7 Project Management Quotations to Live By

Every once in a while you need to step back from the day-to-day routine and look at the big picture. Or just let your mind wander like mine does occasionally and look at various project management quotations that are good to live by. [How Many Fluid Ounces Are in a Gallon of Water?](https://firsteducationinfo.com/how-many-fluid-ounces-are-in-a-gallon-of-water/) they do have broader takeaways you can apply to your work.
This one has to top any project management list and it comes via “Everyone has a plan – until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson once said.

Actually, good project managers assume they are going to be punched in the face and plan for it. Let me just say I hope none of you ever get punched in the face with the force Tyson could generate in his prime.

Simplicable also cites a proverb that says, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” In other words, you can overplan. Sometimes you just need to pull the trigger and get going.

It also quotes another proverb: Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. I’m not sure that’s an actual proverb but how frustrating is it to see your well-laid plans crushed by someone else’s emergency (that’s really not)? The next time someone claims it’s an emergency, just attain an inner peace and quote the proverb. Who knows? It might just confuse them enough.

[How Many Fluid Ounces in a Gallon of Water?](https://theeducationjourney.com/how-many-fluid-ounces-in-a-gallon-of-water/)

The Sources of Insight blog offers these pearls of wisdom. It quotes Mark Ardis who said, “A {specification, design, procedure, test plan} that will not fit on one page cannot be understood.” That may not be entirely possible but how about creating executive summaries of your project plans that do fit onto one page? You’ll often need to go into more detail than one page can provide but your stakeholders will appreciate conciseness.

Just because I’m a huge Mickey Mouse fan, I have to include a quotation from Walt Disney. He said, “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.” Granted, that’s a tough thing to accomplish if you’re narcissistic, but sharing the praise comes in handy when it’s time to take the blame.

[How Many Fluids Oz in a Gallon of Water?](https://higheducationhere.com/how-many-fluids-oz-in-a-gallon-of-water/) writes in his blog that you should ask yourself as a project manager how frequently you recognize people. He said, “I have long since held the view that it is easier to motivate a person by simply saying ‘thank you’, rather than the demotivating impact of not!”

A quotation from Isaac Asimov, quoted at the University of California Santa Clara website has this great observation: “Working ten hour days allows you to fall behind twice as fast as you could working five hour days.” I used to have a woman who worked for me who would put in long hours. She would proclaim, “I can’t work any harder.” Yet she never seemed to accomplish anything that reflected her efforts. So we developed a plan that made her work smarter and she put in less hours with more results.

For some reason, proverbs jumped out at me a lot while researching this article. I liked this Chinese proverb, also via the UCSC site: “When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.” Think how that could apply for your career. Ongoing training and education is going to serve your career best. Shallow efforts just lead to shallow results.

OK, maybe shallow results is too harsh of a phrase. But when it comes to choosing between the long-term and the short-term, just decide where your efforts are better expended. Sometimes it’s on short-term results and sometimes it’s better focusing on the long-term.

Then again, the world does need trees, too. Oxygenating your career can mean just looking 10 years down the road.