Transcription
[Music] [Music] Have you ever wondered what the key to life is, if such a thing really exists? I have found the key to life, and I would like to share it with you tonight.
You see, I found it in an unlikely place. The Project Management Institute is the largest project management organization in the world, and I decided about a decade ago to study for my Project Management Professional examination to become a PMP. Why? Simple. The more letters you have after your name and your email address, the more important you are, right? It was then, while studying, that I discovered that project management is the key to life. I am passionate about project management, and I know at the end of the night, you will be too.
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. That means every project has a beginning, and every project has an end. Every life has a beginning, and every life has an end. Every project is unique. Each one of you are unique. Therefore, by definition, life is a project. So why not use simple project management tools in your everyday life? This way, you can be more organized, reach your goals, be more resilient when life throws you surprises like a baby at 47, or a massive heart attack at 64, or a massive heart attack because you had a baby at 47.
But some of you might be thinking, "I already do this in my day-to-day life." I had a coworker, Joyce. She went to a PMP boot camp, and she came back amazed. She said, "They gave me all the terminology for what I naturally do. I'm a natural project manager." It's not so intuitive for some people. I have another coworker, I won't tell you her name. She runs multi-million dollar projects, but she cannot balance her checkbook.
You might think project management is difficult. Tonight, I'm going to talk about three points. The first one: you already have the definition of a project. How project management relates to you and your life. The second aspect: the scope of a project. And the third will be the project phases. I'm going to tell you another secret: project management is really kind of easy. Just don't tell my boss that.
Project scope. The first aspect of it is your resources. What resources are you willing to apply to your project? And what resources are you willing to apply in your life? Is it a car, a new house, a vacation? And the time. How much time are you willing to dedicate to your project? And how much time do you dedicate to things in your life? Your family? Is it time at the office? Is it sitting in traffic? And then the quality. What do you want to get out of your project? And what do you want to get out of your life? Is it to be happy, healthy, fulfilled? We are constantly in motion, and emotions that evoke that is stress. But simple project management skills can help you to be less stressed. We all have activities in our lives. We move to new locations. Weddings, divorces. They're all easy to use project management tools with. And we all experience two things: we are born, and we die. And what happens in between is life.
The first phase of project management is the initiating. This is when you scope your project. You determine what is really important to you. What matters? Perhaps you're thinking, "It's too late for me. I'm too old to initiate a project." Don't worry. I didn't even know that project management was a key to life until 10 years ago. It's not too late for you. You can start right now, at this moment. Stephen Covey said in "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," "Write your funeral speech, your eulogy." Why? Because then you know where you want to end up. And that's how you can scope your project. You know what you want to achieve. You know what your legacy will be.
Perhaps your priority is to start a family. For initiating babies, oh, that's an entirely different talk. So instead, let's just say you want to start a family. Is it the right time in your life, in your marriage, with your job? Once you go ahead and you do that, sometimes couples have a hard time conceiving. At other times, they meet at a bar, two cocktails later, voila! Baby is initiated. And sadly, from the very second that we're born, we're moving towards death. Which means we need to start thinking about our legacies right now.
The next phase of project management is the planning phase. And when people think about project managers, that's what they normally think of. And I love the planning phase. I plan everything in my life. Oh no, I'm serious. So basically, here's how it works. I planned my career in a nice little Gantt chart. It was lovely. I moved from America to Asia to Europe, looking at every detail, from packing my perfect shoes to making sure when I get to my new location, I'd plan a new budget because it's way more expensive to live in Stuttgart, Germany than it is in Hartford, Michigan, USA. Once for all the project managers out there, I even did a work breakdown structure for a multiple trip that I was doing with a group of my girlfriends. No, I'm serious. I really did that.
When you're planning for a new baby, it can also be a wonderful time. New parents have to plan for cribs, and strollers, and blankets, and bottles, and baby booties. Holy smokes, there's a lot of stuff to plan for such a little being. Another aspect, though, sometimes you're not prepared for it, is you have to plan for a funeral. There are sources that report that when Princess Diana passed away, they were not prepared for her funeral. They instead had to use the one from the Queen Mother, why? Because there was no precedence for a former Your Royal Highness.
Next comes the executing phase. Now, you can throw your perfect projects out the window, because executing never goes as planned. John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." And if you're a parent, you know this to be true. This is what you picture, but this is what actually happens. Babies sleep when they want, they eat when they want, they cry when they want. That's just how it works. During the executing phase, you just need to take that moment, right then, just like now, and enjoy it. Life can be crazy and chaotic. Flights get delayed, dinners get burned, accidents happen. You don't have to be running a perfectly planned life to have a perfectly amazing life. Enjoy the execution.
The controlling phase. This also happens at the same time, concurrently with the execution phase. The controlling phase is when you take a measurement of your project. What's going on? Sometimes life is crazy. You need to stop, take a deep breath, and regain control. Take a look at your life's legacy. What did you say in the initiating phase? What did you say that you valued? Did you say that you valued going on vacation, but you never save any money? Did you say that you value spending time with your family, but you spend all your time at work? And did you say that you value being around creative, amazing people, but you spend your time with the same old crew, the same dead end? There's nothing wrong in life with making project adjustments. You can go back to any of the previous phases and determine what you need to do to correct it, to leave that amazing legacy.
When my sister had my niece, she came to me frustrated. She looked at me and said, "Natasha is using twice as many diapers as Nicholas did at this age." Well, often our projects run over budget, and they run behind schedule. I looked at my sister, I said, "What are you going to do?" And she goes, "Buy more diapers."
The final phase is a project closing phase. This is when we review our project. What went well? What didn't go well? Did we achieve our goals? Did we achieve our life's legacy? When projects are close to us, it can be difficult sometimes to let go. At what point do our babies grow up and become their own project managers? And also, the death of a loved one can be difficult. When my father died, I never had a chance to see him alive again. I never had the chance to close that project, to tell him that I loved him and say goodbye. Death is the final phase of all of our life's projects. On this world, it's up to us to determine what that legacy will be.
This past weekend, Mother Teresa was canonized. She lived a life that impacted the world. She is truly an example of a successful life's project, one that you might want to think of emulating. While I'm talking about closing, it is time to close this part of my life's project, my time here with you. I want to say, I am passionate about project management, and now, I hope you are too. Life can be chaotic and messy, and simple project management techniques can help us to become more organized and to reach our goals. The key to life is project management, and I think that is an idea worth sharing.
[Applause] [Music]