A pivotal moment is a time when an important event occurs that marks a change in direction of something. This “something” could be a story, could be a nation’s history, a career or could even be your life.

Today marks the start of a week that has proven to be filled with pivotal moments for at least three straight years.

Pivotal Week: 2017

It was this week in 2017 that I made the decision that changed my life.

I decided that I was going to reverse a trend of lifelong obesity and lose over 100 pounds in under a year and that I was going to do it my way. This was certainly a pivotal moment in my life as I transformed myself physically and mentally and led to me discovering a calling.

Pivotal Week: 2018

During this week in 2018 I celebrated the one year anniversary of my decision to get fit. I had lost about 120 pounds by this point having met my 100-pound goal in March. But I had decided to keep going.

I celebrated my one year anniversary by achieving a different goal – my first 5k race.

I had started running a few months before my anniversary and wanted to run my first 5k race. But it just didn’t feel right to sign up for a random 5k as my first time, I needed to do something a little different. I needed to do my first 5k the same way as I had done the rest of my successful journey at that point: my way!

For my first 5k I decided that I was going to host my own. I hosted my first Operation Melt 5k race and ran it with a few of my closest friends and supporters. Plus we made the race a fundraiser and raised over $600 for Central Community House. But, most importantly, I finished my first 5k and did so with a respectable time.

The anniversary of my decision to change my life and running my first 5k were just the beginning of the pivotal moments during this week in 2018. I was also just concluding a five plus month long sabbatical after being laid off from my job of ten years.

During my sabbatical I finished phase 1 of my fitness journey and finished writing the first draft of my first book – Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lost Over 100 Pounds in Under a Year. But it was much bigger than that. This sabbatical was unbelievable impactful for me because it was timed perfectly with my fitness journey and I needed some time to reacquaint myself with me – which worked marvelously!

When I say I had just ended my sabbatical this means that I had I new job. During this week last year I started my consulting job for the State of Ohio Department of Jobs & Family Services. This project, scheduled to last for a year, involved me helping improve the level of project management maturity for the IT function within the agency. A task that was right up my ally.

Pivotal Week: 2019

For the third straight year this week has proven to be a pivotal week in my journey.

As a starting point I am celebrating the second anniversary of my decision to change my life. Since the beginning I lost a total of 131 pounds before starting to gain more weight in the form of muscle. I have completed two half marathons (Columbus Half Marathon and Cap City Half Marathon) cutting my time by more than twenty minutes between the two. I have successfully dead-lifted more than my body weight, I have bench pressed over one hundred pounds and achieved a body fat percentage of twelve percent – this places me squarely in the “athlete” category. While I am technically in “maintenance mode” with my weight loss journey I have continued tracking everything and I have continued to resist autopilot!

My book has launched that tells my story, shares my approach and shares my lessons learned along the way. I honestly believe that anybody can be successful with their goals (fitness and non-fitness) if they follow my same approach and manage it like a project. I am so passionate about this that I have started a business to help other people achieve their big goals. I have developed a vision statement for my business and my life “to create a world where no goal dies of loneliness” and I am doing this by helping people use project management to accomplish their goals. My love of and passion for project management has clearly been rekindled along this journey.

Next weekend I am hosting my second 5k race. After running more than ten organized races I am coming back to where it all began. I am reassembling a small group of supporters to run an informal 5k on the Scioto Trail and, once again, raising funds to support Central Community House. While it appears that the event is going to be a bit smaller that doesn’t make it any less important to me. This 5k is an opportunity to not just celebrate my accomplishments but to also celebrate the big goals of others.

Finally I am also experiencing another pivotal moment in my career.

My project at the State of Ohio is coming to an end. Over the past year I have been able to add significant value to our government and I am leaving things is a better place than where I found them. I am happy with the work that I did. Alas it is time to move on. On the Monday after my 5k I am starting a new consulting project at OhioHealth. I will have the opportunity to manage more projects dedicated to helping people (the population as a whole!) improve their health – something that is very important to me!

Without a doubt these three years of pivotal moments have had quite the affect on my life. Each one of them have certainly lived up to their designation as “pivotal” because each of them have led to changes in the direction of my life. I am a happier, more confident, contribution-focused person than I was before pivotal week number one.

All of this leads me to ask a big question: what pivotal moment will I be experiencing in just 52 weeks from now?

Thanks for reading… check back next week for more.