Why You Need to Manage Life as a Project (Entrepreneurship – Project Management)

With Taopheek Babayeju

Just like any other project, life is a unique endeavour that has a defined scope (you can’t be everything), with limited resources (you can’t have it all) and a specific timeline (you are here for an appointed time, no one lives forever).

You are the Project Manager of your life project, and you have several other project stakeholders like your family, friends, community, society, and humanity in general. Nevertheless, you are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the project. How you manage your life project, to a considerable extent, affects the other stakeholders, so you need to be deliberate about your life and considerate of how it affects them.

Now, let us assume that you have been appointed a Project Manager and given a lifetime opportunity to deliver a very important project with obvious constraints such as scope, time and limited resources. I believe that your first responsibility would be to determine or figure out exactly how you want to achieve success and further win the confidence of your Project Sponsor, right?

In this case, your life is the project, and it cannot be any different from other projects. You need to figure out how to succeed and make the best out of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you have. Below are the critical steps you need to take in order to chart a path of success for your life.

Creating Your Own Life Project

Be Clear
You are here for a purpose. There is a strategic reason behind your existence and you need to find it to give your life a meaning and direction. That way, you are not lost in the crowd. You need to have clarity about WHY you are here. It requires a lot of reasoning. You may not have all the answers, but you need some level of clarity to solve the puzzle called Life.

Set your goals
Once you have achieved clarity and a sense of direction, you need to set goals of the things you need to achieve to attain fulfilment. This is the place to dream and set your different goals and aspirations – financial goals, professional goals, relationship goals, social and other goals. Without goals, there is nothing by which to measure growth and progress. With goals, you break your big dream into bits that you can tackle per time; and the more goals you accomplish, the closer to your destination you get.

Determine your values
At the core of everything is your values – the things that matter most to you, what you stand for; because if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. In trying to achieve your goals, you need to be clear on the things that you would not compromise or trade, whatever the cost or seeming reward.

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Assess your reality
To achieve your goals, it is crucial to be in touch with your current reality, your current state, and the resources available to fulfil your objectives. Every project requires the right support for implementation: people, time, money, skills, knowledge, tools and so on. This is where you identify the gaps that need closing.
However, this is not to limit you, but to ensure that you close the gaps by equipping yourself with the resources required to achieve your set goals.
Make the right decisions
Life is all about choices and decisions. At this point, you need to make the necessary decision to achieve your desired results by vividly articulating your course of action, determine the timelines with which you intend to achieve your objectives, and choose who plays what role in your master plan. Nonetheless, be flexible on your journey.

Act
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” – Newton’s Third Law of Physics.
It is not enough to plan or to decide; it is imperative to act – especially at the right time. There is an effect and consequence of every action and inaction. The ability to execute your plan is what makes the difference. An imperfect plan that is executed is better than a perfect plan on paper – if that even exists, that is. Done will always trump perfect. So, once you have a measure of clarity with your set goals, have assessed your available resources, decided on your best course of action in sync with your values, ACT IMMEDIATELY!

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This article is adapted from the book UNLOCK: The Secrets To A Winning Life by Taopheek BABAYEJU
Taopheek Babayeju - CEO, iCentra.

Taopheek Babayeju is an author, visionary leader, and transformation expert with over 25 years of multidisciplinary experience spanning strategy execution, project, program, and portfolio management, PMO delivery, technology consulting, information security, change and risk management, business agility, as well as organizational and digital transformation. His broad expertise positions him as a leading force in innovation and enterprise transformation.
A proud alumnus of Lagos State University and Lagos Business School, Taopheek has furthered his education through executive programs at Harvard Business School and IESE Business School, and holds several globally recognized certifications — a testament to his commitment to excellence and lifelong learning.
Passionate about developing people and transforming organizations for impact and sustainability, Taopheek’s influence has been felt across sectors and continents.
In 2024, he made history as the first African to be named PMI Eric Jenett Person of the Year — a prestigious global recognition for leadership and strategic business excellence.
Taopheek is a member of the Forbes Business Council, a startup advisor, and an angel investor. He is also a contributor at Forbes Magazine and a columnist at BusinessDay newspaper amongst others.
@taopheek on all platforms