How to project manage personal goals like health and wellness.
A physical transformation can quickly become a daunting project. In today’s world, wellness seems like a full-time job. We know self-care is important but where do you get the energy and time to take care of yourself so that you have more energy to tackle everything else in life?
Taking a strategic approach to wellness positions you well for success. Start by thinking about what wellness looks like for you. It can be tempting to scroll through Instagram or Pinterest and decide practicing yoga every day is a brilliant idea – but will that really work for you? Will that practice hold your interest for the next 3 weeks or 3 years? Do you have all of the equipment you need to become an expert yogi?
Wellness is usually a combination of things that may include diet, exercise, sleep, and, spirituality or mental and emotional wellness. Let’s take a project management approach here and break each of those out into a series of tasks and sub-tasks:
- Diet
- buy healthy foods
- meal prep 1 x week, Sunday night
- track meals in MyFitnessPal
- Exercise
- work out at least 4 x week
- renew gym membership
- Orange Theory 4 x month
- Sleep
- set bedtime reminder
- sleep from 10pm-6am, weekends too!
- Spiritual/Mental/Emotional
- Journal
- Make time for reading
- Regular meditation
After that, take the first pass at your plan and figure out which tasks are immediately actionable.
- Diet
- buy healthy foods
- meal prep 1 x week, Sunday night
- track meals in MyFitnessPal
- Exercise
- work out at least 4 x week
- renew gym membership
- Orange Theory 4 x month
- Sleep
- set bedtime reminder
- sleep from 10pm-6am, weekends too!
- Spiritual/Mental/Emotional
- Journal
- Make time for reading
- Regular meditation
Now, with a narrowed scope as outlined above, you have a list of action items that can easily be completed on day one, or in the first few days if you need a bit more time. Carve out an hour to go grocery shopping (if you’re feeling extra motivated, take this opportunity to clear any foods that don’t fit into this plan from your fridge and pantry). Make sure your memberships are paid up and set a bedtime reminder on your phone. Take a few minutes to set up your journal next to the bed or in a place where it’s easily accessible and create or tidy a space so that it is meditation ready! In this phase, the objective is to remove as many barriers as possible to complete each task on time.
It will be important to review your plan daily and consider which action items you need to incorporate into your day. Be sure to take time to reflect each day or each week on your progress. It is important to recognize tasks you completed on time and where there may be an opportunity for improving the next day or next week.
I hope this high-level overview of a wellness plan might shape up. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be thoughtful about what will work for you and what will fit into your lifestyle. It is also important to consider this a plan that may evolve over time. As seasons change you may need to move your workout from the inside the gym to outside on the trail. If finances become a challenge, you may need to find ways to achieve your goals at lower or no cost – and that’s ok! A good project plan is just the beginning. Once you have your initial plan, making modifications as your requirements change is easy, or much easier than starting from scratch.