Would you like to feel fully satisfied when you finish your next project that requires you to use your “creative side”?

Maybe you are going to:

• Create a course
• Do a craft project
• Develop your website
• Prepare to teach a concept
• Design a space to enhance your creativity

My husband and I recently finished a major remodel of our home. There are some things that really increased our level of satisfaction with the project.

These four things can help you in any type of project.

1. Decide What’s Most Important

Start with one goal that is the most important to you. Something that, if nothing else, is the one thing that must happen.

We made a very short list of wishes that were not negotiable, they had to be part of the project.

Our list included an adding a new room (office/den), better lighting in our kitchen, replace our shower and if funds were left, increase our counter space in our kitchen.

While we had many decisions to make all throughout the project, the bottom line for us was deciding if each decision would fit into our budget while still focusing on our short list of what’s most important to us.

What is most important for you in your next project (of any size)?

2. Manage Your Expectations

Most projects have their exciting parts and their draining parts, so knowing your expectations before you start and “tweaking” them as you go can be helpful.

If you have others helping you with part of your project and you’ve never done that type of work, you might have no idea how much work is involved.

It’s important to have healthy communication about what you expect and find out if that’s even realistic.

We knew that remodeling is very stressful and managing expectations helped me to not be as crabby with my husband during the process.

3. Daily Look for Satisfaction

While your project is going on, it’s very helpful to daily look for something that you are grateful for. Look beyond the “results” of how things appear right now and find something about the process itself that brings you satisfaction.

When the project is over, find at least one thing that fulfilled your desires.

4. Embrace That Satisfaction and Disappointment Can Mingle Together

Honestly, that’s a new concept for me and I am learning how to deal with that tension. It’s not “easy”, but worth it.

Question for you – What are some of your favorite projects that you enjoy?