How Do I See The World?
Originally written Sep-2011 !
My life is a series of projects. This is the way I see the world. Each project is an opportunity to create something new. Add in love and play – and you have the answer. Love is working on projects with others. Play is doing projects you enjoy, or doing them in a way that you can enjoy them, or finding someone else who does enjoy them.
I am a creator – and each project is a new creation. I need to create projects to feel alive. Projects put things I think/feel into a structure my mind can grasp. They are a completion of who I am.
Life is a series of small projects and big accomplishments. The small decisions you make in every moment lead to the results you get in your life. Every small decision is more important than we will every know – in fact, we have no idea how powerful we are in that moment of a decision on what we focus and act on.
We all start (birth) the same and finish the same (death) – the only thing that separates us are the decisions we make between the start and finish of our short existence.
The only thing that separates us are the decisions we make during the journey between cradle & grave.
So you need to examine you decisions very closely. Where do they come from? They come from your beliefs and view of the world. If you are not getting the results you want in life, I suspect there are few reasons:
You don’t have any specific results you are seeking (you haven’t gotten clarity into who you want to be, what you want to have, and where you want to go). You need to ask the right questions.
You don’t posses the beliefs that would cause you to make the minute decisions required to produce the results you seek (a lot of it is self-esteem and deep belief that you can achieve it, deserve it, and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices)
You don’t posses the habits that are constructive when you are on ‘autopilot’ (which is most of the time). Remember this: We make our habits, then our habits make us.
You haven’t given it enough time. We are conditioned to believe results come quick. We desperately seek the effect to the cause and want to see immediate results. The truth is that anything significant doesn’t come without a lot of effort and time. My friend Becky is in better shape that ever. My dad is 70 and about to complete an ironman. Both of these individuals began their tiny habits years ago and today are living happy, healthy lives that many of us admire who haven’t yet gotten the results.
Your moment to moment decisions have more to do with your self-esteem than you realize!
Sacrifices will be made, but the more clear you are on the result. On who you will BE come – then the less they will feel like sacrifices.
There are certain words you need to reframe in your mind:
Sacrifices
Failure
Rejection
Can’t
No Many of us have been taught to be people pleasers from an early age. In order to please the most people, you will occasionally need to disappoint others. Often it's the close ones to you (your spouse) and this can be painful… but if you are clear in you communications, clear on who you are and where you are heading – this won’t be so difficult. A dissection of the most successful projects in my life (also peak experiences):
Getting hired at IBM
Marring the woman I love
Graduating college
Completing an Ironman
Publishing my first book
Ragbrai (twice)
Completing Ride the Rockies (even with minimal training)
Building a successful business and being self-employed
Moving back to the central coast What I find for myself – is that I learn by doing – and I don’t often know how I will get there (to the completion of a project) when I start – I figure it out along the way. In order for others to emulate what you are doing, track the actions from start to finish (you can use a tool like AuthorDock]). Durations are helpful to help you set realistic expectations when you ask others to do for you!
Project Management, is the organization and strategic execution of everything that needs to get done to tackle a finite goal—on time and within budget. Whether developing new software, carrying out a marketing campaign, or landing a human on Mars, project management is what gets you to your goal. Source
Program Management
If a successful life is made up of successful programs, then becoming having a program management tool would be helpful. Wire
Project types
Research project
low priority project
volunteer project
high priority project