This year has and continues to be a lot. There are so many things always going on in my life. Some I talk about, and some I keep to myself. Some take a day and some take almost all year.

I’ve also spent a lot of time this year working on goals. Some of the projects I work on reflect my goals, and some are just for fun. The projects I do help me out for the things I want to do and accomplish.

A project is an endeavor to help achieve an aim. This could be something you undertake alone, or something you work together with someone else. Projects can be steps to help you reach your goal. Another way to look at this idea is to use projects as action steps or a battle plan. For example, a goal you have could be to have a cleaner house. Some projects you may need to work on could include organizing and throwing away clutter. If you can use the projects to organize, you’ll be closer to reaching the goal of a cleaner house.

Some projects are longer. And for those projects, you can always break them down into some smaller steps. I’ve been working on a few projects that have been ongoing for months now. I try to take that big project and chunk it down into smaller steps to make it actionable.

Sometimes a goal can seem big and far away. Take as small steps as you need to get there. Work on small projects to take one step forward at a time. Then, once you’ve worked on and completed that project, you can do more projects for the next step. And these projects will eventually help you reach the goal you set out for yourself.

Also, sometimes, you do need help in projects. That’s okay too. To go back to my earlier example, you want a cleaner house. Well, that’s good if you live on by yourself and are able to make the organizational systems on your own. However, if you live with roommates or other people, those organizational systems may not work. Just because you accomplish something doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Having a cleaner house is one of my goals. One of the projects recently was to organize the pantry. It was a mess. I bought bins and had labels created. But then, I talked with my house and explained the organizational system. So far things have stayed in order, but because we are working together to make it that way.

I like to stay busy. I don’t think that’s a secret. I have a lot on my plate and a lot of things I work towards and work on. But, I am so thankful for those things. I am thankful for these projects. They help me to grow and help me continue to improve. There have been so many new things for me this year that I’m still trying to navigate and figure out about myself and my life. I know that I can’t control everything that comes my way. However, I know I can work on the things that I can control to improve my situations and myself.

Goals are good. Projects are good. Overwhelming yourself to the point of suffocation is not good. If you have too much on your plate, try to chunk them out. Try to make small projects, action steps, or battle plans to take. If you start taking the steps now to improve, I think you’ll find that you are very capable of handling at least some of the things that come your way. I know for me that I’m trying to take the time for the rest of this year working on projects and implementing systems. At the beginning of the year, I talked about how my theme of the year was “maintenance”. I want to end out the year by doing that maintenance on myself to help make next year hopefully easier than this year was for me. I can’t promise you, myself, or anyone else that next year will be easy. But I hope for both you and me that we have the tools and resources to overcome the situations in which we find ourselves. Despite that hope, I know that I cannot just wait for January 1 to start making changes and hope for the best. I need to be working on that now. That’s why I have projects. A number of the projects I’m currently working on won’t see fruition until next year, but I can lay the groundwork now.

I hope you have projects. I hope you enjoy the projects you have, whether they are for pleasure or mastery or both. And if you need help figuring out goals or projects, please feel free to talk to a trusted source. If you don’t feel you have a trusted source, then feel free to talk to me. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I can offer what’s worked for me and we can hopefully find a solution that works for you too. Projects help you learn. I love learning. I want to learn for the rest of my life. And I hope that I can slow down enough and continue to learn and enjoy my projects as they come and as I complete them.

Today’s post feels a little different for me, but I think it’s necessary. I always like to be open and honest with my life on here. I don’t want fame or popularity. I want to real and genuine. So I discuss what I’m going through in the hopes that it can help someone else. But I also use it as a programming test. Sometimes as I’m writing, I come to conclusions for myself. Regardless, please know that I support you in whatever you do. If you need to reach out to someone, feel free to contact me! I can’t promise I know how to face or fix everything, but I can assure you you’ll never work through anything alone if you don’t want to!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!