The Agile Life: Setting Your Vision

According to the agile project management system, it is necessary to begin by setting the vision and scope of the project. Applying this to living a happy and fulfilled life is easy.

What is the vision of your life? What is your purpose? What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish? What is your life mission?

Pastor Craig Strickland, in Memphis, Tennessee occasionally would caution people regarding climbing the ladder of success too hastily. "Sometimes," he would say, "people spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to, once at the top, realize their ladder was leaning against the wrong wall!"

So, what is the vision for your life? What is the mission you hope your life will accomplish? Over they years I have discussed life vision and mission frequently. Your visions must grow out of your fundamental understanding of your purpose as a person in the universe.

What is your "why behind all other whys"? 

What do you believe gives meaning and direction to life? From that… and if you are to be ultimately content with life, from only that must come your life mission and vision.

It's hard work, but it is essential to figure all this out on the front end.

The Agile Life Preview

Whereas "agile" was an approach originally applied to developing software, it is, from time to time, being adapted to other uses. The "Agile Life" series that will follow this preview will look at the processes used in agile and apply them to living life better.

So, this is not going to be a series teaching you how to use agile. 

What it is going to be is a look at the steps in the agile process as they could apply to living better. For instance, in agile, you begin with a project definition—a scope of what will be included in the total, final, end product. This, I will argue, is like your life mission; your purpose for being.

Join me in this little exploration! Could your life be better, and if so, could applying some of it to how you live your life improve your situation?

Stick around, and let's find out!

An Agile Approach to Life

Suppose we looked at life as a project. And what if we decided to manage our life using the "agile" approach?

An agile approach—to follow the industry usage, I should just say—agile is a technique of managing a process where the focus is on specific, incremental steps where each step plays a specific and necessary part in reaching the larger goal. (I probably just infuriated the agile experts with this gross generalization!)

What if we looked at life that way? What if we managed our life using an agile approach?

Instead of setting out to become rich, we set out to pay off one credit card? We know that a diploma is our long term gaol, so applying to a program that offers that diploma is the first step. Instead of looking at the end-goal, we pay attention to the first step, with our eyes on the next step to follow.

In the near future, I'll be talking about this idea, so stick around. Maybe an agile approach to life will work for you!

One Day At A Time

Change happens for many reasons. Sometimes, it is the result of a decision. Sometimes it is forced upon you by circumstances you cannot control.

Often, the upheaval caused by change is very challenging. Sometimes, change leaves you feeling overwhelmed, confused, and unclear about what to do first.

Chances are you have some big-picture idea of what normal will eventually become. But getting from where you are to where you see things going can be difficult.

But you can persevere. Just take things as they come, and keep going, making sure everything lines up with where you're trying to end up.

In the face of change, sometimes getting to the new normal takes a lot of effort. Just push on and take things one day at a time.