From Dreams to Deadlines - Make Progress Where It Matters Most!

Sebastian Voss

Trainer and Consultant

International Institute for Learning, Inc.

About the Presentation

You hit every deadline at work but stall on your personal ambitions. Fitness plans fade, personal projects languish, and family time feels squeezed. You’re not alone and you can fix this! Success at home shouldn’t be harder than success at work. Learn how to use Personal Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) to achieve what matters most in your Life in Finance, Family, Health or Career!

Key Takeaways

Use the 3 Layers of the Personal OKRs (POKR) Method for:
- Mission: Gain clarity on the power of your purpose with the 5+1 Approach
- Strategy: Implement powerful Objectives & Impactful Key Results to drive outcomes
- Execution: Tasks Management (finally!) done right with To-Do Lists, Kanban, Habit Formation
Build an effective accountability network for lasting success
How to effectively transfer Personal OKRs to the corporate world

What do Early Adopters of the POKR Method say:

“Turning dreams into reality is a challenge that so often feels out of reach. In this book, Sebastian and Wolfram show us that it doesn’t have to be. By transforming proven strategies from the corporate world into practical tools for everyday life – and illustrating them with clear, relatable examples – they offer a guide that is insightful, uplifting, and grounded in humor and common sense. An inspiring resource for all of us who are ready to pursue our most meaningful goals.”

— Mike Brewster

former Chief Information Officer,
Zuellig Pharma, Singapore

“Dreams and Deadlines takes the proven discipline of OKRs and makes them personal. Sebastian and Wolfram apply well-established professional discipline to personal ambitions in a way that’s both practical and human. As someone who has spent years helping leaders bring humanity into organizations, I found this book to be a refreshing reminder that the same clarity and rhythm we demand at work can transform our personal lives too. This is a must-read for anyone ready to finally make progress on what matters most.”

— Evan Leybourn

Co-founder at Business Agility Institute, Australia

I was already practicing an OKR style process in an effort to force a better balance between my professional and personal lives. But the guidance and cadence I found in Dreams and Deadlines provided a much better structure to ensure traction and ultimate achievement of my goals, which is incredibly satisfying.”

— Andy Cooper

Founder of ComEx Partners; former executive in S&P500 firms, UK

About Sebastian Voss

Sebastian’s career spans close to 30 years of enterprise transformation, digital entrepreneurship, and professional and Agile coaching. Think of him as someone who’s been in the trenches of technology and organizational change management long enough to know what works, what doesn’t, and what makes people want to hide under their desks. He cut his teeth as a project and program manager for various global enterprise clients (SAP, BMW, BHP, etc.), discovering that getting hands-on with delivery can be hugely rewarding!

Leading multimillion-dollar transformation programs and training more than 2,000 people in project management, Scrum, Kanban, and Design Thinking skills taught him that the best frameworks are worthless without the right people applying them. A stint as a tech entrepreneur was super exciting, but that venture didn’t succeed. It was a humbling experience that became surprisingly valuable when he later became a transformation leader for enterprises, where those past experiences (including the failures) came in handy.

Working as a trainer and professional coach thereafter made it clear over and over that in the end, it’s always about people, people, people, and the systems they work in. Whether he was coaching executives to improve employee engagement, implementing Agile and lean ways of working in highly regulated industries, or managing global SAP rollouts, the common denominator was always human behavior and motivation.

Lots of different angles, with a common theme and desire to have a meaningful impact on people, processes, and systems. What worked great in a professional setting didn’t translate to his private life, though: Personal OKRs (POKR) as described in Dreams & Deadlines is, in many ways, his own response to a life that once blurred the line between progress and burnout. It’s a method he uses himself to stay grounded, sane, and purpose driven, without treating life like a never-ending project plan.

Sebastian holds an Executive MBA from the University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business and completed executive education at INSEAD Business School in Singapore. He’s certified as a Professional Coach (ICF-ACC), Professional Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Project Management Professional, among others.

When he’s not transforming organizations or writing about personal effectiveness, you’ll find him mentoring startups or trying that next endurance event in a way-too-humid climate.

Follow Sebastian Voss on LinkedIn.