My youngest child just completed an incredible task. . .they achieved their Black Belt in Taekwondo. The belt itself is nothing significant. It is made of multiple layers of cotton and thread tightly wound together for a sturdy band. It’s solid black and has my child's name stitched into the one end. What it represents is 6 years of toil, sacrifice and more than a few injuries. To say they have shed blood, sweat and tears is an understatement; I have shed those as well and yet never even stepped inside the gym with them.

I think that great accomplishments are great due to the pain and sacrifices they so often require to achieve. Without the pain, would the accomplishment mean as much? The first belt you receive in Taekwondo is white and so means nothing compared to black but the colour is not what gives the belt its value. If they gave out black belts without the effort, they would cease to be as special.

Everyday is a belt level of accomplishment. Everyday that we breathe, work, live, laugh and take part on the planet is an accomplishment. It is not contrite or silly to state this. It is true. If what has occurred on the planet in the last 2 years has taught us anything, it MUST be that life is a gift itself. 

As a part of the black belt process, my child had to write an essay detailing their personal journey to the accomplishment and how they see it serving them in the future. When they read the essay to me, I heard them explain that Taekwondo would continue to be their ‘silence in the storm’ of life. I was dumbfounded at the depth of that statement and also the articulation of what this sturdy band of multiple layers of cotton represented to them.

What tools have you equipped yourself with to help you silence the storms that come in work and life? It can be specific like a discipline of a martial art, it can be a deeply held spiritual belief, it can be a process that you’ve learned and are committed to execute in those moments when you need it. All of us need something to help bring us silence in the storm as the storm is always coming.

As a PM, my silence in the storm can often be the plans I’ve made. I can look to them as the anchoring perspective in the midst of the storm. However, if I fixate on my plans too much, I can lose the agility to change throughout the storm so the project can withstand it or, dare I hope, leverage it to an advantage.

If our accomplishments require weathering storms, what is your silence in the midst of them?

a.k.a. The Feisty PM