A few days ago I decided I need to write a project plan for my life. I am not sure where the idea came from but I grabbed hold of it anyway!
I started jotting down the headings for my plan and adding items under each heading. I thought a chunk of time, say thirty years, would be the time schedule to meet all the outcomes. I have done Project Planning in the workplace and also in assignments but it hadn’t occurred to me before how useful it could be in life planning. I felt a bit silly but who cares if it achieves what I want it to do i.e. making sure that I include the quality experiences and people in my life in the years to come.
So far this morning I have five pages of planning under the following headings:
- Introduction
- Project Management Approach
- Project Scope
- Project Scope Management Plan (several areas covered under this title – family, interests, income etc)
- Milestone List
- Change Management Plan
- Communication Management Plan
- Cost Management Plan
- Schedule Management Plan
- Quality Management Plan
- Risk Register
- Cost Baseline
I have appointed myself as Project Manager and my husband as Consultant and Adviser :-). A few things really jumped out at me:
- The financial implications of living for another thirty years
- The responsibility is MINE to make sure things happen – “If it is going to be, it is up to me!”
- The importance of looking after my physical and mental health for the duration
I don’t know what the future holds, even if I will still be typing away at my desk tomorrow, but the exercise was really challenging and made me think beyond today!
Cheers
Lorraine
I need to do this too!!
Yes, it was a bit of an eye opener to me too!
Hah, good one Lorraine! Since you now have a project and a project manager, you have to get some cheap labor to do your work 🙂
Did you create any major milestones and insert them in your timeline?
Yes, cheap labour…why didn’t I think of that 🙂
There will be milestones! I spoke to my sister today and she suggested I only need worry about the next 20 years! Does she know something I don’t?
thanks for your comments – Lorraine
D’oh! I hope she doesn’t.
When you get the first draft of your planned milestones done, you must formally submit them to BD00 for pending approval.
Does this mean I have an official Project Sponsor? 😉
If it means BD00 has to accept the responsibility for funding your project, then no. Otherwise, yes indeed.
BD00 only takes on challenges that provide him with supreme power and no responsibility. He’s a dictator in training.
Just remember . . . LIFE is what happens while we’re busy making PLANS. 😀
So true!