by Thank you to those faithful readers of the MIDA project for sticking with me throughout my frequent posting absences. I feel it is my duty to explain what I have been working on which kept me away from my MIDA responsibilities.
A few months after launching this blog I received the exciting news that my family would be expanding from a family of 4 to a family of 5. Unlike my previous pregnancy, this one began with all day nausea and limited my storage of energy & inspiration.
Now as I face the last few months of this journey, I have found that I have remembered a few unexpected tips along the way that I feel obligated to share. Here are a few project management lessons from the baby growth process:
1. Life happens whether we are ready for it or not – pregnancy just like life happens and it occurs more often when you least expect it. You may have been planning to start a business but never got around to it, then next thing you know you lose your job and now there is nothing standing in your way. Pregnancy is like that, you might have planned to add to your family some day but you really never thought it would be this year, next thing you know the 2nd line appears on the test strip and you have nothing standing in the way of bringing this life into the world.
2. Delivery (due dates) are educated guesses – deadlines are generalized dates as to when a project must be completed. But if you are someone who struggles with procrastination and/or isn’t organized you will find that your due date can sometimes arrive several weeks ahead of schedule. It is best to give yourself adequate time for preparation and completion at least thirty days in advance.
3. You are required to share your body with another being – projects are seldom an isolated task applicable to only one person. They often require the collaboration with at least one other individual and as you work to give birth to your assigned project, you find more and more of your body of work is being shared with others.
4. Alot of unsolicited advice will come your way – once you identify a project and share the news with others you will find that an abundance of advice will come your way. Some positive and some negative, you are not required to take any of the advice offered. However it is a great policy to listen to the advice before dismissing the giver. Oftentimes the best advice comes from the most unexpected places.
5. Fear is your constant companion – there are so many things that could go wrong when you are growing life, whether that life is a person or a project such as going back to school, opening a business, or writing a book. Each comes with its own set of fears. You must push those fears to the back of your mind and live each day according to what is best for the health of the project. Before you realize it, 9 months will have passed and your new life will be there. But that is only possibe if you take definitive action each day of each week and month.
6. You learn pretty quickly that you are stronger than you ever believed. Complications will always arrive, in pregnancy those can be any of the various health issues that only occur because all your nutrients are going to your baby. In achieving your goals, complications arise to test your endurance & determination. But you have to adapt to each one and keep moving towards the finish line. Otherwise your baby can never be born.
So those are a few of the things I have been forced to accept through this pregnancy. Stay tuned as I will share a few additional tips next week because as life goes on, issues will inevitably come. “Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy” – Lao Tzu. That’s what we have to do, get the easy stuff done first cause you know the hard is right around the corner.
Til next week,
“One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.” – Napoleon Hill
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