Portfolio Progress - Update

I created this graphic last night to help me "see" what I needed to do and to measure progress visually.  It is clear now that I should have done it sooner (hindsight is 20/20) but I kept thinking it was "extra" and an unnecessary expenditure of time and energy.  Another distraction. That's actually what Patience said this morning when she saw it.  But not so.

Frankly, I have really been struggling to understand what I need to do, what's entailed in this portfolio, how is it organized, what is its objective (in the whole as well as each section), how do all the parts relate, what I have done, and what's next.  Checklists help but they weren't cutting it w/this big of a project in my current life of frequent (and necessary) interruption.   I just kept losing the threads.  I spent most of February just getting my head about the different sections, the questions I need to answer, and essentially what are the expectations from my supervisors.  Somehow I just couldn't figure out what it was I was doing and needed all that time to get my mind around it.  But I still couldn't see my way forward very well.

This graphic alone has helped and will encourage me.  It's already permitted me to both set goals and see progress in my rather overwhelmed state.  I am feeling far less overwhelmed after finally caving in and creating it last night. It was relatively quick too. Once I had the thermometer in place, and then each section (or step along the way) filled in, I was able to begin setting goals (my checklist - which is now manageable - and useful!).  The entire document, goals, and all were done in less than an hour.  You see,  I created not only the goals for the day that you can see in what I share with you, but in the document where this lives, I have actually created goals for the whole week, in bite size, logical chunks.  They may be ambitious, but they now exist in a way that actually is accessible for me.  And the color coded thermometer - and the progress on it - lets me know that even if I'm just "chipping away" and not meeting my goals for the day that I'm making measurable progress!

So thanks for praying, encouraging, and otherwise just coming alongside me for the final climb of this fast and furious roller coaster ride.  This last uphill climb is hard and it is slow, especially compared to the rest of the adventure.  Hopefully I won't get stuck for any length of time.