Are you aware that your life consists of a cluster of projects in various roles that you play? . In a recent interview with Dr. Hendrie Weisinger (aka, Dr. Hank), I discussed how Project Management (PM) isn’t just for Project Managers anymore and how it can benefit your life.

Dr. Hank is a world-renowned Psychologist, Speaker and Author with a weekly column in The Huffington Post. In the following excerpt from the interview—“The Importance of Project Management: An Interview with Terry Schmidt”—you will see how a little curiosity and experimentation can launch a career (or even restart one):

Dr. Hank: You have developed great expertise in Project Management. How did you get interested in this field?

Terry: My love of projects began in high school when I launched a small rocket loaded with guppies. That project earned national press coverage and motivated me to study aerospace engineering. During a summer internship at NASA, I devoured all the project and program management books in their library. This ignited my passion for Project Management and systems thinking, which considers how all the elements of large and complex systems work together to accomplish the big picture goal.

In a later career as a management consultant to developing nations, I witnessed the futility of piecemeal solutions to complex problems. For example, a project designed to reduce childhood mortality in Africa may provide inoculations and health education, but these good efforts will fail unless there is also access to clean water, which may not be part of the project. So we need to think, plan, and act from a larger perspective and address all the solution elements.

Given the nature of the problems we face today, it is essential to use systems thinking combined with Project Management.

Check out the full interview at this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hendrie-weisinger/the-importance-of project_b_395007.html Then feel free to post a comment about how PM relates to you and how apply PM concepts to manage your life.

 

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