What Is Black, White and Varying Shades of Gray…?

What Is Black, White and Varying Shades of Gray…?

The tide of life…some may argue. Others may say it’s all only black and white; and still, others, may see it as entirely gray.

I recently purchased a build-your-own file drawer for my home office, and being as instructionally challenged as I am, could not figure out how the metal bars and supports combined to create the whole. Thanks to a handy friend of mine who made short work of it, the structure was soon in place. Now, all I needed to do was insert the plastic drawers that came with the product. When I purchased the set I thought I’d noticed a black and white alternating motif for the drawer colors, and the project manager in me immediately began mentally labeling each drawer for its future purpose! But as the building process ensued, I realized that there were more colors than I had initially noticed. In fact, the black and white ones numbered in the minority; plentiful were the gray drawers – and not just one shade of gray, either. There was a spectrum: dark gray, medium gray and light gray. All of a sudden, the build-your-own-drawer-set frenzy came to a halting stop as I drew the analogy between my initial vision of the drawers and the colored lenses through which I see life. Of course, when I made the purchase I noticed only the black and white drawers and concluded that that’s all there was. Upon closer examination, with an extra dose of patience and some outside support, the shades of gray materialized before my eyes and I had a completely different outcome [product] than I even knew existed.

When I am at work, I often have no choice other than to see the shades of gray. When ‘no’ is not an option, and the black or white solution which should be easily apparent, isn’t – but the job still needs to get done – creative problem solving must be invoked. I learned very early on in my career that ‘A’ is for attitude, and if I came to the table with a problem, I also needed a viable solution to go along with it! Sometimes, that solution simply meant opening up the issue for discussion and invoking the talents and experience of those also involved in the project/issue/department at hand. For example, I know I am not a marketing guru – but if a publication or piece I’ve helped create or edit isn’t reaching the target market, then it’s as much my responsibility as it is the client’s to ensure it gets where it’s intended to go! So, reaching out to those who touch the target market daily or someone with a talent for big picture marketing and creative approaches doesn’t mean I’ve failed at finding a black or white solution myself – it means I’ve recognized the need to delve into the gray. Funny thing is, the answers are often in the gray areas if you slow down and open yourself enough to find them.

In the same way, life will present both its challenges and opportunities; sometimes all the variables will fall into place and timing will be perfect. But most times, life happens and we have to modify our initial vision to include alternative approaches. It is not always easy to accept that there may be a gray solution to your black and white issue, and acquiring the patience it takes to allow that solution to unfold can be anxiety-provoking, but is almost always worth the wait.

As life and work present their challenges, be willing to swim past the black and white, and freestyle your way into the gray. Your solutions may just be floating there ready to find you, and they are often far from what you originally thought you would find.

Wishing You Success,
Natalya

A…B…C is for COMMUNICATION

Reprinted with the Permission of Workshifting,

A…B…C is for COMMUNICATION
By Natalya Sabga
July 16, 2010

We all think we know how to communicate, right? As children, we learn how to talk; as adults our vocabularies increase as does our knowledge of both verbal and non-verbal queues. To borrow from an overused cliche: “It’s not only what you say, but how you say it…” Wellllll…maybe, yes, ok. But what about when you say it, how much of it you say and to whom it’s said?

In the world of project management, communication is KEY. It’s so key in fact, it’s one of the Project Management Institute’s nine knowledge areas. And, as any well-seasoned project manager knows – and as any new PM will soon find out – communication breakdowns can spell a project’s certain demise. My mantra has always been, “when in doubt, OVERcommunicate.” We all have too many emails in our inboxes anyway; leave it to the recipient to decide if they need the information or not.

If there is relevant and timely information which pertains to a project, disseminate it!!! I have never had a stakeholder nor project resource tell me to stop bombarding them with emails about a project, but I have certainly been involved in instances whereby a simple FYI would have gone a long way toward keeping stakeholder’s anxieties at bay and resources and schedules on track.

In particular, if a project has met with any type of constraint ( be it a resource, budget or scheduling constraint) or dependencies are preventing a milestone from being met – communicating potential roadblocks will help a PM avoid having to ask forgiveness at best or admit project failure at worst. Although you do not want to instill unnecessary concerns or “cry wolf” if you will, when there is the definite potential for adjustments or parallel pathing, your stakeholders need to know.

