daySIX

Photo Crush Day Six.

+ PLANNING PART 1

To ensure that you can continue to move forward in a stress-free way, today you’ll bring together all of your ideas and checklists to create a prioritized plan.

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Write it down. Make it happen.

By now you may have noticed that I am a big believer in writing things down in order to make them happen. Our brains are pretty amazing, but when you try to make them hold too much, feelings of overwhelm can creep in. Organizing information on paper is a simple and powerful tool to sort out ideas and create a plan you can follow. Plans can help you find clarity of purpose and direction.

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Focus and be still.

If planning makes you feel a little uneasy, I recommend getting quiet and listening to your inner voice. When you pause and bring some focus and intention to these efforts, you’ll find that the biggest priorities become clear. Think back to the beginning of this experience and remember all the “whys” that brought you here. What do you want to be able to do with your photos? Plan with goal in mind.

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Attributes of an Effective Plan

Look at the big picture

Get really specific

Be honest and realistic

As you’re thinking about all the little things you need to do, here’s what you should consider when trying to wrap those up into a master plan:

Step back at see how things are coming together. Does it all fit and flow? Looking at the big picture will help you see where important gaps need your attention.

Your plan should not say “get organized” anywhere on it. That should be understood. Instead, break down what you need to do into key milestones and then add sub-tasks to each.

And of course, be honest with yourself every step of the way. Are you creating something that’s sustainable? Are you trying to do too much too fast? Keeping it real will help ensure that your plan is one that meets your needs for the long haul.

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daySIX Takeaway

Having a WRITTEN PLAN is the secret tofeeling CONFIDENT about photo organization.

Getting right to the point today, I want you to take away a belief that having a written plan is the secret to feeling confident about photo organization. You can’t get it all done in 7 days - which we’ve discussed since the beginning - but you can create a solid plan that reassures you this is all very possible.

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daySIX Assignment

Look over the tasks you’ve identified so far in your workbook. Identify your top five ACTION ITEMS and give

each a DEADLINE.

Today your assignment is to look over the tasks you’ve identified so far in your workbook. Some of these are on your checklists and others might be notes. Identify your first top five action items and give each a realistic deadline. You may have more than 5 things to do, but creating a short list will make it easy to get started and feel like you’re progressing.

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Case Study: Jennifer1. Centralize all of Steve’s photos to iMac (X)

2. Set up Dropbox Camera Upload for Steve’s phone (X)

3. Test Lightroom Web as new sharing approach

4. Bring photos from past 9 months into structure

5. Use PhotoSweeper to eliminate Steve’s duplicates

For today’s case studies, I’ll share my first five priorities as well as my mom’s. As mentioned in the lessons, some of these are already underway.

My first priority was to centralize all of Steve’s photos so I could get peace and clarity from that sense of control. Then, I set up Dropbox Camera Upload on his new phone, since that was part of why things were getting out of hand again.

Next I’ll be testing Lightroom Web, which is the web version of the new Lightroom mobile features. I need a more automatic sharing approach since I’ve had trouble keeping up with Flickr updating.

Then I will turn my focus back to Steve’s photos, first getting up to date with the recent photos. After that will be the big project of using PhotoSweeper to eliminate duplicates from the multiple collections of older photos.

IMy goal is to accomplish these by the end of July. We’re traveling in June, so being realistic about my time is important.

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Case Study: Jennifer’s Mom1. Get all current photos off of devices to start fresh (X)

2. Install Shutterfly apps on devices for sharing (X)

3. Upload recent photos to Shutterfly

4. Re-name all folders - and use structure from now on

5. Evaluate need for family cloud backup

My mom’s first five priorities are really her only ones.

First we centralized her photos and installed the Shutterfly app to meet her storage and sharing needs, as I previously shared.

Next up, she needs to make sure those recent photos from her phone get uploaded to Shutterfly. For now she’s using the web application, but as she gets used to the app I will encourage her to upload that way.

Her big project will be renaming folders consistently, but I don’t expect it to take more than an hour. When I return for my next visit, I’ll be encouraging her and my dad to evaluate whether a cloud backup could add some extra data security.

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– Alan Lakein, author of “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life”

“Planning is bringing the future into the present, so you can do something about it now.”

To conclude, I have a quote from productivity expert Alan Lakein that hits this topic right on the mark. “Planning is bringing the future into the present, so you can do something about it now.” Without a plan it can be difficult to know what to do and in what order. Writing it all down will help you envision and craft that photo library you love.