Make everyday a project

24 hours has just been deposited into your life account, how are you going to spend it?
Each day we wake up to face a new day of possibilities and promise. Most times, we already have a fair
idea of what we want to accomplish before the day is over. However, how much do we actually
accomplish?
Do we meet our targets? Were our objectives Specific, Measurable, Attainable,Realistic and did we set a
Time frame?
The simple issue really is that we aren't managing each day as efficiently as we could. I believe that we
can take a more scientific, project based approach to managing each day. In fact, I believe that each day
IS a project.
According to the PMBOK Guide (www.pmi.org), a project is:
a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or
result
Each day we live on this earth fits this description - each day is temporary; we endeavor to seize it
(Carpe diem anyone?); and each day produces some unique result.
Similar to a day, projects have their constraints, the most popular of which are referred to as the "triple
constraints" of time, cost and scope (work to be done).

Managing these constraints may enable us to get the quality result that we desire out of the project.
Likewise, if we aim to manage our daily constraints we may get greater quality out of each day.
A key aspect of project management is to skillfully balance these constraints, as they have a direct effect
on each other. For example, reducing the time, can increase the cost and possibly reduce the scope,
likewise increasing the scope can increase the time and cost.
So how do we manage these constraints?

Time
Unfortunately, this constraint is the least flexible as we're all given the same 24 hours per day. What we
can do however is to manage our time efficiently by managing our sleep cycles, managing our leisure
time, managing our work time and accounting for any "lost" time.
Decomposition or breaking down our time into smaller, more manageable (and accountable) portions
can help.

Cost
In this context cost is not only considered as dollars and cents but what we sacrifice to achieve our daily
goals. Doing a simple Cost-Benefit Analysis for each task we undertake can help us to determine if we're
spending more than we're gaining.
To make our project successful we should determine the very least we're willing to accept or the very
most we're willing to sacrifice to achieve our goals. This helps us to focus on the work (or scope) that we
need to be doing.

Scope
Scope is defined as all the work and only the work needed to complete the project. Many projects
fail due to "scope creep" which occurs when work is continuously added to the project without proper
management, leading to the project losing its original focus and delays.
Most of us usually finish the day with a lot of stuff left undone meaning that scope creep takes place.
Always keep an up to date to-do list handy with all the stuff that youNEED to do and ONLY those items.
Resist the temptation to do more while sacrificing what you really need to do (maybe set priorities?).
More work equals greater costs.

The conclusion of the matter

The time we have in a day may be fixed, so to get the quality we want out of our daily project we need
to carefully manage our costs (what we sacrifice/goals not aimed for) and our scope (what we actually
do).
It may sound hard at first but managing each day as a project can provide many benefits.
Don't be shy, share your thoughts, suggestions and lessons learned in the comments below. I always
look forward to learning something new each day.