Effectively, the art of project management involves delicately balancing a defined scope with identified deliverables, the resources involved in managing these deliverables, in order to ultimately reach milestones within an acceptable timeframe and budget. If any of these items stand to be affected, the three ‘Cs’ are your best friends: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Remember – one of the distinct advantages of being a project manager is the implicit trust you earn from those relying on you to steer a project to success; embedded in that trust is a willingness for your voice to be heard – so don’t be afraid to use it. It’s your “responsibility” !!!

At the same time, use the tools which have been created just for your project management pleasure – tools such as MS Project and Visio are invaluable visuals which can communicate the progress of your project and any changes therein. I vividly recall managing a dual datacenter build for a methodical Japanese client (who also happened to be the parent company!), and when faced with project roadblocks for which I could neither excuse nor prevent, my constant Visio timeline updates won me all the brownie points that I needed to overcome an inevitable shift in delivery date. If you’re not a techie, which I certainly am not, there are numerous tutorials and resources available to learn how to use these tools.

We all take comfort when uncertainties are minimized, and there is no better way to ensure that those who need to know are in the know than by communicating. And whether you are a professional project manager or managing a life project such as a new home purchase or renovation or enrolling in a new school, the same rules apply. A…B…C is for COMMUNICATION. You would not settle for mis-information so don’t settle for a lack thereof either.

Project Management for the NEW Home Owner

I’m often asked how project management can be used outside the boardroom or office cubicle, and more specifically, how I use project management in general and in life. And, until recently, I thought I’d been using it pretty darn well – so well, in fact, that I conceptualized and am in the process of creating an entire new book around it.

Well, I have President Obama to thank for proving me wrong. Enter the 2009-2010 new home buyer’s tax credit and watch my motivation to become a first time homeowner soar. Until…closing day. While most people would look forward to and celebrate this moment, I faced the closing table with no small amount of dread and an increased, intense Excel worksheet frenzy late into the nights. When all was said and done, and none of it had even begun yet (!), I had a worksheet with too-many-to-count carefully color-coded, columnized tabs – there was a tab for PRE-Closing steps and documents, AT Closing, POST-Closing, Change of Address Lists, Vendor Lists, Cable-Internet-Phone-FPL-Utilities-to-Connect&Disconnect Lists, Furniture-I-Own Lists, Furniture-I’d-Like-to-Own lists…..etc, etc.

Armed with Microsoft Corp. on my side, what could go wrong?! Well, fortunately, Excel aside, it was a textbook closing and all went well! Yet, instead of popping a bottle of champagne at the closing table, I needed a bottle of Advil. I could not wait to jump up and get home to update my spreadsheet. Strange, some may think , but not really – certainly not for me! The keys were mine, and renovations could commence – but more importantly, the real planning could proceed in all its glory! Project planning, that is….Microsoft Project and all of its delights were going to be my new best friends…deliverables, milestones, predecessors…I simply could not wait to identify and track them all! On my critical path: painting and flooring. The paint an obvious predecessor to the floors, and the floors with a ’start no earlier than’ paint constraint. Fortunately, these two items were the only items on the critical path to move-in day. So, once complete, I could set a move-in date.

I already had movers lined-up. Oh, and by the way, my current apartment had been packed up for 7 months, save for the daily essentials needed to live (anyone who knows me would not be surprised). I even had a genius friend map out my current furniture to scale of the new house (!!!) in VISIO (thanks again, Microsoft, we love you) so I knew where all of the pieces would fit in my new home.

So, what was the problem? I was wrought with anxiety, sweating the small stuff, and fearful of all things new-home-owner-centric. Regardless of how many lists I made, project plan deliverables met, and boxes packed – I did not feel ready. I felt overwhelmed and certain that any move-in date I set would not hit its target. Would my very own first home be the first project of mine to colossally fail?

Stepping back for a moment, and taking deep breaths, I had an epiphany. In that moment of clarity and temporary sanity, I stopped berating myself for how badly I was managing my own project, and forgave myself for trying to solve the move, instead of simply living it.

