For those of you who don’t read every single thing I write (what’s wrong with you?) EBER is my Early to Bed / Early to Rise Project… which isn’t even an official project yet because I only just formulated the idea — this is what beach vacations are good for.
So think of this as a pre-start-start of the project… and kind of a user’s guide for those who want to follow along.
PMPM
For those of you who might be new, PMPM is practical magic project management. It’s a way of leveraging the tools of classical project management for use in practical enchantment. But like regular project management, PMPM is technique agnostic. That means that you apply these skills to any kind of enchantment you prefer from witchcraft to chaos magic to Goetia. Just like I can use my PM skills to help create software, design a garden, support clients, make hardware, and so on. You do need to know something about these things in order to manage a project for one of them, but the PM skills themselves will still work (or likely a subset will be right — learning which ones to pick comes from experience).
That said, I recommend a few different magical tools in your box:
- Divination: I like the tarot, but any kind of objective technique is fine
- Spellcraft: the ability to pull together some enchantment on the fly will come in handy at leveraging the odds — doesn’t matter what flavor you like
- Spirit connection: work with a God? ancestors? local land spirits? demons? you will likely want some noncorporeal folk on your project team (when in doubt find a friendly dead relative)
- Timing: I don’t care if you are lunar, solar, stellar, or planetary — a sense of WHEN to do things is as important as what to do so find a system that works for you and work it
- Symbol manipulation: sigils are an obvious contender, but magic words, mandalas, knots, runes, etc. all work — this is great for branding and keeping a consistent symbol set for a long project
Duration
My project is a three year project (scheduled to end in the summer of 2020) for a couple of reasons:
1. My kid has three more years of high school, after which we will have more flexibility to move or make changes
2. Armstrong has identified the very start of 2020 as a turning point on his business cycle
3. 2020 corresponds with a minimum in the solar cycle
4. Mumble mumble, proprietary work stuff
That makes sense to me but your mileage may vary. This is going to be a very long project though, so my posts will reflect that.
Your project should have a rough duration as well. Is there a natural stopping point in the future for this? Maybe by the time you graduate, get your kid through college (or into kindergarten), or determine that your current industry will be dead or changed? Three years is probably going to be around the maximum for this sort of thing (longer is harder). If nothing comes to mind, divine on it. But you do need a project with the scope to support the duration. This is important. Spending three years trying to “eat better” is too little while trying to change your life in a weekend is way, way too much (so much for the self-help lecture circuit industry). My three years is for a major life change and redirection with very little knowledge at the start.
Mission, Values, Vision
Yes, we will have tasks. And we will make goals. And we will discuss the difference between the two — at length — because this is something that’s hard to get right. But we aren’t even there yet!
Entities like corporations and charities have missions (who they are and what they do), values (how they do what they do), and visions (what they want to become). We’ll talk more about this very shortly, but to start think about your vision for this project. Forget boring corporate statements and out-of-the box synergistic leveraging competencies nonsense. Just sit quietly and picture what you want to become (or what you want your household, group, etc. to become). It can be general, specifics are for later, but have some starting point. It is a real career instead of a job? A house of your own? Kids launched successfully in the world? Financial independence? Retirement to a boat or RV or nudist commune?
My vision for my project includes living someplace more rural and being healthy, prosperous, and ready and able to deal with changes and risks. That’s it (hence the healthy, wealthy, wise thing).
That’s my elevator pitch for Project Early to Bed, Early to Rise. My vision for what I want three years down the line. Too many more specifics will just get me into trouble right now. I don’t KNOW exactly what this destination looks like, but that’s where I know I want to go.
Finally
Please read this if you haven’t already. It’s important to have the correct mindset for the work we’re embarking on (and yeah, I know I wrote it, but I also reread it regularly).
