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.
This week’s topic is communication. Because communication is so critical in every aspect of our lives, this is going to be a two-part article. Make sure to check back next week for the second half of Go Fast Or Go Far.
Go Fast Or Go Far?
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
African Proverb
Have you ever said “it will be faster if I just do it myself” instead of letting somebody help you? I know I have said that many times and even said it in leadership positions. This doesn’t work for most projects. The role of a project manager is to accomplish goals through others. You simply cannot go it alone.
Our personal goal projects are very similar. While we may be the ones managing the project and the ones doing the work, we still won’t be successful if we try to go alone. Yes, we may move faster, but you may just be moving faster towards failure.
To improve our probability of success, we need one of the key tools for any project manager: a communication plan. Who will we communicate with during our project, when and how?
There are two main pieces of our personal goal project communication plan: a team of experts and accountability partners.
Team of Experts
In most of our goal projects, we do not have all of the knowledge and expertise required to reach our goal. We need help, we need input. You need a team of experts.
Who can you reach out to and build the expertise needed to reach your goal?
For example, if our project is about getting fit, our doctor is a great starting point and a personal trainer could be good too. If our project is about running a marathon, a runners group may be helpful. If our goal is to become a millionaire, a financial advisor could be in the cards.
Even a friend, colleague or acquaintance who has successfully achieved what we are trying to achieve would be a good addition to our team of experts.
Thinking through our team of experts at the beginning of our project helps set us up for success from the beginning.
Go Fast Or Go Far Part 2
Next week we will talk about the second half of our personal goal communication plan: accountability partners. This portion of our communication is a little more delicate and even more important.
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
If you want to go the distance don’t go it alone, go together. Going together means planning ahead for how we are going to communicate in our projects. This starts with building a team of experts to help build your knowledge and equip you for success.
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.