I did berate myself, however, for failing to recall two primary tenets of good project management:

1. Rolling Wave (not) Crashing - Rolling wave project planning (RWPP) is a phased, iterative approach to project planning and implementation. When done well, it balances structured processes with flexibility.* It was readily apparent to me that there was a clear imbalance between my project planning ( too strong) and project execution (weak and anxiety-ridden). If I continued on the path of everything-needs-to-be-done NOW and BY ME, my project would surely crash.
2. Resource Management - There is no ‘I’ in Project Team. Why? Because every project manager is only as strong as the resources assigned to his/her project. And, typically, the PM is not the one with the technical expertise – the resources all bring a special skill to make the project work as a whole. So, I had to not only recognize but also accept that I needed help – I reallllllyyyyy needed help – not only movers to move, but people I knew who knew more than I did about…landscaping, sprinklers, patio cobwebs, light fixtures, paint, and decor, and who were willing to jump in to help without even the promise of a sandwich or donut in return because I was just too busy to stop and feed them. And accepting that I needed help meant, in turn, accepting that I would need to let go of control and learn patience.

So, therein lies a prime example of good intentions gone awry. Instead of willing my new-home-project forward, I had to awaken to the truth that it would be a process not a finish line, and I should celebrate milestones along the way instead of stumbling over them to prove that the project could be closed.

Something tells me that I will be compiling the “Lessons Learned” from this project for a long, long time to come.

VERY SPECIAL THANKS to all those who assisted me during this process…in word and in deed. You KNOW who you are!!! They deserve a standing ovation for making this happen – not only the time and effort expended but for simply tolerating me during this time of anxiety and preparation. And, an extra thanks to a wonderful real estate agent who led me, after a year-long search, to a home better than any I could have dreamed, and to Dad for spotting the diamond in a housing market full of rocks. Stay tuned for my follow up post…”House Hunting as a Metaphor for Life…”

Wishing You Success,
Natalya

* RWPP definition credits: Gregory D. Githens, PMP, Catalyst Management Consulting

“Sense”-ible Project Management

Re-print of my recent WORKSHIFTING* article:

As a certified PMP^®, one of the requirements I am held to is continuing education for my certification. Despite the costs, time and effort involved in earning “PDUs” (Professional Development Units) to maintain the certification, I welcome the opportunity – albeit involuntary – to learn new and enlightening facets of my field. Given the international recognition and proliferation of PMP^®s, many companies are offering webinars and other online learning opportunities to make PDU-acquisition that much less painful! I recently attended a free webinar entitled “A Sixth Sense for Project Management,” which spoke to the need for projects managers to find and invoke an intuitive “sixth sense” to overcome and identify that which empirical business acumen and planning simply cannot supercede.

And, so I began pondering….how we, as project managers, must essentially invoke ALL of our senses to manage projects and ensure success.

1. Sight : A good project manager not only “sees” the vision and scope for the project, as derived from stakeholder requirements, but also keeps the project “visible” throughout the organization and throughout the project life cycle.
2. Touch : In the world of project management, “touch” is synonymous with impact. Without a doubt, a project manager’s ability to lead and influence are paramount to a project’s success. Your priority is not only to capture requirements and obtain stakeholder buy-in from inception with a strong scope statement and kickoff, but also to continually “touch” the resources assigned to your project and on whom you rely for its completion. There’s a lot of meaning behind the phrase “All hands on deck!” when you need both stakeholder, resource and project manager cooperation to ensure a project’s timely and successful completion.
3. Hearing: It goes without saying that a project manager must have an acute sense of hearing in order to catch all of the requirements, scheduling constraints and deliverables which are part of every project. However, project managers need to be able to “hear” undercurrents of emerging risks, schedule constraints and resource apathy which will all adversely affect a positive project outcome. Tuning in to such inaudible signals is crucial so that you can avoid hearing stakeholders shout at the top of their lungs when a project gets off track.
4. Smell : A project manager does not need to be a bomb-sniffing dog to know when the wheels are stuck, rubber is burning, and a project is veering off track.
5. Taste : A good project manager must be able to taste for “done-ness” to know when requirements have been fulfilled and a project is fully ready for implementation. And much like a restaurant tasting, all members of the project team must agree on the level of “done-ness”. But then, when all is said and done, there is no sense a project manager likes more than this one and the taste of sweet success when milestones are met, schedules align, budget constraints are not exceeded and stakeholder expectations satisfied!

So, when managing a project, whether large or small, personal or professional, you need not be a certified PMP® like me to appreciate that you will engage 100% of yourself and your senses. It is important to recognize the relationship between a project manager’s “sense-ibilities” and the innate ability to initiate, drive, and guide a project to success.

What do you think?

*Reprinted with the permission of Workshifting, a division of New Marketing Labs, LLC.

