I’ve realised recently that all I really do in my work life, private life and social life is manage projects. Projects of varying complexity and importance. Let me give a few examples.
Currently on the go in our household there is the get child into a good high school project, get out of debt project, get a side hustle project, get help, recruit a helper or au pair project, family holiday project, support the parents project and get my car repaired project. This is probably less than half of the ongoing things that need attention but these are the ones that sprung to mind the fastest.
In the work context there is the recruit to fill vacancies project, optimal team structure project, land new business, address profitability and personal development project. Again there are multiple more issues and projects on the go here than I can mention or care to mention.
All projects have some similar characteristics in that they typically have a start date, specific objective and a due date. Sometimes these parameters change as circumstances change, however, these criteria are generally applicable to all projects, whether personal or professional. The beauty of this project based approach to managing one’s life is that it allows you to see the areas in your life that are taking up valuable resources and also view the interdependence between various tasks. As an example, the children’s extra curricular calendar has to compete directly with our work calendar. And hence triggers a new project called “Get help with kids or get an au pair”.
The skill of a project manager is their ability to see projects to completion in the most efficient and effective way and our lives are no different. By putting pen to paper and detailing what needs to be done to achieve certain goals my wife and I have been able to achieve far more than if we approached these things in a haphazard manner. As an example, when we realised we weren’t getting much time to talk and build our relationship together we put together a project called “Date Night”. We actually put time in our diaries and money aside in our budget to make sure that these were scheduled (and of course make sure we had the resources to actually follow through). When we were unemployed graduates I remember we had a folder on our computer called “Project Get a Job”. It contained our CV’s and detailed research on employers and contacts that we used until we eventually got jobs.
In the work context we have many lofty strategic priorities every year. My challenge to my team is always to articulate what specific actions are required to achieve these. These ultimately become projects and by the end of the year by simply completing the projects we find we have achieved our strategic priorities for the year.
So don’t be a project dodger! If there is something you really want to achieve in your life or something that simply has to get done. Make it a project. Write down your start and end date, what the goals are the and the specific things you need to do to make it happen. This way every day you go to bed with a feeling that you are achieving something and making progress. Your portfolio of projects is alive and moving forward. If something is a challenge, elevate its significance. Bring light to the challenge, and by doing so we bring life to the challenge.
Off you go then. Which projects are on your to do list for this week?
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