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.
Get SMART
In my previous post I talked about the importance of writing your goals down to creat your own project charter. While simply writing down your goal significantly improves your probability of success, a well-crafted goal takes it a step further.
But what makes a good goal?
Good goals are SMART goals. SMART is an acronym to help you make sure that your goals are as well-defined as possible. While there are multiple versions of what SMART means, I will be sharing the most common one here.
- Specific: does your goal make it clear what you want to accomplish?
- Measurable: are you able to measure where you are today and your progress along the way?
- Attainable: is your goal something that you can accomplish, unrealistic goals are actually demotivators.
- Relevant: does your goal matter? This point is so important that I will talk about it in more detail next week.
- Time-based: is there a timeline for when you will accomplish your goal?
As I describe in Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lose Over 100 Pounds In Under a Year I used a SMART goal when committing to my fitness project. I didn’t just say “I am going to lose weight” and leave my goal there. I made it a SMART goal and said “I am going to lose over 100 pounds in under a year.”
By making my goal a SMART goal I not only achieved it, but I crushed it!
You can make any goal a SMART goal with just a little bit of work. SMART goals can make the difference between having a goal that you will crush versus a wish that you might pursue when convenient. With this much power why would you trust your goals to being anything less than smart?
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
Do you have a goal that you want to achieve? Is it a SMART goal? If not, this is the perfect time to revise it, make it SMART and to set yourself up 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.
