My name is Coach Tony, and I am a believer in the power of project management.
In my twenty years as a professional project manager, 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 use project management principles as a coach to help clients achieve their life, health and professional goals.
In PM Believer, I share practical project management tips and techniques that you can use to help you achieve your own personal goals and live your best life.
Are you ready to become a PM Believer too?
Amuse-Bouche Before we jump into today's post, I offer you this "dad joke" as a light "amuse-bouche" to entertain your mind before we get serious. Like any other amuse-bouche, you may hate it, but it is worth every penny you paid for it, right? I finally figured out where all the best dad jokes are stored… in a dad-a-base!
Success Hack: How To Stand Up For What’s Important
An essential ritual in many projects, especially those following the Agile approach, is the daily stand-up meeting. At these daily meetings, the team gets together, and everybody gives an update on their project work.
While they can vary in structure, stand-up meetings usually occur first thing in the morning, and each team member answers three questions:
- What did you accomplish yesterday?
- What are your plans for today?
- What issues are blocking your progress?
The meetings are called “stand-up” meetings because the team does them standing up instead of sitting down to reinforce the need for brevity. As a result, they often last only fifteen minutes.
Stand-up meetings are important because they give teams a venue committed to sharing relevant information about the project. Project managers often use these meetings to celebrate accomplishments and help increase accountability in a project.
I appreciate stand-up meetings because they help the team maintain focus on the goal and help to quickly identify and address problems. These are must-haves in any project.
Your Stand-up Meeting
Your Agile projects at work aren’t the only ones important to you; your personal goals need this same level of focus and accountability. Why not borrow the stand-up meeting concept for our personal goal projects too?
Here’s how you can create your own stand-up meetings:
- Commit to spending about fifteen minutes every day focused on checking in on your goals.
- Reflect on the current status of your personal goal project.
- In your note-taking tool of choice, make three lists:
- What actions did you take yesterday to achieve your goals?
- What will you commit to doing today to advance your goal?
- What obstacles are impeding your progress, and how might you get past those obstacles today?
That’s it; you are done. Move on with your plan for today.
Dedicating a few precious minutes each day to check in on the status of your goal will result in holding yourself more accountable for accomplishing it. This time also provides an opportunity to celebrate the progress you are making and your achievements. Doing so is certainly motivating and helps you maintain momentum. Finally, this reflection time allows you to think about how to get past those obstacles.
One last detail to work out: when should your daily stand-up meeting happen? I recommend doing it first thing each day. This is when your willpower and commitment are the strongest. Doing your stand-up first thing allows you to start each day focused on your most important goals.
Pro tip: your stand-up is an excellent addition to a journaling practice.
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
Daily stand-up meetings help keep project teams focused, accountable and productive. You can extend this concept to your personal goal projects by starting each day by reflecting on your goals. Doing this will help you maintain the positive momentum required to reach your finish line.
Need a little help designing your daily stand-up meetings and other tools to help achieve your goal? That’s what I do, and I would be honored to be your partner.
Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
Meet Coach Tony
My name is Coach Tony, and I am a coach, author and project manager on a mission. I am working to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
I almost allowed one of my biggest life goals to die without ever being attempted for forty years. My goal almost died, not of failure but of loneliness. But, I took a risk and leveraged a simple, logical process that helped me wildly exceed my goal.
I transformed my life, and you can do the same with the help of Operation Melt.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip project managers and other left-brained high-achievers to pursue and accomplish their biggest goals.
Breathe new life into your goals
Download my free ebook to learn how to create goals that actually work and get the jump-start you need in life!
