Intention, not indecision

Over the past few weeks, as I’ve been preparing my new full-build series, I’ve been reminded of how just a little extra preparation on the front-end can make everything else so much easier.

It’s like that Lincoln quote “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe”.

Thanks to doing a complete dry-run and making simple step-by-step notes before I recorded, I saved a lot of time editing because there was less having to figure things out on the fly.

But, ever since adopting paid discovery for all my projects, I’ve found the same is true about projects.

When you spend the time up-front to really uncover things and plan out the details, content isn’t as hard because you know exactly who you’re talking to and what you want to communicate.

When you know what you’re your communicating, design is easier because the objective is clear.

When the design is completed, developing the site is a breeze because you know exactly what you’re building and can streamline your process.

And when projects are moving along at this pace and with this clarity, clients seem to have fewer revisions, requests, and feedback.

I’m sure many of you have already figured this out, but it’s been a hard lesson for me, who’s natural tendency is ready, fire, aim.

There’s a balance, of course, and it’s easy to get so deep into thinking that it’s difficult to decide. But it’s not about indecision, it’s about intention.

Taking a few extra minutes to make sure all your ducks are in a row really does reduce the chaos… So I’ve been looking for other ways I can front-load the work to make things run smoother.

Things like… Spending 15 minutes in the morning planning out and prioritizing my day before jumping in head-first, taking 5 minutes before a call jotting down notes of everything I want to make sure I cover, or organizing all my assets before I start building.

In the moment it can feel like “extra work”, but you’re really just reallocating resources — giving yourself a little more time up-front, and saving yourself a lot of time (and frustration) further down the road.