I was sharing with a colleague the other day about the building
blocks, the basics of well-being. I believe project management is an extension
of ourselves. When we are taking care of ourselves, we are taking care of our
project management. The integration of the various areas of our lives into a
cohesive tapestry ensures that we are continuously practicing similar things
whether we are working on personal relationships or work relationships. There
isn’t an either/or, there is only a both/and. When we are mindful of how we are
treating ourselves, we become mindful of how we are treating others. There is
no separation. That doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes; it does mean there is
no ill intent behind the mistakes we make. The building blocks of well-being
have corollary building blocks in project management.
What my colleague shared with me is resistance. They made it
clear that it isn’t that simple, that it isn’t about the building blocks, if it
were that simply we would have all figured it out by now. I recognize that
resistance, I’ve felt it and thought it and held to it tightly. The shear
thought that the building blocks make that much difference is preposterous. The
thought that if we consistently practiced the basics every day that results
would come. If we focused on the building blocks instead of the end goal, that
the end goal would begin to come into view. It cannot be that simple or I would
have figured it out by now!
What if we hypothesize that our national health crisis is
due to the denial of the fact that the basic building blocks are the answer?
What if all the fancy diets and exercise programs that we’ve been trying out
and continue to search for is a longing to prove our pre-conceived notion of “it
has to be harder than simply implementing the basics”? What if the same is true
for project management? That we continue searching for an easier, better, more efficient
way to manage projects without implementing the rudimentary practices? If it
were that simple, we would have figured it out by now!
To create a life filled with success, we must focus on our well-being,
the well-being of mind, body, and spirit. To create a successful project, we
must focus on the well-being of our project, the health of our client relationships,
line of site to the end, and team. To be an excellent project manager, we must
practice the basics of project management and before we can do that well, we
must practice the basics of well-being. We use our bodies to conduct work,
whether it is on the football field or in the office, we must become mindful of
our bodies to ensure excellence in delivery. Practicing the basics of our well-being
teaches us how to practice the basics of project management to create optimum
health. The lessons we learn for our own self-care, translate to the career we choose,
the relationships we build, and ultimately the life we create.
Resistance to this is normal, natural, and healthy. The
answer is simple and challenging. It isn’t complicated. I’m suggesting it is simple
and it is challenging. While we continue to understand a great deal more about
why the basics work, the fundamental answer hasn’t changed. Don’t get me wrong,
a lot has been refined over the years, we have a deeper appreciation for the
complexity associated with how things work together. The fundamentals we are
challenged to be consistent with to enable our well-being are food, sleep,
movement, breathing, and meditation. Practicing these daily is the challenge
when all of life seems to ask us to take an easier path. The basics of project
management which we are challenged to be consistent with are the management of risks,
issues, action items, scope, and resources. Just as life has a way of
challenging our ability to care for ourselves, circumstances occur in projects
which makes it challenging to stay consistent with the basics.
What is it that makes a difference? What we are practicing
matters. Where we choose to focus our energy matters. Focusing on the basics,
practicing excellence in those basics of self-care and project management,
allows us as project managers to move through the day with ease and flow.
Having the basics taken care of means we can focus our energy when something
unplanned occurs. The fundamentals will support moving through any circumstance
with grace. What are you practicing today?
