Lifelong Project

Project Seminars Website

While I love my time in the Lifelong Project and coaching people this isn’t everything that I do. I write and teach on traditional project management, business analysis, and program management. I have a website and blog that’s all about project management. You can check it out here.

No Sugar in My Coffee. No Beer Tonight.

I’ve gone 31 days without sugar or beer and it’s been a tough, but terrific, month.

As part of my 2009 Lifelong Project goals I created a requirement to give up sugary treats and beer. In project management we need to determine why requirements are needed to ensure that we’re solving effects and not just the causes. In my Lifelong Project the effect for me to solve was that I needed to shed some weight, kick a sugar addiction, and take charge of what I put in my body instead of what my body demanded I put into it.

I’ve had a sugar addiction for a long time and it’s hidden under the cutesy name of a sweet tooth. I love cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, and candy. I could easily woof down a whole package of peanut butter cookies. Normal people, like you, might be satisfied with just a couple but not me. If it’s good I want it all. Big bags of M&Ms, snicker bars, and caramel corn were no match for me. Ooh, and on Sunday morning I’d love to hike over to the grocery for a half-dozen donuts and the New York Times. I’d finish the donuts before I did the Times.

Not any more. It’s been a tough month, especially the first two weeks, as I really craved candy. I dreamed, on more than occasion, about conveyor belts of candy, mounds of cinnamon teddy bears, and rainbows of sugary goodness. Or should I say sugary badness? I stuck to my guns and have refused sugary treats, soda pops, and even fortune cookies, breath mints, and bubble gum.

I’ve also given up beer. Surprisingly this hasn’t been as tough as the last time I took up this challenge. I do love beer and I’m sure it’ll be tougher on those hot summer nights. As Ben Franklin said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” The trouble with beer, for me anyway, is that I can easily drink five or six pints a night and that’s like drinking five or six loaves of bread. I still drink wine but I can rarely do more than a couple glasses as my tummy can’t handle it.

(And for the record, yes, I know there’s sugar in wine. My sugar-related requirement was to kick sugary treats, thank you.)

I ran the Chicago Marathon last October and then quit running, exercising, eating well and doing all the things I should be doing. Over November and December I ballooned as I drank lagers, munched on snacks, and coasted to Christmas. And then I tried on a pair of jeans and they were more than snug. It’s amazing how fast the pudgy gut comes back and how slowly it’ll come off, isn’t it?

Since the end of December I’ve been back in the gym, running again, and working towards the Chicago Marathon next fall. I’ve set some intermittent running goals, including Tampa’s Gasparilla Classic on March 1. On April 11 I’m going to run a half-marathon in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois followed by the Nashville Half-Marathon on April 25. There are a few other runs over the summer I’ll be doing as part of my training and motivation for my return to Chicago next fall. I’ll keep you posted.

So what’s a month of no beer, no sugar, and a return to running and healthy eating done for me? First off, I feel good, clear-headed, and relatively calm. I’ve also dropped nine pounds off my big body and am looking forward to dropping about nine more in February. Thanks for your support, comments, and well-wishes! I hope your Lifelong Projects are going well too.

All my best,

Joseph

Zen and Zoom

Every Friday is Zen and Zoom picture day. Enjoy!

Today's my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! She liked this picture from Zion National Park. The trees on the left side of the cliff surprised her and they give some perspective to just how large these cliffs are.

Computer RAM and Your Heart

If you wanted to upgrade your RAM in your computer, you’d first have to find the kind of RAM your computer uses. You’d need to match the speed, the pin size, and if you were adding RAM you’d have to use either tin or gold pins based on what’s in your PC. One you’ve got the right type of RAM to add, it’s just a matter of popping out the old chips and, this is the fun part, gently rocking the new RAM into their sockets. When you add a new stick of RAM there’s a satisfying click to signal you’ve added it properly.

In my analogy of comparing your life to your PC, RAM is your heart. I don’t mean your actual thumpin’ heart, but the heart that resembles your passion, your desire, and your ability to achieve. Think of the heart of champion: desire, drive, and determination. Do you have those attributes in your heart?

Your heart is the ability to motivate yourself to get things done. I’m not just talking mowing the lawn and paying the bills. I’m talking about accomplishing your ambitions – those secrets you’ve tucked away in bottom desk drawers and old shoeboxes: novels, travel, advanced degrees, and other dreams. And while you pretend those dreams are stashed away you know their shadows stretch across your life in the form of regret and what ifs. Think about those dreams and why they’re still important to you – those are goals waiting for you to accomplish.

What are some of the dreams you've accomplished? What are some of the dreams you're going to accomplish this year?

(If you're interested in setting your own goals you should attend my Lifelong Project workshop on March 20, 2009. It's hosted by Ball State University in downtown Indianapolis.)

Learning About RAM

If you’re like me you have little power for sluggish computers. I need speed and that means lots of RAM (Random Access Memory).

When you power on your PC, fire up an application, browse the Internet, or write a love letter, the data required to run these applications and the operating system is loaded into RAM usually just referred to as memory.

The more RAM you have the faster your applications will load and the happier your computer will be. More RAM will allow you to open more applications and work with larger, complex files like photos, multimedia, and technical drawings. Because the speed of RAM is faster than your cranky hard drive the application data is moved from the hard disk to RAM so the processor can quickly access the data.

RAM speed can be measured a couple of different ways depending on the age of your computer. Older RAM is measured in nanoseconds, sometimes abbreviated as ns. A nanosecond is one billionth of a second and is the measurement of access time to or from RAM. A nanosecond is also the precise length of time the person in the car behind you will wait before blowing their horn when the stoplight turns green.

Newer RAM is measured in Megahertz and matches the speed of the motherboard to communicate with the processor. A higher RAM speed in Megahertz equates to faster read and writes to the RAM chip. (Makes you want to add some memory and start writing those love letters, doesn’t it?)

So what does this have to do with goal setting and the Lifelong Project? Check my next post for the connection...

(If you're interested in setting your own goals you should attend my Lifelong Project workshop on March 20, 2009. It's hosted by Ball State University in downtown Indianapolis.)

Choose: Positive Thinking or Positive Doing

What if you told yourself, on a consistent basis, how successful, how happy, how fortunate you are? I believe the perception of failure would change, with time, to the perception of success. As your mind began to trust this new concept, and you began to succeed, you’d experience the evidence of success and the concept would grow into a deeper, more permanent reality. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

While I am a tremendous advocate of positive thinking, I admit positive thoughts do not solve everything. You can have all of the positive thoughts in the world, but until you act upon those thoughts they are worthless. You must take action to make a difference. Just like an incredibly, powerful processor that won’t return the answers to the applications, positive thinking must be followed up with positive actions. Yes, I believe in positive thinking, but I'm a bigger believer in positive doing.

Positive thoughts, new ideas, and detailed plans are worthless unless you implement positive actions. Harness your power, exercise your brain, and achieve.

(If you're interested in setting your own goals you should attend my Lifelong Project workshop on March 20, 2009. It's hosted by Ball State University in downtown Indianapolis.)

Your Brain and Your Self Image

Imagine purchasing a new computer with a processor that outpaces any other computer on the market. You bring the computer home, power it up, and then position it to hold open your garage door. That’d be a terrible waste of resources. Now think of your brain. Is it being used to its maximum potential or is it just propping open a door somewhere?

Our brains are always looking for the path of least resistance for learning. For example, have you ever learned to juggle? At first it seems impossible, but after ten minutes you could teach yourself to do it. Why? Your brain learns the pattern and the expected results of the series of motion. After a day of juggling your brain could do it as easily as you walk or comb your hair. This is mental conditioning.

What your brain has already been conditioned to accept is your self-image. If you are consistently telling yourself you are a failure, worthless, and that you cannot succeed, your brain will accept it as fact. Your brain’s image of yourself, which it sees as fact, impacts everything you do. Just like juggling becomes second nature, so does the reality of this perception to your brain.

(If you're interested in setting your own goals you should attend my Lifelong Project workshop on March 20, 2009. It's hosted by Ball State University in downtown Indianapolis.)

