I am a believer in the power of project management.
As a professional project manager for 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.
Oops, I Screwed Up!
In big projects, there is usually a lot going on at any time. People may be working on multiple deliverables, attending many meetings and will likely still have “day job” responsibilities in addition to their project duties. People are juggling a lot of things simultaneously and are working to ensure everything keeps moving forward. It is not easy.
As we have seen through many past PM Believer posts (see Project: We Have A Problem), sometimes things don’t go as planned in projects. Unexpected issues arise and require the team to suddenly shift their focus to resolve them before moving on. When this happens, deadlines and commitments sometimes get missed, and rightfully so.
Further, believe it or not, sometimes people simply fail. They miss an email, skip a deadline or otherwise let you down.
Projects are made up of people, and people are imperfect. So imperfection is inherent in projects.
As a project manager, the most important thing you can do when an issue occurs is to respond with kindness and forgiveness. Everybody is trying to do the best job possible, and mistakes happen. Blasting a person instead of acknowledging the mistake and moving on may have severe consequences to the project and your relationship with the team. They likely already feel bad about screwing up, so this is an excellent time to get in touch with your humanity.
Let’s pivot our focus a little bit and talk about your solo projects to achieve your personal goals.
Just because you aren’t managing a big team in your personal goal projects doesn’t change the human factor. You are, in fact, a human being just as susceptible to making mistakes as any other person. You are going to make mistakes, you are going to underperform, and you are going to fail from time to time. It is not just reality; it is also healthy. An essential part of success is the lessons you learn from failure.
When you are the only team member in your project team, the way you talk to your team when they fail is even more critical. Yes, you talk to yourself; we all talk to ourselves.
Each of us has that little voice inside our head that talks to us. At no time is this voice louder than when we screw up. That’s when the negative self-talk kicks in. “You suck!” “You’re never going to achieve this goal!” There is an endless list of the negative things we say to ourselves when we mess up.
What if, like with a project team member, you treated yourself with kindness and forgiveness when you make a mistake? What if you changed the “you suck” to be “that’s ok, you’ll get it next time” instead? How much more at peace would you feel with yourself and your ability to reach your goal?
By responding to failures with kindness and forgiveness, you can turn them into lessons and motivation. The result is an unstoppable momentum that will carry you to your biggest goals in life.
You are doing great; it is ok to say that to yourself!
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
Projects a made up of people, and people are imperfect. Yes, even you. That means that people will make mistakes, and sometimes they’re going to screw up. The true test of a project manager isn’t your ability to prevent mistakes; it is how you react when somebody says, “oops, I screwed up!” This is especially true when that voice is just inside your own head.
Do you need a partner to help you keep that self-talk at bay? Let me help. Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
Learn More About My Story
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 provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip you to achieve your big goals.
Will you join me in building a world where goals never die of loneliness?
