In talking about personal agility I have to start somewhere, so I start my story straight out of high school and into the active duty U.S. Military. I spent 11 years in the military doing logistics, operations, and information technology. After honorably completing my years of service I transitioned into the civilian life and followed my love of information technology becoming a software administrator and web master. During my time working with enterprise companies I did some traditional project management and I was exposed to Agile and Waterfall.
Later due to the constant transitions that happen in information technology I ended up working at the other end of the spectrum with solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and now serial entrepreneurs. This is where it comes back around to Agile. I started working with the amazing Ben Sever. Ben is a serial entrepreneur and leader that understands the benefits of agility both professionally and personally. With the desire for the most optimized team performance he sent myself and other members of the team to Scrum training, that is where I met Maria Matarelli, best instructor ever! I became one with Agile. But it did not stop there, Ben wanted his team to have that balanced focus where both personal and professional life are generating the most optimal results. He sent myself and other members of the team to Personal Agility training with Maria Matarelli, an amazing class with a Rockstar instructor.
Did it help me, absolutely! Starting with what really matters and where do I spend my time I discovered what was important to me the most was not what I was focusing on. My work/life balance was not balanced at all.
This ties significantly into life in the military as well. As an active duty servicemember or as an entrepreneur you're always on a mission, a timeline, an objective that has to be completed before everything else. Sleeping, eating, family… who has time for that. Personal Agility is certainly the cure!
In my case family has always been a priority, however after annotating my daily life using the Personal Agility System (PAS) I discovered even I could do better. Like suddenly understanding the Matrix I was able to see where I was spending too much time or not enough time. I have become healthier due to focusing more on proper food and exercise, I spend more time doing family activities rather than volunteer activities. Work activities are more organized and prioritized resulting in less late nights. When I look at my life now I can say that I do have work/life balance thanks to the PAS.
My journey now is to let others know about personal agility and how it can help them have a better work/life balance. I especially see this being beneficial to my military brothers and sisters. As mentioned, in the military it's all about the mission. Family is often secondary. After the military many service members say they are going to enjoy more family time, but it is hard to break out of that mold you are used to and actually do it. You have to consciously make that decision to take action on true priorities. The PAS helps you figure out where you are at and what to change to get where you want to be, and I want to help them get there.
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