It is not always easy to do the right things in your life. Life is unexpected, erratically and many times blind to your intentions and plans.
Image by Alexandre Duret-Lutz
This is the reason why you should always have a Doing The Things Right (DTR) Foundation Scheme (a compass if you like!), that would lead you to do the things right, at every case. The foundation scheme, I’m talking about is not only a moral one (should be nice to exist, in every case, though!) but it is a more generalized scheme, including all the personal and professional sections of your life. It is not easy, there are not fixed or ready-made templates, and there are only a handful of resources you can use for its construction, but you have to make it for you own, in order to suit your needs.
A scheme as that, should include, your:
personal values and principles (and moral ones, as well!)
personal likes and dislikes
personal affiliations
do and don’t list of things, actions, etc
ways and procedures of doing things
approaches in what is acceptable for you in business and in personal relationships
limits and boundaries
goal and objectives hierarchy
resources your are willing to dedicate
time framework and duration
When you reflect on this scheme and its components and provide the necessary answers in order for you to fill-in the necessary required slots[!], and you have it document it (yes, you need to have it write down, to have a physical or electronic form of the resulting document, in order for you to review, amend and change it frequently). Ideally, all the above procedures would (should?) result in two (2) different instantiations! One detailed and elaborated to suit your personal preference for the details’ density you want to have documented and one short, list or checklist like, to serve you as a comparison matrix!
When you have finalized this procedure, every action you do should be evaluated against this (or these) document in order to be determined if it is right or wrong and in what degree you continue to do the things right (DTR)!
Furthermore a scheme as that to be successful in every situation you may face in your personal and professional life, you going to need the whole application toolkit, i.e.
The main (YOUR) DTR Foundation Scheme body (the ideas, principles, etc you select, filter, evaluate as best for you, …),
The possible methods and techniques of its implementation, review, change and (if not successful!) deletion (many questions should be answered here, as the form of the main documents, electronic or paper, degrees of maturity [draft, in process, final], versioning, methods, of reviewing it and by who, etc),
The metrics you set in order to demonstrate to yourself if it is a successful and practical way of doing things or not,
The communication and dissemination channels for expansions of its usage (if you deem it is needed!)
The feedback procedures and the early alarm and warning systems should be developed in order you be always prepare to select the correct actions in a situation among many other possible (but not for you feasible, anymore!).
Every procedure you select to implement, from the ones described above, should concluded in a similar paper or document, that would, briefly, describe the how, where, why, etc of the application of this particular scheme. The sum of these papers and of the work you have to do, would benefit you greatly in setting again, in perspective, the crucial sections of your life, and focus intentionally at the pursue of your personal and professional goals and objectives.
Question: Do you find a scheme as that useful for your personal and professional life? Please share your ideas for doing the things right, in the comment section bellow.
This is a guest post by Takis Athanassiou. Takis is a Greek e-Business and e-Learning Consultant. He has been working for over 20 years in IT sector, as Project Manager, Team Leader and Director in Greek SMEs, focused mainly in areas of IT services, e-Learning, and consulting. You can read his blog, follow him on Twitter or contact him on Google+.
By the way, I’m always looking for guest posters. If you would like to guest post, you can find the guidelines at An Invitation To Guest Post.
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