Questions Floating In Your Head

Lately, my personal, professional and proverbial cup not only runneth over but my plate overflowth and my head near explodeth.

All of this may, in fact, sound positive – but it has had one negative effect: I cannot think coherently enough to make sound decisions, in the present moment, nor to allow creativity to flow. In simple terms, my blog entries have been fewer, but fortunately I do not blog for a living. In the larger picture, long-term decisions like career choices, personal travel plans and how and when I interact with others have all been compromised by this state of too mucheth.

Being the black-or-white person that I am, balance has eluded me much of my life, and no amount of superhuman organizational skills nor intellectual intuition have helped me overcome the extreme. In fact, they may have stood in the very way of the balance I used them to achieve. Over-organization led to over-analysis which led to over-thinking of the outcome, which led to …guess what??? Nothing that I can remember or have to show for all of that mental effort!

These exercises in futility have led me to two inevitable conclusions, which lend themselves to life lessons:

1. Accept who and what you are – Give up beating yourself up. Enough. The same skills which make you a success in a professional situation may turn against you in a personal one. Know your skills, their advantages and disadvantages and when to recognize that they may need to be toned down or heavily invoked for a particular instance.

2. Listen for, actively seek and find techniques which can assist you – work with you, in the times you need mental clarity most.

• When I am most frantic, in mind and body, what I need most is quiet time – to turn on my Ipod and let the words of a soothing Podcast or meditational tune calm my mind so that my actions will follow. Yet, it is during these fast and furious episodes when I am chasing after the hi-speed-car-chase thoughts in my head, that I would rarely stop and actually invoke this technique when I need it most. So, I keep a list of “relaxation” techniques close at hand, and on my fridge, as a blatant reminder that I must stop in order to keep moving…

• When my metaphorical desk is covered with projects large and small, multiple tasks, deadlines near and far, what I need most is to streamline those projects into priorities – keeping them all on the radar and within range of accomplishment – yet not necessarily all crowded at the front lobe of my brain. How to do this? There are many tools, technical and creative, which I invoke:

1. One of my favorites is a simple “responsibility assignment matrix” template which I created to compartmentalize my areas of responsibility. It acts as a visual taskmaster, illustrating what needs to be done in plain sight and guiding my brain, therefore, to where I will place my focus, or upon whom. I used this as a manager, having a compartmentalized “box” for each employee’s individual tasks which I needed to oversee, as well as an extra box in which I placed my own departmental deliverables. Today I use this same template to quantify my individual projects and clients as well as my own personal agenda items. I have even used it to itemize the rooms I needed cleaned, when I had hired a housekeeper.
2. Another tool I recently discovered, the “Action Book.” This is an actual paper product which has its own complementary software. The Action Book was designed to provide a flexible template to get the most out of what is in your head and which needs to be put into action. Its format cleverly encourages you to gather your thoughts/projects/responsibilities in the way which will most effectively boost productivity and make ideas happen. Fabulous gift for students and professionals, alike, by the way!
3. If you’re more electronically enlightened, the options are limitless – one I happen to enjoy is Microsoft‘s OneNote which allows you not only to create a virtual notebook, but also to individualize its sections and even to drag and drop websites, web-based articles and the like as reminders or pieces of inspiration. I am also a huge fan of Microsoft Outlook, but not in the typical sense – many swear by its calendaring and note features which create electronic pop ups and task reminders, and can be sync’d with IPhones and Blackberries etc – instead, I simply and religiously print weekly (or depending on how busy I am, daily) calendars from Outlook in which I map out my day’s/week’s/ or 6 months’ worth of upcoming tasks, meetings and reminders. Call me old fashioned, I just prefer to write things down, preferably in as many colors as there are color pencils in the box. But either way, Outlook is a very handy tool to use to keep yourself on time and on track.
4. Sometimes, you may just need a nap. So, listen to your body and mind if it’s tired, and sleep in just one extra hour. It may make all the difference you need.

So, when there are multiple thoughts, ideas or decisions floating in your psyche, swim against the current in your head and STOP for a moment to consider what techniques you need most at that moment to regain focus, practice being in the present and channeling your innermost most creative and productive self.

