A book needs to have a foreword. A foreword is a short introduction of the book done by a different person then the author. I was looking forward to ask CR7, one of my heroes, to write the foreword. “Cristiano Ronaldo, the famous Portuguese football player, interested to write your book foreword? How? Do you know him? We tried already to write a book with him, we were willing to pay him one million dollars and he rejected.” said an American specialist in books when I was looking for help to traditionally publish Project Your Life. This was the all point for me, how can someone like me, like some of you perhaps, can develop a strategy to get in contact with a superstar, as CR7 is. Imagine that we can achieve that dream of meeting our superhero, it would mean that we could be able to reproduce the same successful method to achieve even more important things in life.

The well-known footballer is a good example of what being a Project SEAL is.

Why Cristiano Ronaldo was important for me? To meet my hero? Achieve the mission impossible in reaching him? Not only that! The well-known footballer is a good example of what being a Project SEAL is about (Project SEAL is the skill defined in the level 2 of the Project Your Life book). In the documentary Ronaldo (Ronaldo 2015), which provides a close look at his life, we can see that he takes the foundation of Project SEAL seriously. At home, he reserves some time for himself, to relax and have enough sleep so that he can recover for the next day’s challenge. He takes care of what he eats and does not drink alcohol. He activates his body by doing push-ups and swimming. Although he doesn’t like to lose, CR7 does know how to put failure into perspective: “It is not life or death”, he says in the documentary. He also has several coaches to help in his continual development.

On the day that I was one step closer to reach CR7, I gave up.

When I occasionally met one of the most succesfull portuguese TV anchors of the moment, I immediately thought “this is my chance to reach CR7, she definitively might know how I can get access to him”. Nevertheless, on the day that I was one step closer to reach CR7, I gave up. I changed the plan. The thoughts that brought me the doubts that made me giving up were: “Why is that so much important for me to have CR7 writing me the foreword of the book? Just to proof to myself and others that when we want so much something, and we don’t give up, we can indeed achieve it?” It make some sense…but what is Cristiano to me? I have other heroes in my life, I also have Project ROLE models (Project ROLE model is the skill defined in the level 6 of the book) that are like heroes. And you know what? My ROLE model in Business, is the “CR7 of Business”! I reported to him at the beginning of my career and he is someone who changed my career path. I’m talking about João Paulo Oliveira. João Paulo Oliveira is, since 2015, CCO of The Navigator Company, but when I was working in Bosch Thermotechnology in Aveiro (2006-2012), he was the President (2002-2015) and Representative of Bosch Portugal.

Without João Paulo Oliveira, I might not have been today a Project Manager and the author of Project Your Life.

João Paulo Oliveira immediately agreed to write the foreword of Project Your Life (and the rest is history). Every time I read the foreword, I get emotional because it remembers me about the great time of working in Bosch and living in Aveiro and the real start of my professional career. Without João Paulo Oliveira, I might not have been today a Project Manager and the author of Project Your Life. In this article, I want to provide you, in first hand, an extract of the foreword that my ROLE model wrote:

“Our lives and our careers are a complex mixture of elements. We often feel that we are unable to be attentive to everything, that the complexity in which we live takes away the ability to focus on the essential and disconnect from the accessory. We feel unable to attend to everything around us when we are not sure about our purpose. A vision statement can help clarify your causes and can give you a sense of meaning and direction. “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable” – Seneca. That is the reason why it is essential to define a vision for our life, with clear goals, as we do in project management. It is a way to organize our long-term dreams and guide our actions when important decisions need to be made or to support us in specific moments of transition or at life’s crossroads that come up more and more spontaneously. It is also a way to help us find a better balance, in counterpoint to the stress that constantly threatens us. With stress, we lose a sense of control over what is happening in our life/career and reaction-based behavior. In contrast, when we move into a more balanced state, we have a sense of better internal control over what is happening in our life.

“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable” – Seneca.

The book that Tiago has just written is a universal document. It is an integrated perspective for any human being, regardless of his or her origin, geography, social position or profession. The book considers the three basic areas in any life – personal, family and professional life – and explains how to be successful in all of them through a method called “GROW POSITIVE”, based on project management, that he created and tested himself with results that are surprising even to him, and thus the book “Project Your Life” was born.” 

“The book that Tiago has just written is a universal document that considers the three basic areas in any life – personal, family and professional life – and explains how to be successful in all of them through a method called ‘GROW POSITIVE’”

Thank you so much João Paulo for everything that you brought into my professional life. Thank you also to my great colleagues from Bosch Thermotechnology.

---

Take aways: