Lifelong Project

14 Weeks Until the Chicago Marathon

In just 14 weeks I’ll be faced with another massive challenge in my Life Long Project: The 2009 Chicago Marathon. That’s right, on October 11 I’m going back for seconds with a goal to beat last year’s marathon time. Running a marathon is not something I thought I’d ever do once let alone twice. But I’m stubborn sometimes. Okay, I’m stubborn most of the time.

There’s more to running a marathon than showing up on race day with some nifty sneakers, a sweatband, and knee-high socks. Running the marathon starts months before race day. I’ve been preparing in earnest for this year’s big race for months. So far this year I’ve completed four half-marathons and scores of runs. Now, I’m happy to report, my training really begins to heat up.

Sunday is now my longest-run day and Thursday is my mid-week long run. The shortest run I do from this point onward is four miles.  Based on my experience from last year I know that the best thing I can do to prepare for Chicago is to run more miles. I finished last year but it was far more difficult than what I imagined it would be. Add to that my wooziness, aching body, and nearly unbearable final four miles and I’m vowing to prepare in more detail this year. Here’s my schedule for the next 14 weeks (click the image for full-size details):
I’ll also confess that last year I skimped on any cross-training efforts. Not this time. I’m convinced that I need to be strong, have a good core, and focus on my body beyond my legs. I’m back to the gym and getting reacquainted with lifting weights, swimming, and doing some good stretching, yoga, and balance exercises.

I’ll keep you posted on my efforts, training runs, and ongoing commitment to do better this year. Thanks for your comments and encouragement!

Another Project Objective Done: Florida!

It’s been several weeks since I left Indiana for Florida and it still seems a bit surreal. While things haven’t gone exactly to plan they’ve gone pretty well. I sold most of my possessions, boxed the rest, and pointed my old Dodge southerly.

It was the epitome of mixed emotions to see Indianapolis in my rear view mirror. I’ve experienced so many good times and bad times there. There are loads of good people that I miss dearly, but these are the same people that encouraged me to follow my goal, supported my desire to experience more, and have cheered me on. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of them.

But the past is in the past and I can do nothing to change it, experience, or influence it ever again. Now is the time for living.

On my long, winding route to Florida I was able to spend a few days with my brother Steve and his SEO business in Cincinnati. It was good to learn more about what he does exactly (it’s magic to me), tour his new office building, and visit for a few days. It was also fun to see KJ follow Steve around a bit – just like I used to.

From Cincinnati we trekked down to Chattanooga to visit with my brother Sam and my parents. Mom and Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa) were thrilled to visit with KJ and to help celebrate KJ’s 14th birthday. Sam took KJ for a Chattanooga tour and to get a manly haircut while I went for a six-mile run along the Tennessee River. My brother Ben, who reminds me so much of my son I sometimes get them mixed up, came up for KJ’s birthday too.

While it was a good visit with my Chattanooga family it was exciting to ease out of Tennessee, into Georgia, and finally into Florida. My old car held up just fine, kept us cool, and KJ provided entertainment for the trip: music, books on CD, and jokes. It was a tingly feeling when I crossed the line into Florida – not like finishing a marathon, exactly, but a sense that this was finally happening.

We did some house and dog sitting for my good Tampa friends John and Cara while we explored a bit of Florida. I took KJ to St. Petersburg, the Dali Museum, and a small, favorite restaurant there. We walked the bay-front park, watched the yachts come into harbor, and then cooled off in the movies. It’s was a fun, relaxing day with The Boy.

The heat, as everyone promised, was brutal. Want to experience that? Stand in front of your oven, with the door open, while you’re cooking a pot roast. I ran in the morning before the sun was up. Hot. I ran in the evening when the sun was down. Hot. It doesn’t matter – it is hot here. Still, I am enjoying seeing the palm trees, lizards, sunshine, and the beaches. I’m also taking more photos – like these on this page – everywhere I go now. With all the new scenery, light, and opportunity to explore, I love taking my trusty camera along.

 So I am here. A major objective on my Lifelong Project is checked off. And now it’s time to get back to work. I have just finished a new book that will be out soon: The Certified Associate in Business Analysis (CBAP) All-in-One Study Guide. I’m also wrapping an update to my PMP Study Guide and the CAPM/PMP All-in-One Study Guide. Next, I’m to write an update to my favorite project management book: IT Project Management: On Track From Start to Finish.

On my business agenda is a few other book proposals, marketing efforts, and an updated online learning for several project management courses. Of course, I'm still accepting contracts to teach my PMP Boot Camp live at your facility. I’ll keep you in the loop. Thanks for checking in – and thanks for the thoughts and prayers as I’ve made this move.

Hope and the Project Manager

We’ve heard an awfully lot about hope over the past two years: hope for change, hope for a better life, hope for our country, our youth, and our tomorrow. There is a distinct line between hoping and wishing. Wishing is a longing for something fantastical and mystical where the outcome is magical and out of our control. Hope, on the other hand, is also a longing, but it’s feasible, personal, and the outcome is often very much in our control.