I plan to stop writing and do just that…

Wishing You Success,
Natalya

Enduring Success

We all know Maria Bartiromo and her unbiased and informative financial reporting on CNBC. However, departing from that, she set out to write a book about the most influential and successful people of our time, and the secrets which have led to their enduring success….which, of course, incited me to start thinking about my own views on what leads to enduring success, in business and in life…

• Love What You Do – Possibly the most over-stated, yet underrated piece of advice floating out there in the universe of wisdom which surrounds us. Have you ever tried cooking a meal with ingredients you cannot stomach? That meal will not only not appeal to you, but chances are your heart and best cooking skills won’t go into its making. So why then would your life’s work be any different? If you do not love what you do and use your greatest strengths to contribute to the tasks at hand, the end result will be nothing more than empty success at best, or a miserable empty existence at worst. Your strengths will find you if you are open to hearing their voice; then, try to apply those attributes in any opportunity you have. If your job does not lend itself to using your strengths directly, find ways to use them indirectly or to try applying your skills and passions to avenues outside of work and from there they will grow. I never knew I loved to manage projects until I realized that I was creating projects in every area of my life and applying the skills to whomever or whatever would allow. In turn, I recognized that I was good at it, which then led to my wanting to grow those skills and apply them at work, as well!
• Prepare for the Worst, Expect the Best – In LIFE:
  Advice I really believe in yet have found the most difficult to authentically implement. In life, we are programmed to be optimists, continually wanting to believe that the best outcome is imminent. If we lose hope we lose everything, etc., etc. So how does one re-wire our minds to truly believe in the best outcome and the possibility of it, all the while simultaneously conniving our minds to prepare for a worst case scenario? Well, my answer to that consists of two words: support system. Continue to believe that you will be blessed with the best, but at the same time put measures into place to ensure your life will go on should the worst occur. These measures may be tangible in nature: i.e., work hard at your job and continue to vie for that promotion even if you want to believe that you are about to win the lottery; don’t buy that dream house until you are ensured that your current home can be signed, sealed and sold with something left over; continue to pursue your own goals and build your own success – even if you want to believe that prince charming will sweep you off your feet into a castle in the sky… And, in the face of uncertain and unpredictable disaster, your most important survival kit is going to be those with whom you surround yourself. Without the love, support and prayers of family and friends, no success will be worth having and no disaster survivable with your heart, mind and soul intact.

• Prepare for the Worst, Expect the Best – At WORK:
  I would not call myself a project manager if I did not believe in and take this statement to my grave: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. From scoping out the extent of work you have, to estimating schedules and flagging deadlines, building in float & fluff time in case something arises or someone’s efforts fall through, assessing and mitigating risks before they have the opportunity to occur, monitoring and controlling the resources you have to help you achieve the final goal, and most importantly – realizing that YOU are not a island nor invincible – illness and unforeseen family issues will arise; do yourself and your team a favor by cross-training so that any dips in resources are seamless, and you are not a prisoner of your own making. Awareness of ALL of these factors will ensure that you are never caught off guard at work. By employing these attributes of awareness, and maintaining a can-do attitude, your projects will never fail and your success at work will be inevitable!

• Identify and Maintain Your Own Standards of Integrity: There will come a time in each of our lives when we are faced with challenges to our integrity…and how we handle these situations will surely dictate who we really are and how much enduring success our lives will hold. One of my favorite, albeit most clichéd sayings, states that “If you don’t stand for something, you will FALL for anything.” Sure, we will all be caught off guard at times, or allow others to put us in compromising situations – but we do not have to remain there. It is fully within our power to rise above others’ acts of disintegrity and to climb out of personal and professional gutters if we have built up our own standards of self-knowledge and beliefs along the way. Know who you are and ask yourself the tough questions – because, if you can answer them with satisfaction and still sleep at night – then you are on traveling on the right path.

• Bloom Where You are Planted: In other words, accept nothing less than success. Continuously strive for your personal best, rise to the occasion and embrace the opportunities before you – even if they are uncertain or unfamiliar. For there are no higher standards you can reach that exceed the ones you set for yourself.

Wishing You [Enduring] Success,
Natalya

Failure to Plan = Planning to Fail? Keeping Those 2010 Resolutions…

As we look forward to the onset of a brand new year and decade to boot, New Year’s resolutions will inevitably find their way into one of two categories:

• The front part of your brain where the voice of motivation (some may call it nagging) resides.
• The back part of your brain that is like the back of your closet – you put things there and forget they exist and/or are too afraid to go looking for them.

Now, I am no doctor and do not really know the anatomy of frontal lobes versus other parts of the brain, but this sounds about right when it comes to how I think and operate.

