I am a believer in the power of project management.
As a professional project manager for nearly twenty years I have witnessed project success drive business results. I have also proven that project management can change lives and help achieve personal transformation. Now I am sharing some practical tips and techniques that you can use to help achieve your own personal goals, live your best life and become a PM Believer.
Are We There Yet?
Over the past several weeks I have written about setting good goals, building a good plan that works for you and getting started even before you have a full plan in place. By now you are well on your way to achieving your goal. But, do you know how close are you to the finish line?
As I previously discussed, good goals are SMART goals and the M means they are measurable. You can empirically evaluate your progress versus your plan and determine if you are on track to meet your goal.
To keep yourself on track you should measure progress daily. Doing this will help you will stay focused on your goal. Plus, I have also learned, measuring your progress each day helps reinforce the behaviors that will ultimately make you successful.
For example, recording the food you consume at each meal and the associated calories and nutritional information will lead you to make more informed, smarter choices every time. Big wins are just a series of good decisions made again and again.
There is one important warning here: not every measurement should be measured daily. Some things fluctuate daily out of your control. Over-measuring things that you cannot directly control, but are results of your actions (lagging measurements), can be frustrating and discouraging.
The best approach is to focus on things that you do have direct control over that drive these results over time, or leading measurements.
Do you want to be a millionaire? Don’t measure your net worth every day. Measure whether you spent more money than you made today or this week.
Do you want to lose weight? Don’t weigh yourself daily. Track your food and whether you ate fewer calories than you burned today.
Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Don’t measure how many chords and songs you have memorized. Track how many minutes you practiced today.
The trick is to find the right set of leading measurements, or key performance indicators (KPIs), that you can control and measure them daily. But do so consistently and accurately and don’t “cheat” yourself.
Measure your results, the lagging measures, on a less frequent, yet regular, schedule as an evaluation of how you are doing.
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
You have a goal, you have a plan and you are moving along, but do you really know how you are progressing? If you aren’t measuring progress how do you know how close you are to reaching your goal? Make sure to measure and track your progress regularly, accurately and consistently.
How have you applied project management for your personal success? Tell me about it at OperationMelt.com and make sure to join my email list to have updates delivered to your inbox weekly.
Make sure to help your friends achieve their goals by sharing this post on your social network and by following me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Want to know more about how I changed my life with project management? Pick up your copy of my book Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lose Over 100 Pounds In Under a Year.
About Operation Melt
Operation Melt started as a blog to share my personal transformation and weight loss story. After achieving success with that goal, Operation Melt has evolved into a platform to help inspire, motivate and equip people to achieve their own personal and professional goals so they can live their best lives. My vision is to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
