If you ever wondered why some tradesmen make things look so easy you are not alone but here are a 10 helpful tips to hopefully help you understand their approach when tackling projects.
It’s something that generally comes in time but when you grasp these pointers into your approach when undertaking projects they soon become second nature and will help with productivity.
- Planning – Every project has many stages from start to finish so its important you plan the steps, materials, fixings and tools needed before you start.
- Organisation – Critically you need to be organised and be thinking about the steps ahead, some may have common elements that could be tackled at the same time although this does generally come with experience and confidence.
- Good housekeeping – This ranges from things like keeping a tidy workplace, ordering materials before you need them and sharpening tools ready for their next use.
- Helping Hands – Will you require a helping hand during the project? It’s always worth considering who is needed and concentrating all aspects ready for when they are hired or should I say persuaded.
- Tricky aspects – Now and again you will have to tackle things that have to be done right first time so rather than going gung-ho on the project itself take the time to do a practice run with spare or cheaper materials, moving back to the main materials once you are confident you have mastered what’s required.
- Templates & Jigs – When tackling repetitious work templates will speed up the process and ensures they will turn out identical to each other without having to remeasure additional parts time and time again.
- Staying Focused – I’ve worked on many large projects that have lasted for months but just like a marathon you have to take things one step at a time and the end will inevitably come if you keep going. However it can seem sometimes the end will never come so it’s always a good idea at this point to just take a minute to see how far you have progressed, this usually does the trick to spur you on further.
- Research – There are many ways to skin a cat (No, I haven’t before you ask) so be open minded with trying things different ways, some will be better and some not so good but at least you will know this for certain when you have tried them out.
- Practice – Repeat, Repeat and repeat again until you master things, practice on your weaknesses to strengthen your ability. All the things we are good at have come from doing those things many times.
- Finishing – Know this first and foremost, finishing projects is far harder than starting them and will require determination to push them over the line. The best tradesmen master this skill and drive the nail home with conviction, so if you start waning at this point remember the project is only a good one when it’s done.