WORK IN PROGRESS
THE Personal Effectiveness E-zine March 2005

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>
Project you!

Project management can be a deeply esoteric discipline, when carried to its furthest reaches. At that point, it is intimidating to many of us. Unfortunately, this can lead to the idea that project management is only for the experts.

The fact is, anything that takes planning and several different units of time/activity can well be called a project. The preparation of a complex meal, with items that have to be selected, shopped for, with some preparation the day before, some early in the day, and some only just before it is served - that is definitely a project. The planning of all that must go into a child's class or organization's fund-raising is a project. The redecoration of a room, with its planning, choosing, moving of furniture, working around how to live without that room -that is most definitely a project.

My point is that almost every reader of Work in Progress has at some time, in some context, been a project manager. Hence there is no need to flee screaming from your monitor when I suggest that many of us need to regard our own lives as projects. It is if we do not then things can get really difficult and our lives may end up very far from where we had hoped.

Any attempt to categorize people into just two types must surely fail, but on whatever dimension is under discussion, we all have tendencies towards one end or the other - or sometimes towards both ends, which can cause a fair amount of lack of focus. On the "management of life" dimension most of us have a tendency to be either planners - who are natural-born project managers - or go-with-the-flow types to whom project management is alien. Going with the flow can be a great admission of faith in the goodwill of the universe. On the other hand, it can be just a lack of decisiveness that leads to being a straw in the wind, drifting hither and yon as the wind changes. Going with the flow can indicate a willingness to adapt, or a fear of one's ability to choose - or even a belief that one has no choice.

Planners, on the other hand, can sometimes become overly wedded to their plans. There is a saying that if you really want to make the gods laugh you create a business plan. I would say that what makes them laugh is if you create a plan - of any kind - and do not allow for contingencies, both those than you can foresee as possibilities and those that may come at you from out of the blue. It is not making the plan that can be a problem, it is making the plan so totally a part of you that you become stressed out when (and notice that I do not say if) the plan needs to be changed unexpectedly.

Acknowledging, then, that readers of WIP may be anywhere on the plan/flow dimension, let's consider what would be involved, and what the advantages would be, if you were to consider the rest of your life as a project. I realize that if you have already quite a few years of experience behind you, then you may feel that it is too late, that you have already set your path. I'd suggest that if that path is exactly what you want it to be, then that is great! Perhaps you don't need to read further. However, if there is the slightest glitch or hitch, if there are things that you are tolerating in your life that you would prefer to do without, then maybe a project that simply aims to reduce the irritations that they cause can bring a brighter glow to what some have interestingly called the golden years.

For everyone except those whose lives are already perfect, first, what would be the vision for this project? What do you want the big picture to be? Do you have a mission - some people prefer to call it a life purpose? Remember, this is the big picture. We are not "just" considering a career, a relationship, a home, a family. We are considering life as a whole.

Just as most business projects involve more than one department of a large organization, so your life-project involves many departments of your life, and it is important that they complement each other rather than compete. If all of them are contributing to your vision and purpose then life will, at its foundation, be harmonious. If not, you may for ever be struggling to achieve "balance" or to satisfy competing needs.

In both coaching and rehabilitative life planning there are some fairly standard life departments although these may vary for different individuals. Your departments may include...

Career/Business
Education/mental stimulation
Financial
Family/relationships
Social/community
Spirituality/religion
Health/physical wellbeing
Interests & hobbies - though many fit into one or more of the other departments.

For some people there may be something that I have left out. For others there may be one or more departments that you do not consider relevant. That is fine. If you are in the early years of your life, I would suggest that you make allowance for the likelihood that things will change, and that you may eventually add some departments that you do not now consider necessary, but for now, whatever is relevant to you is what is important.

Now, what do you want your life to look like in... three, five, ten years? The answer will provide the start of your vision. What do you need to do to achieve it?

Think of your project as a ladder, or a series of ladders. At very the top is your life as you wish it to be. Now it is up to you to choose the steps, the rungs of the ladder(s) that will get you to where you want to go. As you choose each one it is important that you consider what impact it will have on each of your departments. How will a career promotion affect your health if it involves a lot of stress? How will it affect your family? Always remember where and what the real goal is, and be very careful of any apparent step forward that does not contribute to the goal - to your vision of life as you wish it to be. A very classic example of missing the mark here is the career-minded individual who truly believes that s/he is acting like a workaholic in order to provide for a better family life, when in fact the family life is being destroyed by the person's excessive focus on just the career department of life.

If you are a person who enjoys taking on assignments, perhaps you would choose to create a vision of how you want your life to be before the next issue of WIP arrives.

(And to the many coaches who read WIP and who use this type of exercise with your clients... when did you last update your own vision? Coaching is so hugely transformative that your life and your vision for your life have undoubtedly changed since you completed a similar exercise during your coach training. Is it time for an update?)

April's issue: What do you need to do to create your ladder?
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>

This is the March issue of WIP and it comes to you in April. My apologies. I needed to shift priorities for a while. I promise that the April issue will arrive before the end of April!
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>

Diana's blog - recent topics:
Even the sourest of lemons can make good lemonade...
family and friends turn bereavement into philanthropy.

Toastmasters International as a personal growth organization.

The Kodak peregrine falcons

Writing your own life story

Visit Diana's blog at http://blog.choicecoach.com
To be informed of new items posted to the blog, become a member. Your membership information is confidential and will not be shared or sold.
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>

TELL A FRIEND

I hope that you enjoy Work in Progress, and that it is useful to you. To pass its benefits on to a friend or colleague, please forward this issue, perhaps with the suggestion that they might like to subscribe.

Equally, if you or someone you know might benefit from a free sample coaching call (actually you pay the cost of the phone call but the coaching session is free) then please contact me either by e-mail or through the Guestbook page of my web site at http://ChoiceCoach.com.

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><<>>
PLEASE! Any re-use of this material should include the words "Copyright Diana Robinson 2005. For more information visit Diana's web site http://ChoiceCoach.com or contact her at Diana@ChoiceCoach.com."

TO SUBSCRIBE to Work in Progress send a blank e-mail to workinprogress-On@lists.webvalence.com.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send a blank e-mail to
workinprogress-Off@lists.webvalence.com
To offer feedback e-mail Diana at Diana@ChoiceCoach.com or visit her
web site at http://ChoiceCoach.com