DO IT RIGHT

“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”  Martin Van Buren

Do we do a task just to say we did it? How many times have you done a task and you may not have done it completely correct? There were many times when I was a kid, my Dad used to drag me to a service project. Whether it was working at the church welfare farm or picking weeds for some old lady. I think back and ask, Did I always do the job that was asked of me? Did I do it right? I don’t think I can say I was 100%.

Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom asked you to do something, you did it and went back to what you were doing. Then she told you to get back and do the job again since you did not do it right the first time. That happened to me a lot when I was a kid.

Why do we let ourselves do a job that is really not done correctly? The answer that I have come up with is we have no desire to do that job in the first place. We ask ourselves why should I waste my time doing it. I see this all the time with employees. They really need the job but they do want to do the job. So what happens, they do it really slow or they just don’t do it at all in hopes someone will come by and do it for them.

I also see managers and leaders do this same thing. They are tasked to complete a task and since they don’t want to do it they give it to one of their employees to do it. Then the employee does a below average job because they don’t have the knowledge to complete the task.

Sometimes a leader has to “suck it up” and realize that being a great leader requires you to do things that you may not want to do. I want to share with you a secret. Over my 25+ yrs of experience in managing and leading I have found that doing the things that may be lower than me has taught me the value to work. It has taught me that if I am going to be the best I can be I need to learn how to do every task right. I have found great pride in myself when I accomplished a task to the best of my ability. I have found that I am a better person when I take the time to learn the task and just do the best I can.

Here are some tips to help you to do it right.

1. If your struggling with a task, take a deep breath  and tell yourself that this is a good learning experience
2. Take every task seriously and tell yourself that you are going to do your best
3. As you go through the task find points where you can get excited and appreciate your success