The power of progress can be seen in all kinds of work — writing a book, building a DIY project in your backyard, or cleaning out a closet. In this article, we will focus on the work you do “at work” and how you can use the power of progress to ignite your productivity and accelerate your achievement.
Whether you are setting goals, OKRs, or KPIs, one thing is sure. You need a way to track the progress you are making on these goals. Without this, you are sure to get off track quickly, and that defeats the purpose of creating these goals in the first place. Tracking goals is simply a way to see the progress you make and you already know that making progress on any endeavor is a surefire way to kickstart productivity.
Progress over Perfection: The Key to Achievement
Before we delve too deeply into this idea of accelerating your achievement, we have to note one very important principle. You must seek progress over perfection. Unfortunately, many people will kill every effort to feel a sense of progress by pushing their expectations so high that they become impossible to achieve. So setting a mindset where every inch of progress is a step in the direction of success is essential.
When overwhelm looms, take the “do the next right thing” approach. Break your project or goal down into smaller, manageable steps. This allows you to begin taking action immediately. And when you take action, you have taken the first step to making progress. Your mindset shifts from a daunting big-picture perspective to a more actionable and manageable perspective. It allows you to maintain focus, increase productivity, and track your progress effectively, ultimately leading to the achievement of your goals.
Monitoring Progress: Tools and Techniques
When you begin breaking down your projects into actionable steps, you need a way to track that progress that is both quick and accessible. There are plenty of tracking tools available, and my choice to track all work is Asana.
As you break down projects into actionable steps, you will see a project plan form before your eyes. Group like tasks together, give them due dates, and sort by those dates so the order of action steps begins to take shape.
If you are collaborating with others, add them to your Asana instance with a simple email invite. Once inside Asana, you can each collaborate fully on the project by adding all relevant files to the tasks where they should live. You will also communicate directly on the individual tasks or on the whole project, keeping track of each piece of the larger project easily.
At regular intervals, give the full team an update on the progress of the project by using the project status feature. These updates are easily seen on the project, so there is no confusion about where the work stands. In other words, progress is visible!
The Progress Principle
Research shows that the most significant factor contributing to positive inner work life is the sense of progress. So it makes sense that to enjoy your work, you should see some form of progress, right? It sounds very simple in theory, but in practice, it proves a bit more challenging.
After you choose a progress mindset and begin breaking down your work into manageable chunks, you can do a few other things to help facilitate progress and a more joy-filled work life, especially when working with others.
The role of recognition and appreciation cannot be overstated. Think back to the last time you received even a small amount of appreciation from a colleague. Did it automatically bring a sense of accomplishment? Perhaps it led to your wanting to keep going on the work to make more progress.
Another factor that will facilitate progress is the ability to provide as many helpful resources as possible to get the job done. This means you go the extra mile to provide as much information as possible at the outset of a project, mapping out the scope and timeline clearly. You should give clear instructions while also providing autonomy and expressing trust. Finally, you want to remove as many hassles as possible at the outset of the project. Nothing slows progress like annoying hassles.
Proactively taking these steps will facilitate the acceleration of progress on the project. This will in turn continue to build morale and a positive work environment for your team.
Harnessing the Power of Progress
The power of progress is clear. When a team chooses a progress mindset, tracks their progress with a simple tool, and supports progress by following easy principles of collaboration, goals are reached, OKRs are accomplished and KPIs are realized.
So what is the next step for you? Do you need to start tracking your personal progress? Or perhaps you lead a team that needs you to facilitate its progress more fully. Pick one thing to begin to improve today. Here are a couple of ideas to help:
- Enroll in the free Frustration to Focus mini-course if you need to take control of your personal progress.
- Enroll in the Asana Simplified course for small teams to begin using Asana fully in your work.
About the Author
Paula Holsberry is the founder of Tessera Virtual Business Solutions, specializing in optimizing work processes for remote teams. With experience in both start-ups and larger companies, she helps teams maximize productivity through efficient Asana training and consulting.
