Within the framework of project management, a milestone is an event that receives special attention. It is often put at the end of a stage to mark the completion of a work package or phase. Milestones can be put before the end of a phase so that corrective actions can be taken, if problems arise, and the deliverable can be completed on time.
Ah, what to say about the above definition...there are so many avenues to take. But it all depends on context, even in project management. The more important question to ask as it pertains to project management is what is called "critical path". What is it? It's what I refer to as what absolutely must happen in order for a given project to be successful, on time and meet the requirements of the business needs.
So how does one apply this theory to every day life? I'm torn; life doesn't follow a project plan, despite many of my prior efforts to make it do so. At any given moment, life can throw you a curve ball and may change your overall objectives. If I may be so cliche, life IS a journey, not a destination; which underscores why this milestone philosophy may be inherently invalid as it pertains to life. But then how does one achieve personal goals?
I generally operate under past experience and knowledge gained from those experiences with a smattering of gut feeling and hopefulness where things just feel right.
I'm still navigating this dichotomy between rigidity of planning and just rolling with it and have yet to formulate a solid foundation of thinking. 70% of the time I follow the planning route, which has shown me many successes and few failures, the other 30% has shown me many failures and few successes, but those few successes have tended to be the most personally fulfilling.
