The Ingredients of Daily Life with Project Management
“Wake me up when September ends”
Just like that, October is fast approaching and gladly, we’re heading into the new year (again). Entering a month that will be filled with new hopes, while praying that it will come true one by one in the coming year.
One of the most common is determined to change for the better. What changed? The habits, personality, or something else? Let Tony Robbins answer this question,
“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently”.
Wait, Background Please
Wise man said, life is a collection of projects, be it short term or long term. All the success of the project starts from how we go about our daily activities. Next question, do you ever feel that we have unfinished projects in our life? I do.
How come?
Habits are a major part of daily life, including procrastination. We may have different situations in life, but I think we will agree with Stephen’s famous line,
“A habit is the intersection of knowing what to do with the skills to do it, and the desire to get it done.”
That’s why I came up with the thought, how about trying to change daily habits by implementing project management skills? It seems interesting to try. Who knows, maybe it can help me to finish various projects in life, including new year’s resolutions.
Does it sound good to you too? 😉
Whoa, Tell Me More
There is one old conference paper about productivity habits that is still very relevant to read today.
“Thus, it seems logical that a change in habit(s) can’t happen in the blink of an eye. Making a habit “stick” requires 66 days on the average, according to researchers. (Dean, 2009, ¶6) However, depending on how complex the new behavior is, the shift might take up to 8 months.”
So, let’s try to do it slowly by implementing project management skills, step by step. Why project management? Referring to the project lifecycle, we need a good approach that will be helped by project management skills. How we will do a planning project, organizing stuff, motivating ourselves, and controlling all resources to get it done.
What projects can we try to apply these skills?
- Daily lifecycle, from waking up to sleeping
- Financial budgeting, including bills
- Home renovation or buying
- Trip planning
- Event celebration (wedding, birthday, family dinner), etc
The scope of each project varies according to its size, but there are common items in all types of projects that should be managed, such as resources (budget, tools, & people), time, communication, and risk. Let’s use one of the lists as an example, a daily life by implementing project management skills.
In this phase, we will define the project charter, including goals and scope of the project. Not to mention a baseline plan to define things to be done as scheduled.
Initiation
- Initiating — what are we looking for? Can we define the scope of projects?
- Goals — I want to sleep better at night
- Scope — I have a 9 to 5 jobs, everyday cook & clean the house, attend sport club every 3 days, and do fun things (watching anime, journaling, etc)
Planning
It should be designed to be intuitive for our project. The flow should be logically from one to the next and ordered in an efficient way that leads to real progress rather than wasting time on dependent tasks. Planning the work to be done is critical to effectively managing resources and tasks. A project will be successful only if all the required steps are completed within the set period of time. Therefore, it is important to allow enough time for each activity.
- Planning — What are our specific requirements and resources? Are there any priority tasks? How long will it take?
- Specific requirements — 1) sleeping schedule, 2) food & drink, 3) environment, 4) physical activity, and 5) manage stress & worries
- Resources — 1) budgeting — daily life cost, 2) tools — journal & entertainment platform, and 3) people -
- Timeline — 30 days
Execution
Now we need to execute everything that has been planned into manageable tasks.
Monitoring & Controlling
Regular monitoring of tasks and resources keeps things on track. Schedules help us to know when activities or phases start or end. So we can plan ahead and be able to deal with potential failures before they occur.
- Monitoring & controlling — did we manage to do every task? Did I reach our goals to get better sleep at night? Did I meet any challenges during the task execution?
Closure
We need to confirm about project deliverables to closing the project.
- Closing — I’ve successfully got a better sleep at night and it’s time to celebrate (mark this as done)
Don’t Stop Me Now
Project management is about planning and organizing stuff, it will help to get things done whether in personal or professional projects. Project tasks are efficiently planned, logically ordered, and closely monitored with frequent status updates.
The main benefits of setting up this type of structure in our daily life are better planning, responsibility, and motivation. I know that sometimes it’s not easy to do, but it’s not impossible to get used to it as a good habit.
- Get used to managing stress by adapting time management & having boundaries
- Create a better environment for work and life balance
- Improve our ability to recall (remember information) with documentation
- What’s more fun than getting things done?
It would be better if we document all the phases carried out, from initiation to closing. Why do we need it?
- Record keeping, we can reduce human error risk by improving our ability to recall with documentation
- Project tracking for a better monitoring and controlling each milestone
- Alignment will make it easier for us to communicate for every project that requires another party, how we can get clarity among involved parties.
Bonus: Notion Template — Project Management
I See, Now Wrap it Up
Seth Godin said,
“Wouldn’t it be great to be gifted? In fact… It turns out that choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You’re not born this way, you get this way.”
The project management skill will help us to develop good habits. I believe that we can get a better result by making small changes in our daily life. But it won’t happen overnight, so be patient and consistent.
Last but not least, our mistakes are part of our learning. Someday when we slip up, please don’t be too hard on ourselves. We can always get back on track, no need to rush ☺️.
