Project Lessons from the Weight Room

Last week I achieved a major victory: I squatted 225 pounds and bench pressed 185. These weights are not even semi-serious power lifting numbers; the record holders are quite safe from me. But they represent a significant personal milestone and reinforce some basic lessons in business and projects.

Above: Me with 225 pounds. Trust me. It went back up!

About a year ago I was challenged by a friend to increase my bench press to 185 pounds. I have never felt strong, in spite of spending a lot of time worrying about it and “working out” (turns out I wasted a lot of time, but more on that in a little bit), but he seemed pretty confident I could do it, which made me confident.

Being a 21st-century creature, the first thing I did was an internet search on "how to increase bench press" and found a simple beginner program (https://stronglifts.com/) complete with an app and a website full of background information.

Long story short, a year later (okay 14 months), not only did I bench press 185 pounds, but I also squatted 225 pounds (when I started this program I would have been quite happy to squat 135 easily, and now that weight is for warming up!).

Along the way, I learned that improving in weight lifting involves more than, well, lifting weights, and these lessons are applicable to any goal that you set out for yourself and your team: have goals, have a plan, plan small increments, listen to the experts, and persist!

• Goals: Have Some

Kind of simplistic, but if you do not have a goal, you will not achieve it. This is true not only in the weight room but in any project or business initiative. As has been exhaustively written elsewhere, goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely, or "SMART.” It is also important to have the NEXT goal defined before you get to the first one. For example, I surprised myself by squatting 225 pounds when I did (I thought I was still a couple of months out from this milestone), so I had to think about defining my NEXT goal (BTW, it's squatting 315 pounds within 2 years). 

Projects normally have defined scopes and goals, but sometimes business process improvement initiatives can flounder with vague goals. Instead of a vague goal (improve procurement) be SMART (reduce PO processing time from requisition to PO by 50%).

• Plan: Have One

Have a plan on how to reach the goal. Simple is good. One of the reasons I liked the weight lifting program I found was that it is REALLY simple. The exercise sequences and weight progressions are simple, and it also has some basic rules on what to do when I fail a set. Not only did I know what I was doing for my next workout, but I also had a really good idea what I would be doing for the workout in 2 months.

All projects and initiatives need a plan. Don't skip the plan just because it's a simple project - just have a simple plan to help keep yourself and the team knowing what is to happen from day-to-day and week-to-week.

• Increments: Start Small

You are not going to hit your goal the first week, or month, or maybe even year (see above on "Plan"). In my case, I started bench pressing the bar with 10 pounds on each side. I felt like an idiot, but adding 5 pounds each bench day (30 pounds a month) gets the weight up pretty quickly. And, starting small enables you to get your form right before the weight gets heavy enough to hurt you...

It’s the same for projects and initiatives. The first week's increment may be to "develop plan" (see above!), the second week may be "assemble team," and so on, and so forth. Don't plan to go from zero to 500 design drawings in one week. Do a few and figure out what the production rate is, then figure out when you can finish 500.

• Listen to the Experts: When In Doubt, Check Your Form!

There were a LOT of times during my training when something felt wrong or I was simply stuck. Most of the time, I found that I was DOING SOMETHING WRONG! I was messing up simple movements because I followed the conventional wisdom that I had picked up over the years instead of actually learning from reputable sources (e.g. do NOT inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up; take a big breath at the top and HOLD IT). The agreed-upon, best-way form is what has worked over time for a LOT of people. Deviate from it at your peril! Actually in weight lifting, bad form is a good way to get hurt. When something hurt during or after a workout, I normally found again: bad form.

Likewise, in projects and business, if you cannot have the luxury of experts working for you who have done similar projects before, at least seek their advice and opinion and give your team time to learn new skills.

• Persistence: A Lousy Workout is Infinitely Better Than No Workout

Think about it mathematically: if you do any workout, your gain is greater than zero; whereas if you skip, your gain is zero. The ratio of any number to zero is infinitely large (1/0). So, no matter if I slept poorly, did not have enough time to finish everything, was a little sick, etc., I learned to get my @$$ into the weight room. The only caveat would be an injury that you need to rest (thankfully that never happened to me, but see above on "Form").

The same goes in business: some days it just does not seem worthwhile to get out of bed. The big boss is mad, the invoice is messed up, there are product quality issues, and everyone is mad at everyone else. Take a breath, fix what you can, and accept that there are days like this. It's why you get paid!

• Wrapping Up

I hope you found the above at least entertaining, and hopefully informative. Who knows, I may write again when I hit my next set of goals. You know, as you advance, weight lifting cycles are measured in weeks...is there a link to Scrum somewhere here???