I have 2 sons. One who is excited to take on projects, likes doing creative things and won every Science Fair he entered. My other son is the complete opposite. When he came home from school and announced that he had a project, I immediately tensed up. He always needed help organizing and moving it along. So I came up with an acronym to help. Honestly, he did not like it (imagine eye rolling), but I thought I’d share since I came up with it.
Also, he has since improved, so maybe it did rub off on him in some way!
It works for almost any project: school, home or work and some steps overlap.
P Plan
- jot down ideas, brainstorm
- pin things on Pinterest, Houzz, etc.
R Research
- for school…do your research!
- for home- look up appliances, how to do whatever task, research contractors
O Organize
- collect materials for your project
- decide on framework for essay
- I like writing things down. I use my sons’ old notebooks to organize any project, party, vacation. I can sketch plans, collect ideas, make lists, etc. It’s all in one place. It works for me.
J Just Begin
- J was a hard one, but I wanted to hit on the procrastinating factor. We procrastinate for many reasons: fear of failure, fear of messing it up, laziness, perfectionism. Whatever it is, just starting helps get the ball rolling. So just do it!
E Eat the Frog
- This one comes from Mark Twain:
Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
- Basically, we use it to say, get the worst thing over with first, and the rest will be easier (It’s a common term in our house, since we are all procrastinators)
C Creative Details
- When the bulk of the project is finished, don’t forget to add the creatives details that make it standout
T Tidy Up
- Clean it up
- Make it neat
- Proofread
Acronym to help take on your project
So there it is. Yeah, I know it’s a little silly, and most people don’t need an acronym to help.
Please share any ideas that you have used to help you or your children get projects off the ground.