Even if you are living in a bubble, it’s hard to avoid the frantic headlines vying for attention over the past few months. The mortgage crisis, Wall Street, the final throws of the presidential campaigns ... a few minutes of headlines and it seems like the world is out of control. Here’s the good news: practical project management principles are the perfect way to gain control.

In the twenty years I’ve run my own business, I’ve found that no matter what the economic climate is, there is always opportunity to gain control and to continue aiming for success. To capture those opportunities and turn them into gold, you must first review what project management tools you’ve got in your toolbox and when to use each one:

1. DREAM

If you think you cannot control your destiny, think again. Similar to “you are what you eat,” it’s true that you are also what you dream. If you focus on failure, you will fail. If you set long term personal and organizational goals for success, then you can eventually achieve them. Envision yourself going through the motions and conversations to get yourself exactly where you’d like to be. If you do this daily and continue seeing yourself succeeding, then it can become a reality.

2. LEARN

Seek out opportunities to do your own formal and informal learning. From engaging in activities like informational interviews and podcasts to webinars, and training and development courses, you can chart your own course of on going learning. How often have you met someone who went to school for art history only to become a dermatologist later on? You have the power to become an expert in whatever you’d like. And chances are, if you are excited about that subject, you will excel in it.

3. LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Develop a “can do, we will prevail” attitude, and bring those around you up with your thirst for knowledge and your enviable project management capabilities.

4. NETWORK

Join the Project Management Institute as an individual and as a corporate member. Participating in this professional trade association helps both individuals and corporations better self-identify with doing good project management and that in and of itself can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

5. DIVERSIFY

Whether you are an individual relying on one industry or one company to meet all your financial needs or whether you are an organization that relies on one customer, or one product to sustain your economic well-being, you need to mix things up to keep things fresh.

6. HAVE A SAFETY NET

It’s just like the flight attendants tell us on their pre-flight safety instructions: you need to secure your own mask before helping others. Create a safety net so you can take risks, when needed, in your career or your projects.