Chapter 8 – Responsibility
Self-Evaluation: Do More than Just “Fine!”
Every Sunday afternoon, just after a short nap, I browse on my diary and consequently make a schedule of activities for the coming week. As I sit on my chair, I can’t help but wonder how many other people around the world are doing the same thing. I guess I am not the only one doing that. Shelves of diaries of different designs, planners of all sizes and other tools intended for scheduling purposes, are available for everyone. Surely, the importance of proper planning cannot be underestimated.
But after all the properly managed scheduling, the greater challenge is yet to be encountered. Ever wondered how to keep track of your weekly improvement and maintain the attitude of keeping your way on the right direction? Here are some useful guidelines that you may want to answer for yourself to keep your toes on the ground, your steps synchronized with what you have in mind, and your activities triumphant.
• Did I attain my goals?
• What was my motivation in achieving these goals?
• What problems and obstacles came up along the way?
• How did I succeed over these problems?
Was the time and effort I spent in reaching these aspirations well spent?
• While attaining the goals, were there other better opportunities that came by which may have been more fruitful for my sake?
• Did I gain more confidence upon achieving my aspirations?
• What aspirations did I not achieve?
• Why was I not able to attain the said goals?
• Generally speaking, can I literally say that the time and effort I devoted were focused on the more important matters as I planned them to be?
• Are there goals I was not able to pursue from previous weeks that I want to pursue this coming week?
• Was I able to take some time off from my daily routine to be alone and listen to my inner voice?
• Did I reflect about myself, refocus my attention, replenish my resources, and renew my spirit for the tasks to be done for the following week?
• What did I learn based on my experiences last week?
• Are my goals realistic?
Giving honest answers to these questions will help you evaluate your performance in a weekly basis. One may ask: “Why do I need to evaluate myself in such a very short interval of time?”
Through this type of assessment, we become more aware of our development as individuals on a very personal level. We also continue to build our strengths, check on our limits, and get in touch with reality. It may come hard at first; but believe me, this will really pay off in the end. And you’ll become more satisfied and fulfilled with what you have achieved rather than just saying: “Well, I’m doing fine.”
There is so much to learn as we live each day. Seneca emphasized it too when he said: “As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”
Nothing to Lose and Everything to Gain
Presenting four scenarios:
1. Nothing to lose and nothing to gain
2. Everything to lose and everything to gain
3. Everything to lose and nothing to gain
4. Nothing to lose and everything to gain
If you are given a chance to pick one, which will it be? Just by merely looking at the four scenarios, you would obviously pick the fourth. But let’s take a closer look, a look inside all four scenarios by means of illustrations.
The first two scenarios are actually the same. This can be likened to a town where the living conditions of the people residing in it did not deteriorate over time; but neither did it progress. People may be moving about, literally speaking. But somehow, life has not changed or improved. They are actually losing something that is not visible but real. And that thing is time. Time is being wasted. This kind of scenario or situation does not attract attention; there is nothing spectacular or exciting. What was there five or ten years ago still remains the same. It makes one observing this town feel sleepy because it looks like a sleepy town with people moving about like zombies.
Let’s look at the third scenario, everything to lose and nothing to gain. Now, this looks more exciting, only it feels like falling into a pit. At least, there’s activity; but it is a depressing one. This can be likened to a financially poor person who suddenly got a windfall of cash through inheritance or through the lottery. There are countless stories about ordinary workers or employees who won in the lottery and got super rich. A few years later, they were back to where they used to be, financially speaking. Some of these people even wind up worse than they used to be, accumulating debts rather than wealth. Either they were blinded by the huge amounts of cash they came across with or they simply can’t manage their money well.
The fourth scenario looks interesting and inviting. There was once a person who was working as an ordinary employee. He set aside a portion of his salary as savings. He was saving, not for the rainy days but to use it for a business he intended to put up. In the meantime, he gathered not only savings, but also enough experience related to his planned business. Somewhere along the way, an obstacle occurred. He needed to send additional money to his family in the province to spend for a sick relative. He dug into his savings. But at the same time, he found an extra job to make extra money to fill in the hole he made on his savings. This kept his plan on schedule. Once the savings and experiences were enough, he left his job and started to put up his business. It was hard work at the start. Frustrations were always part of the daily activities related to his business. There were times he felt like giving up but somehow, a voice from within him told him “If you back out now, where will you go?” So he held on. Sometimes he felt like he can’t hold on any longer. It’s as if he was holding and hanging on the edge of a sword; but in spite of the pain, he still persisted. Then little by little, things began to change. His business blossomed.
More and more people got to know him from previous customers because of his outstanding products and services. He was glad he made the right decision to hold on during those difficult moments. Occasionally, there were ups and downs, but the downs were not enough to discourage him from pursuing his goal.
This is an illustration of determination and perseverance to accomplish something in life, an abundant life. It is an illustration that if you don’t do something to achieve your goal, you end up in the same place you used to be. It’s an illustration of nothing to lose and everything to gain.