:

Scheduling is simply where you just schedule out each individual task associated with your projects. For example, you may have a sub-goal deadline coming up next week, so you might schedule to complete individual tasks this coming Thursday and Friday specifically.

Related: How to Plan Your Week for Success – A Step-by-Step Guide

Begin your Project Planning Process!

Okay, everything is all planned out now! You know what tasks are needed to be done, you have goals, rewards, an organized binder with everything all in one place, and a great system in place ready for you to take on this project head on! All there is left for you to do is to begin your project. Ready… go!

Don’t forget to snag your project planning freebie! And, if you’re looking for more planning tips, go check out my monthly planning process!