Redefining Project Completion

A project is not complete until it is working for you, rather than you working for it.

Entrepreneurs tend to juggle many projects. One thing that we do that sometimes gives us a false sense of productivity is to inadequately define the end of a project. We feel like we’re getting stuff done, when all we’re really doing is adding to our pile of unfinished business.

For example, let’s say you have a new marketing brochure that you’re creating. You create the copy, perhaps work with a graphic designer, get the design finished, even sent to the printer and picked up. Fantastic! You have a beautiful new marketing brochure in your hand, and you congratulate yourself on a job well done and prepare to move on to the next project.

But you’re not really finished with that project yet. That beautiful new marketing brochure isn’t doing anybody any good sitting in a box in your office. Until you actually put it in the hands of prospective customers, your project isn’t complete, and you shouldn’t move on to the next project. Once you get the brochure distributed, now it’s working for you, and you can go back to working for your customers or other projects, rather than being bound to an incomplete project.

Full Story: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/a/216269.htm