{"id":5988,"date":"2011-02-21T06:48:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T13:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5988"},"modified":"2011-02-20T11:06:50","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T18:06:50","slug":"4-secret-weapons-in-the-battle-for-your-project-management-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5988","title":{"rendered":"4 Secret Weapons in the Battle for Your Project Management Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time you contemplate what you need to do to take over the world<\/span> further your project management career, do you get a sinking feeling in your stomach?
\n\"CIA<\/a>
\nDo you worry that it won\u2019t be enough, or that you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fear that many beginning project managers know well; the fear that you won\u2019t be prepared when opportunity comes.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is a process you can follow to combat this fear.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take some work\u2026are you ready to start?<\/p>\n

Describe the End State<\/h2>\n

Just as with any project, you should create a crystal clear picture of what the end state should look like.\u00a0 You won\u2019t know all of the specifics, but you can pick out a handful of things that are very important to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.\u201d
\n\u2014\u00a0Zig Ziglar<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These are your anchor points.\u00a0 Document them somehow, in some way that you will see them often as a constant reminder of the goal you are trying to achieve. They will change over time, and that\u2019s OK.\u00a0 As you learn more, you will discover new desired goals to conquer.<\/p>\n

Consistent, Sustainable Action<\/h2>\n

Baby steps.<\/p>\n

If there is one thing I\u2019ve learned over the years through organizational change management, personal productivity studies, and continuous improvement methodologies, it is this:<\/p>\n

Consistent, sustainable action is what creates progress. This is a marathon, not a sprint.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Set aside 15 minutes a day that is solely reserved for doing something to progress you towards you goals.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t try to conquer the world in a day.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be surprised how much progress you\u2019ve made when you look back a year from now.<\/p>\n

Limit Work in Progress (WIP)<\/h2>\n

Fighting on too many fronts at once will result in failure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can\u2019t read 10 books, do\u00a0project management training, and go for your\u00a0PMP<\/a> certification while attending night classes all at the same time.\u00a0 Trying to do so will result in a less sustainable and less powerful effort on all of these battle fronts.<\/p>\n

Remember your description of the end state?\u00a0 With that in mind, prioritize the things you want to do on your way to success.\u00a0 Start with the most important one, and work your way down the list.<\/p>\n

Seek Inspiration<\/h2>\n

This isn\u2019t just about gaining knowledge and experience in project management.<\/p>\n

You also need to stay inspired.\u00a0 You need someone who will \u2018get your motor running\u2019 when it comes to the goals you are going after.<\/p>\n

The sources of inspiration are many.\u00a0 In the early years, I gained inspiration from sources like the\u00a0Project Management Podcast<\/a> and interacting with project managers from around the world online through this blog, forums, etc.\u00a0 Other sources of inspiration included my exuberant professor and friends who were just as passionate about project management as I was.<\/p>\n

I was so inspired, you couldn\u2019t get me to shut up about project management.\u00a0 (Oh wait, you still can\u2019t)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that I\u2019ve been doing this for many years, I gain inspiration through helping budding project managers through my\u00a0project management training and interacting with them via this blog and the many forums and other blogs I frequent. My teams also serve as a great source of inspiration as I work with them on tools like Kanban to get better and better at what we do, every day.<\/p>\n

Little by little.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time you contemplate what you need to do to take over the world further your project management career, do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[899],"tags":[900,669],"class_list":["post-5988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-2","tag-project-management-career","tag-project-manager-career"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}