A moment of clarity (and a new course or two)

If your brain is buzzing and your eyes are glazed like honey-dipped donuts, stop for a second.

You cannot go any faster. But you can go slower, be more intentional and still get there at the same time.

Hit pause. Inertia is good in small doses.

Breathe for one hot second. If you don’t you’ll die.

Focus that energy. It’s not going anywhere without you.

It’s time to chill like a popsicle and stare at this magic shape for 60 seconds. Just try it.👇

Feel better? Not yet? Let these tickle your brain:

• Drink tea angrily and then laugh at how ridiculous that is
• Imagine a cat cooking you dinner but being disappointed at your reaction
• Picture two grandmas one-upping each other on TikTok

Now you feel better!—Oh, you came here for project management tips? We’ve got those, too.

I’ve been thinking...

You have the power to choose what to do right this minute. A tired brain wants to do nothing and everything at once (and is pretty terrible at executing either). A still brain wants to keep focused deeply for hours and bubble up slowly to the surface to regain composure. If you are twisting plates and juggling projects in July, be ruthless with your tasks and be gentle with your brain. Be still for a minute and think about what’s in front of you before executing. Be ruthless in the way you prioritize your projects, too. You’ll find your energy sits in those quiet spaces waiting for you to return.

Having a ruthless mindset means accepting reality. It’s a realization that you will have to make hard choices every day on where to focus. It’s a realization that shipping the perfect product is an illusion, and that trade-offs are always required to ship. —Brandon Chu, Ruthless Prioritization

Choosing is about deciding what you’re willing to let go of. Decide right at this moment, which things will wait. Because they will.

• Prioritize your important and urgent tasks first
• Get help or delegate urgent but less important tasks
• Schedule less important, less urgent tasks for later
• Let go of or do less important, less urgent tasks last

Here’s a prioritization guide if you forget the steps.

Okay, now that you’re ruthlessly prioritizing and your brain is feeling less smoky, schedule some time to read these helpful but not urgent things later. We’ll be here for you.

From the #bookshelf

The best links posted in Slack this week. Straight from our apprentices and their trainers:

• Scott Berkun’s thread on how designers can have more power (hint: not through design)
• The Toolbox Toolbox: a curated list of solid tools for business and tech
• John Cutler’s thread on what feels like going faster vs what actually makes us faster
• How to fix your tech interview to increase diversity
• Bureau of Digital 2019 Digital Services Salary Report
• Shape up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters: Another lifesaver by Basecamp

Do a process tune-up

Join us for our beta course this September

Here’s a little whisper of something new just for you: we’re launching a short course called Foundations in Digital Project Management on Sept 6th. We asked our community and they helped us pick 10 modules from our full apprenticeship program to distil into this whip-smart 3-month course. Great for dialling up your PM and Ops processes a few notches. Three spots left.

Starting at $3500.

Or take your company up to eleven next spring...

Turn it up in February

This fall’s apprenticeship is sold out, so if you want your project lead being a smooth operator, better sign them up for winter 2020. Folks like Dev Society are already putting their second PMs through this fall.

Read the Dev Society case study

Oh, and last but not least…