The Power of Belief

Whether you believe you would succeed or not in your endeavors and projects - you are right. Similar to the saying "what you eat is what you are" - what you truly believe will be will be.

I have read and heard so many stories that centers on the power of belief - the miner that never stopped believing he will one day find gold and after 17 years - he did and for each day of that 17 years he never stopped believing - or the story of the lottery winner who said that 2 months before she one it - she believed 100% that she will win and the belief was so strong that she actually won the amount she believed she would win - 100,000. Just read around - the stories are all over if you open your eyes to them. So many of them that it can't be just a matter of luck or due to chance encounters. It can only be because of one thing - a strong belief - faith.

The same goes with those projects that seem to be way over what you are capable of or too career risking or too complex or too difficult. They are what they are because you already convinced yourself early on that they carry those characteristics. If you believe though that whatever gets thrown at you - you would make yourself succeed then congratulation - you are already on your way.

A lot of people want to believe and a lot more would claim they tried it and it never happened. Doubt is the enemy because doubt paralyzes potential and prevents success.

Don't be a victim of doubt - believe - have faith - and it will be.

The Project Management Circus: Act 3 - The Juggler

The juggler is one of the most common acts in the circus as it is in project management.

How many times has a project manager been thrown into a situation that he only does not need to balance between scope, cost and schedule but balance as well his emotions vs leadership, balance between his team's productivity vs team morale  - even balance between himself vs his project? Somehow the idea of juggling a chainsaw, a bowling ball, a torch, a 60 lb jug and an axe while blindfolded and riding a unicycle - on a tightrope seems simpler to do right?

The key to success in this act is to always know what are the things up in the air (the tasks), what is the first thing you need to catch(what is the priority), when do you need to catch it (the schedule), how will you catch each one without hurting yourself(the process) and should you be the one to catch it in the first place (the skill of working the matris).Most importantly - always trust that your knowledge will carry you through and this is where experience comes in. The more experience you have in balancing all the aspects of a project - the more the act becomes second nature to you - so much so that you can manage to wow the crowd even when you are blindfolded.

Lesson learned - don't shy away from project tasks that seem bigger than you think you can do now - always believe in your ability to stretch your comfort zone and you will soon find yourself juggling not only tasks - but juggling several million dollar projects all at the same time.

And the Sponsors Said "Let There Be...A Project". And There Was.

Everusince I was a young boy, around age 7, I have always been drawn to the power of the engineer to create something...a bridge, a house, a new material..even the next type of fuel. My favorite toy was even the LEGO.

I was so attracted to the idea of creation that I eventually graduated from the university with a Mechanical Engineering degree, finished 4th on the National Board Examination and I was so excited when I created my first professional design in Autocad and I saw it constructed and working - it is like fatherhood in a way when you see your creations at work.

I eventually entered the field of Information Technology due to its promised career acceleration and for awhile I missed the adrenaline rush of creation ..until my career eventually took a turn and I started managing projects.

Project creation and management brings back the thrill of creation for me. You start out with an idea - a thought. You then proceed with defining the framework on how to realize the project benefits..create your team..draw up the project plan and execute it to completion.

I am so addicted to the thought of project success that I envision it fully from the start and I guess that is one of the things that I learned from being an engineer - you have to see your final product in your mind even before you begin lifting your pencil to draw.

I have always lived by three words since I was an engineer and these words still carry me to success today - Conceive...Believe...Achieve.

And My Knees Still Shake...

Today is another workshop day and this time for project requirements that require the participation of several global representatives from different regions.

I have participated in several of these in my lifetime. I coordinated several of these and I led several of these types of workshops as well and today was the simplest one I will participate in in the past 3 years - I only need to welcome the team, give them the vision of the end result, tell them why this project is important to the company, my team, and me and yet - my knees still shook prior to the talk - the same knees that shook during my first ever public talk. This time though - there is a difference. I knew it would happen and I knew how to control it.

Unknown to my team, I was actually preparing for the 30 minutes of talk for a few days now - forming the structure in my head, deciding what I needed to say and what I need to accomplish. I probably played the whole thing in my head for several hours already- each time tweaking - each time enhancing - I made sure I knew what my message should be, how to impress that message to the audience I knew would be there and ensure they leave knowing how important the project is and more importantly, how important they are in ensuring its success.

That is my mission - get them not just on board the boat - but rowing - rowing like no man has rowed before - rowing with a determination to reach the destination I need us to reach with ferocity and perseverance.

I need them to be partners, not spectators. I need them to be fully engaged, not a temporal being. I need them to know that without them, this project will not succeed. I need them to know that they are the team that will see this to the end - and that we will succeed together or fail as one.

I know that during this project, as the rest I led, problems will pop up, conflicts will happen but after today - they all know that we are all responsible for each other, for the project and for the company.

My knees shake no more...