Around the Web - Rowan Atkinson Invisible Drums

Every Saturday I'll share something I found interesting on the web. This is one of my favorite Rowan Atkinson routines - shows his genius and creativity. Enjoy!

Thomas Edison and Your Time Machine

Do you think Thomas Edison ignored his imagination?

Edison created over 1300 different inventions – including the record player, the movies, and the light bulb. Edison was known to have completed nearly fifty thousand failed experiments while working on a new storage battery before finding success. When asked about his results, Edison remarked, “Results? I have gotten a lot of results. I know fifty thousand things that won’t work.”

Want to try something? Complete this quiz – only you have the correct answers.

1. Imagine you have a new profession. This profession can be anything you’d like: Doctor, schoolteacher, missionary, high tech consultant, racecar driver, or whatever. This profession doesn’t have to be anything you are serious about undertaking, just choose some profession that has always seemed interesting to you. Now that you’ve chosen, what is it about this profession you’d enjoy?

2. Imagine you have discovered a method to travel time. You decide to go back in time and visit yourself as a younger child. What would you tell yourself to do with your life?

3. Now hop in your time machine and visit yourself years from now. You want to hear what an older, wiser you has to tell you about your life. What’s this wise, old person have to say?
Great! So often we can discover important messages by imagining ourselves in different circumstances. Look at your answer for the first question above. What feelings did you experience about this imaginary position?

The feelings you imagined yourself having are probably very positive in nature: happy, excited, and satisfied. These feelings you imagined having in this imaginary job are the feelings you desire in your current life. Use your processing power to discover why these feelings may be lacking or missing altogether.

Look at your answer for the second question. Did you tell the younger you to do everything exactly as you have already done? Or did you tell yourself to pursue a different occupation, to pay attention to certain details, or pursue education? Whatever you told this younger you is probably true of what you wish you were doing with your life now. How can you make that desire a possibility? You need to create a plan on how to get from here to there. You can do it.

Finally, look at your answer for the third question. What exactly did this older you have to say? I bet he didn’t say to work longer at the office every night. Whatever this older you said is reflective of what you are aware is missing in your life. Again, you must decide to act upon your own advice.

Use your imagination and combine the advice the older you offered and the feelings you recorded from your dream job. Isn’t it amazing how those two seem to fit together so nicely? To continue with your upgrade you’ll need to commit to a plan to make your imagination a reality. This takes time – and lots of revisions – and it won’t happen on its own.

(If you're interested in setting your own goals you should attend my Lifelong Project workshop on March 20, 2009. It's hosted by Ball State University in downtown Indianapolis.)

Your Brain and the Sunday Night Dread

Do you dread Sunday night? Millions of Americans dread Sunday night because it’s symbolic of the end of their weekend and a sign of work to begin the next day. For these people, Sunday night is the last gasp of freedom before they sell their soul back to a job they despise.

If you are one of these people – or fear becoming one of them – you need to ask yourself one very important question: “What is my purpose in life?” A purpose in life is more than a mission to accomplish a task. A purpose in life is to discover and act upon the reason you were born.

The good news is you can use the world’s greatest computer to find your purpose. The world’s greatest computer is the one between your ears: your brain. Your first piece of hardware to upgrade is your processor.

A processor may be the brain of a computer, but it only has the ability to process information that has been sent to it from another source. The human brain has the ability to create or retrieve the information and then process the data to arrive at conclusions. To discover your purpose you’ll have to rely on logic, emotion, trust in yourself, and self-acceptance that you are capable of achieving great things.

One of the most powerful tools in your mind that you can use to discover purpose is imagination. Imagination has been snubbed by adults and generally reserved for school kids, dreamers, and artists. If you’ve not exercised this portion of your brain you should make an appointment to do so! Your imagination is much more than a tool for pretending and playing – it can help you discover, create, and invent.

(If you're interested in the Lifelong Project and want to set your own goals you should attend my upcoming Lifelong Project workshop hosted by Ball State University in Indianapolis on March 20, 2009.)