My daughter’s first birthday was July 24th. I was in denial so I did not start thinking about the party plans until June. This was my first mistake because I had no idea how much planning it took to take a vision and turn it into reality. In the eyes of the guests, the party was a success, but being the perfectionists that I am and knowing what the vision actually was I felt it was a failure.
Being the creative person that I am and the fact that it was my daughter’s birthday I wanted to make her invitations and her cake myself. I also wanted to rent a place and decorate the place according to the theme I had chosen. It was in the planning process that I feel the failure started. I had never thrown a party before and especially not one of that magnitude. There were over 100 people on the guest list and the entire event was on my shoulders. I was unprepared for the details that it was going to take because I had waited too long due to my denial. It also does not help that I am indecisive and that I would spend hours in the store contemplating decorations for the venue as well as for the cake.
Although I did not have to manage other people, managing an event in itself was a learning experience that I feel I can apply to many other areas. Planning and preparation is the key to any success whether it is business or personal.
Shenice,
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine planning a party for 100 people. However, even with your procrastination, it sounds like you did okay. I agree that allowing enough time is a great stress reliever. Most times we are our own worst critic. Perfectionism is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways. It is an elusive state that is usually obtained at a great price to the seeker in terms of health,self-esteem and self-doubt, and relationships. This comes from lessons learned through personal experience. For most people "good enough" will suffice.
Shenice,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. With my wife's disability I have found myself playing the "mother's" roll on a number of occasions, including planning birthday parties for children. My plans have come together well, always to my amazement. My "secret" is that I don't do anything alone. I talk with people. I ask for advice. When people offer to help, as they invariably do when you ask them for advice, I take them up on their offers. I must admit, one of the keys to making this approach work is to be thankful and accepting of whatever happens. My vision of the final result often does not resemble what actually happens, but that's because I let plans take a life of their own. When I have specific parameters that I insist upon, those plans come together just fine. Getting back to project management principles, I think the lesson of my experience is to delegate and communicate, and to the extent that you have specific objectives, don't compromise on those objectives.
Shenice,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about your experience planning your daughter's first birthday party. My son will be celebrating his first birthday next month, so it seems I better get busy with the planning. I will say I'm a procrastinator but at the end of a project I do get the desired results. It seems you had everything planned out in your head, but I'm sure things would have went a lot smoother if you would have allotted more time and created a written outline. Sometimes it's best to put your thoughts on paper because when planning big events, you tend to change your mind over and over. It doesn't seem like your daughter's party was a failure but I'm sure you will take a different approach in any future projects.
Shenice -
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everyone thought you did a terrific job, which I'm sure you did. One of the hardest things is meeting your own expectations - I think we tend to set them higher for ourselves and don't realize that others won't know if it wasn't "perfect". Even when working projects for work, it can be difficult because we can see what we perceive to be the "shortcomings" while others are oblivious.