Some of our resolutions may be very concrete – lose x pounds, take a trip to Aspen, volunteer at such and such organization, market your business; others may be full of intent and inspired action – work less/relax more, eat more healthfully, enjoy the simple things in life…etc.

Whether concrete or nebulous, when setting goals for yourself does a Failure to Plan constitute a Plan to Fail ?

I am a ‘Type P’ Personality – The Planner. I cannot change who I am nor how I operate, and know there are others out there just like me. Spontaneity is considered a four-letter word even though it contains eleven.

Planning is great – in a world where you must expect the unexpected, planning ahead allows you to handle surprises and catastrophes with the knowledge that you have room and time to spare!

As a project manager, I learned very early on that a project plan (like life) is not static – it is a moving, living document which will require revisions as the project moves forward on its critical path…and, sometimes, the project will require re-evaluation, resource re-allocation, careful risk mitigation, possible postponement of certain deliverables or parallel pathing to get things done on time, be disrupted by acts of God or family…does this sound like your life thus far? It sounds a lot like mine!

So, as a rule and a ruler for your 2010, set your goals and objectives so they remain on your radar and in the front part of your brain, track them in any form you choose (I enjoy Excel), but be flexible enough to re-assess them every opportunity you get to ensure that these are still your goals and that you are giving yourself the best opportunity to achieve them!

And for all my fellow ‘Type Ps’ – work hard to not be so hard on yourselves, and don’t be overwhelmed. A mentor of mine recently told me: “writing down what you want to accomplish can be a good exercise, but only if you are in a position not to be overwhelmed by it.”

If you enjoyed this post, look out for my next book – A PMP’s Guide to Project Managing Your Life – coming in 2010 ( according to my own New Year’s resolution )

And, as I close out 2009, a goal I set for myself in 2005 was finally accomplished. My first full length non-fiction book, From Secretary to CEO – A Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder is now IN PRINT and available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com!

Wishing You Continued Success…
Natalya

Purpose Driven = Project Driven

Life expectancy in Okinawa, Japan is 81.2 years – the longest in the world. Okinawans’ longevity can be attributed to their diet, rich in grains and low in fat and sugar, perhaps….but I recently heard a study in which their longevity was attributed to a characteristic far less quantitative than a diet plan yet far more qualitative: their sense of purpose in life.

Simply put, longevity in Okinawa is defined not by living longer, but living better.

We all need to have a purpose. The human spirit thrives on it, will languish without it.

…Without purpose, life has no meaning.

Pastor Rick Warren, from The Purpose Driven Life.

In many ways, adopting a project-minded, project-driven life, if you will, can also contribute to your sense of purpose. Projects, big and small, abound in our lives although we may not always define them as such. Projects are often correlated with work-related objectives and in the context of “doing a job” or “meeting organizational milestones.” And, of course, there are hundreds of thousands of certified project managers around the world(PMP®) who would agree…but, like myself, my fellow PMP® colleagues could also tell tales about the impact project management has had on their day-to-day lives and the lives of those around them.

Let me wax academic for a moment:

By definition, a project must be finite – i.e., modeled with a defined beginning and end. Therefore, all projects will come to an end….and then you begin again with a new one. Perhaps my favorite part of project management, each project provides its project manager with the excitement and trepidation of a new beginning, the learning curve in the middle, and the satisfaction of finishing what we started at the end. You will learn new skills, and experience new perspectives while running the project, and then get to do it all over again when this project ends and a new one is assigned.

Every project will be different, and every project will make a difference. Project management is ready to undergo a paradigm shift: We are all project managers in our own right, and our projects affect our lives and those around us.

You may be planning your baby’s first birthday or your friend’s bridal shower, renovating your home, sitting on the board of your condo association and advising on how to implement a new digital cable system for the property, organizing a weekly Bible Study or book club, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and building homes for the less-fortunate, etc., etc., etc…

Regardless, each of these undertakings contributes to our personal sense of structure, daily rhythm and life’s purpose. You will find it amazing how — by projectizing even the smallest tasks in your life or business — teams around your project will form, your awareness of project milestones will surface, and you will stand back and observe that, for each project in your life, your mission and focus are clear.

Projects give us purpose: one person, one plan, one deliverable and deadline at a time.

And, as we approach the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, let us all find a project that will contribute to the life of someone in need. There is no project too small

Wishing You Success,
Natalya