Project You: 8 easy steps for planning your career and social future after the pandemic.

Avoid risks and losses by planning the next steps of your personal and professional lives.

The business magazine the article was published in 2004.

In 2000 I met for the first time the top expert in project management, Paul Campbell Dinsmore, an American who was born in San Diego, California, and raised in Texas. He worked at Nasa and the UN before moving to Rio, where he lived for more than 60 years, passing away last October (2020). He leaves a legacy in project management knowledge. He is the author of an article published in 2002 in a Brazilian version of Forbes magazine that inspires professionals and high-level executives for a complete review of their professional and personal lives years ago.

Project You is a simple and efficient model used to organize your life and career’s next steps — the article’s author suggests you follow these eight steps to answer some questions about you and your life.

Step one: Find yourself out.

Mr. Dinsmore explains in the article that you’re the vital human resource; that’s why you’re the start point. Your first goal is to look inside yourself to answer who you are? Knowing it’s a challenging task, Mr.Dinsmore gives a list of questions that could help you.

Ask yourself:
Which are my principles values?
What are my strengths?
What can I improve?
What are the opportunities I could enjoy?
What threatens my plans?
How much of my time spent thinking of the past or double thinking about the past?
How much of my time, I spent thinking about the future, dreaming, waiting, and planning?
And about now, the present?

In the article, Mr. Dinsmore explains the importance of a holistic approach to putting all pieces of your life working together. Project management is the tool that will bring you to the career goal in your plan. The project management community’s best practices are reunited in a book of knowledge called project management’s Bible.

Step 2: Write down your Mission.

After all the reflection responding to Mr. Dinsmore’s questions, it’s time to write down your mission in a paper. In the article, he says, “Further than know who you are, knowing your “why” in life is also essential in building your project. “In another piece, he shares his life mission as an inspiration.

“My mission is to live in peace and generate spiritual and material prosperity for myself, my children, my family, my co-workers, and the people around me through a good example, loving and centered behavior, and the pursuit of personal and professional excellence.”

More evident are your dreams and goals in your mind; the better will be your mission.

Step 3: Make partnerships.

Don’t get yourself the illusion you can get your mission done only by yourself. Paul Dinsmore describes four partnership types,

1. Champion Stakeholders: your parents, managers, partners, people influence you.
2. Active Stakeholders: lifetime people you meet like childhood friends, former co-workers, people from your social groups.
3. Third-part stakeholder: your life insurance agent, a realtor, and all ones you hire to have your mission accomplished.

The success in your journey depends on the quality of your relationship with the stakeholders.

Step 4: Make a Vision

According to Paul Dinsmore, it’s time to make a vision for your entire life. A clear Vision will help establish the goals you want to reach in all phases below:

1. Short time: start it with a short time vision, projecting the next three years.
2. Medium time: plan for the next ten years considering your global idea and steps to achieve.
3. Long time: this phase goes till your retirement times. Make goals in all areas of your life, integrating family, work, health, and other of your dreams. Mr. Dinsmore advises in his article, the plan and goals can be adjusted after one year when you’ll check your short time goals performance.
4. Golden Years: think about your retirement and make a plan for this phase of your life too.

Step 5: Manage your time.

During a personal or global crisis, make sure you want to spend more time thinking of solutions than being stuck to the problems. Remember, it’s the vital project of your life; dedicate the time it deserves.

Step 6: Manage your finances

1. Find out what resources (monetary, human, material, intellectual) will need your life activities.
2. Illustrated the costs needed for your plan and prepare a plan to control the use of money.
3. Consider adding 10% or 20% to your total budget for unexpected events.
4. Control the expanding tracking it to compare to your financial plan.

Step 7: Consider the risks.

“In private life, as to corporate projects, risks exist and need to be managed. Therefore, adopt the model used in large companies and start by identifying risks and coming from them. There are risks related to health, financial issues, force majeure disasters, among others. Keep in mind the risks that can affect you and develop appropriate responses to them.” Paul Dinsmore.

Purchasing the right health insurance and insurance policies is an excellent way to deal with these threats. Not be sure to reassess your policies from time to time. After all, as the saying goes: insurance died of oldness.”, explains Mr. Dinsmore thought the article.

Step 8: Bring all together.

Your final task is to bring all of it together. The article gives directions.

“Now, you need to make sure that all areas are managed at the same time. Start by joining the parts of Projeto Você in a single document. Follow the outlined plans, using tools like electronic diaries or handheld computers to get better organized. And, already that changes are inevitable, try to make plans that have enough elasticity to be changed.”

Finally, don’t forget that no life project is worthwhile if it doesn’t have quality. In other words: you must be happy.” Paul Dinsmore.