Cycle 1 Wrap Up
A few weeks ago I wrote about trying out 37signals’ Shape Up methodology in an effort to find a more sustainable pace and rhythm of work and also to ship more frequently.
On the 16th of January I wrote:
“I am hoping that Shape Up will help me:
· Achieve/complete my 3 goals
· Find a more sustainable and manageable pace/rhythm of work that I can maintain over the long term
· Never work weekends
· Work to real deadlines, that aren't too far away and give me a bit of urgency.”
I’m writing this on the 20th of January, so let’s see how I did.
But first, let’s go back to the beginning and talk about what the scope was for this first cycle.
Scope for this cycle
Because I had never used the Shape Up methodology before, and am still working full time, I wanted my first cycle to be kind of easy to ensure my success.
My original scope was a single sentence:
Write one post per day, to be published once a week while I work on other stuff.
The idea here was that I’d write all my content for the year in 6 weeks, and then publish it in drips while my focus was elsewhere throughout the other cycles.
Did I do this? Not quite, but I did a lot more in many ways and made a lot more progress than I was expecting.
I gave myself the flexibility to change my scope as I went, in response to my capacity level and whether or not I thought I would finish on time, which is actually something that Jason and David always talk about as being baked into the Shape up methodology. The narrowing of scope is required, and so are trade offs.
Because I shot so low with my original scope, I had lots of wiggle room to comfortably increase the scope as I went.
My scope adjustments looked like this:
1. write one post per day.
2. write and publish 3 posts per week.
3. Build 1 site per week while maintaining the writing schedule, LR.com, Monarch and WHS Kids
4. Go back to just the LR.com site for this cycle.
5. All of 3 + write 1,000 words per day.
The 1,000 words per day thing came from a snippet of a YouTube video featuring Convertkit founder Nathan Barry. I didn’t even watch the video, it was just in my suggested content and autoplayed about 8 seconds of footage.
I looked him up and then thought, yeah ok, I’ll try it.
Honestly, I didn’t even think it was possible to write 1,000 words a day, and my main resistance was that I don’t like forcing myself to do things if I’m not in the mood or ‘inspired’.
I also like most of my posts to be around the 500 word mark and didn’t like the idea of having to write 2 posts a day.
I tried it one day with zero expectations and it was perfect.
My ideal workflow seems to be:
1. write in the morning before work
2. build something in the evening afterwards
This feels like the perfect balance between making and marketing – which is something I have really struggled with historically.
Work completed on this cycle
· Built and released a brand new website
· Created graphics for the new website & LinkedIn profile
· Created a lead magnet/freebie
· Shot new portraits for myself
· Published 3 posts a week (I missed one)
· Created and scheduled 1 ½ months of content for LinkedIn
· Attended a networking event
· Overhauled my LinkedIn profile
· Created an offer
· Developed an 11 week 1:1 coaching program
· Wrote many thousands of words
· Maintained a great level of exercise and self-care
What worked
· Everything.
· Being flexible and adjusting my scope as required.
· Listening to myself and my body.
· Maintaining my self-care practise.
· Being open to other ideas and questioning my self imposed limits
Lessons
1. Pace = Momentum.
I finally understood what Jason and David meant when they talk about pace. I didn’t really understand it before, but I now understand that it means: momentum.
The 6 week cycle and a daily and a deliberate practise of shipping 3 times a week clears out the cobwebs of inertia and teaches you to trust yourself and to throw away the insanity and illusion of perfection.
Publishing is not a big deal, especially if no one really knows you and you have no following! The level of actual risk is basically non-existant!
It is a form of exposure therapy if you are afraid of being ‘seen’ or have a visibility block like I did.
You can get SO MUCH DONE if you stop talking yourself out of it and get out of your own way.
2. Self-imposed limits are wild. Look to people doing more than you to find and destroy yours.
Once you see others doing more, it’s impossible to unsee it, and your limit is gone.
3. Things don’t need to take as long as you think they do.
By week 3 of cycle 1, I could see that my 3 big goals for the year were actually very achievable provided that I structured them correctly. I just cannot believe the amount of work I have gotten done in this time and the published output that has resulted from a few small tweaks of my work structure and constraints.
4. Finishing stuff is great for morale, energy and capacity.
Linking up to the idea of momentum in point 1 is the energetic boost that comes from completion and publishing.
Unfinished projects that never ship become ghosts in the wasteland of your psyche.
Even though they might not occupy your thoughts consciously, they sit there taking up space and sapping you of energy every single day.
It is a depressing and demoralising presence in your life.
Finishing projects and releasing them into the wild is freeing and empowering. Every time you do it you increase your energy levels and faith in yourself, and build momentum. It all gets easier, and you get faster, better and braver.
The act of publishing or releasing is also like tidying your desk or clearing out your office – it gives you a blank slate for you to create your next project on easily, quickly and enjoyably.
5. Perfect doesn’t matter!
This cycle I have allowed myself ONE editing PASS before I post. I used to need 4-5 passes before I felt like it was perfect and ready for sharing.
Do I sometimes find things after I publish that I could have re-worded better? Yes! And when I find them, I hit edit, and make my changes and no one cares!
Extra hours of tinkering fall on a wild curve of diminishing returns and are not a good investment.
Get it done, get it out there and then move on to the next thing!
Summary
So let’s check back in with 16 Jan Linda:
“I am hoping that Shape Up will help me:
· Achieve/complete my 3 goals.
o TBC but it looks promising!
· Find a more sustainable and manageable pace/rhythm of work that I can maintain over the long term.
o ✅
· Never work weekends.
o 😅 not quite but I was much better than I normally would be. I tripped up on some website work that I needed some extra time for, and also trying to write 1,000 words a day, 7 days a week. By the end of the cycle though I was back to having two full days off a week.
· Work to real deadlines, that aren't too far away and give me a bit of urgency.”
o ✅ Yes! This has been great, and has made my projects fun again.
So all in all, my first Shape Up cycle was a great success, with some unexpected benefits, progress and wins. I will definitely be continuing with this in 2024.
I am technically about to start my cool down period of two weeks, but I will see if I can continue writing 1000 words every day and posting 3 times a week as I would like these two things to just become a part of my regular routine. Worst case scenario, I will drop down to one post a week.
I already know what my big project is for Cycle 2, and it’s a physical goal that I have already started preparing for. This is a big one so I’m going to need to use both of my cool down periods on both ends for this as well.
I’ll share what I can and post another end of cycle update in ~ late April – early May.
Watch this space!
- Linda ✌🏻
P.S If you’d like me to help you with one of your creative projects or goals, I still have a very limited number of spaces left for my 11 week 1:1 coaching program. DM me for more info.