While I think it's important to have hope for our lives it's easy to lean on wishing and mistake it for hoping. I’ve been making some major adjustments in my life as a result of what I’ve been hoping for. I’m tired of only hoping so now I’m doing.

In project management you can’t hope the project will go well – and do nothing to make it happen. You can’t hope the software gets created, hope the project team does what they’re supposed to do, and hope the vendors deliver on time. Manage a project based on hope and you won’t be managing much of anything for long.

Project management is about getting things done. Sure, you can hope things go well in your project but until you take action and create a plan things probably won’t happen at all. And having a plan doesn’t do much for you unless you and the project team are willing to execute that plan.

It’s romantic and pleasant to talk about hope but hope can only take you so far. If you want to accomplish anything you need hope, you need something to look forward to, but sooner or later you’ve got to get busy getting things done. And when things are done, when things are moving towards becoming a reality, it is a wonderful feeling. In my life as things are evolving it’s surreal that the plans I’ve made are coming into fruition. Today seemed dreamlike and it was as if time stood still and passed all at once. Today the evidence of hope, the result of action, and the fulfillment of intent reached a major milestone in my project.

I believe that when these moments happen it is important to pause, to be aware, and consider the magnitude of what’s occurring. Life and projects are really made up of key, decisive moments. A friend sent me this little Proverb today and it captures exactly what I’m feeling just now: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

School of Life

 When school was ending I used to countdown the days: This is the last Monday of school. This is the last Tuesday of school. And then eventually it’d be the last day of school and summer was here, freedom was upon us. Now it was time for bare feet in the dew, climbing trees, fireflies, and summer camping. I did that routine for years and years until one school year, twenty years ago, I realized that this time it was the last Monday of school forever.

And then it was the last Tuesday.

And then it was over.

This past weekend marked twenty years since I finished high school, though I still feel like it’s only been a couple of years. I can clearly remember my friends, my beat-up car, Friday night football games and Tuesday night movies. I remember where my locker was, but have no idea of the combination. I can remember my favorite teachers, cutting class, and silly rituals we used to do.

Then it was odd jobs to pay for college. Chicago. A marriage, baby, divorce. There went a decade. And then back to Indiana. And then another decade. And now it’s my last Tuesday in Indiana.

So where have twenty years gone? I suppose like those days leading up to the last day of school these twenty years have slipped past an hour, a minute, a moment at a time. And that’s what life is comprised of, isn’t it? One day you’re moving a tassel right to left and the next you’re worrying about mortgages, college funds, and retirement accounts. The school of life isn’t taught in days, and weeks - just tiny slices of time, tiny moments. When I look back on my life I don’t recall 38 years - just some highlights and some headlines, some good times, some better times.

Today is my last Tuesday in Indiana.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been visiting with friends. We talked about our moments, all the good things we’ve done, and all the plans we still have for life. We talked about staying in touch, confirmed email addresses and phone numbers and then hugged goodbye. And each time I thought that this may be the last time I ever see this person. I hope not, but considering that we’ll be states and time zones apart it’s easy to understand how twenty years can disappear.

And so I’ve been pondering a new question: how can I get more moments in my life? What are the conditions that need to exist to create the moments I want to experience, that I want to remember twenty years from now? I asked how may I experience more in this school of life? How can I learn more, really live?

I’ve examined the moments I treasure the most from my life to explore what similarities and conditions exist in the moments of my life. Here are ten things I’ve learned:

• Television was not in any of my favorite memories
• Not all of the moments were joyful
• Friends and family were in many of the moments, but not all of them
• In none of my memories was I counting money
• Favorite moments often involved travel
• Sometimes I was lost in work that I enjoyed
• I was healthy in just about all my memories
• Trying new things is a common theme
• Music, art museums, and photography are prevalent
• I enjoy writing

That’s what I’ve learned about my life after 38 years. Now that I’m starting a new chapter in my life I’m taking this list with me - and I’ll continue to add to it. I’m not wasting anymore time doing things I don’t enjoy. I am done scheduling my life for mystical some days. When you think about it, life is one big school and any day could be the last Tuesday.

Memorial Day: Zen and Zoom

It's been a blitz of a week as I finish a few projects, start an update to my IT Project Management book, and prepare for my pending move. No doubt this past week I've experienced Parkinson's Law but it feels good to be busy - and to get things accomplished.

This Memorial Day weekend I'll be going on my annual fishing trip with my brother Steve to Bull Shoals, Arkansas. This is our 12th year we've gone and we always create some good memories, visit with each other, discuss our businesses, and our plans. This year is a throw-back to our original trip to Bull Shoals - it's the first time in a decade that it's just Steve and me on this outing. Usually this trip is with my other brothers, my dad, and last year we brought friends from all over the US to join us. It'll be a little sad - but not too sad, we're fishing.

For Zen and Zoom Friday I'm sharing this shot I took of the US flag on a windy spring day. Have a great Memorial Day weekend and thank you to our veterans.