Friday, July 2, 2010

Be aware of what you do not know and are not good at

My father used to tell me as he read my poorly written essays in school, “It’s not important that you’re not a great speller. It’s really important, however, that you know that you’re not a good speller. That way, when in doubt, you can use the dictionary.”

My dad was absolutely correct, but not just about spelling. The same idea applies to virtually everything. In my work, for example, it’s not critical that I’m an expert editor as long as I know my own weaknesses and limitation. I can hire someone to fill in where I’m weak. Similarly, I’m not a great coordinator for putting together all the details of a public lecture. No problem. I can hire someone who is. It’s always smarter to do this and, in the long run, it’s almost always less expensive and more profitable. The only time there would be a problem is if I didn’t know that I wasn’t good at something or if I was unwilling to admit it.

Chances are you’re probably really good at certain things and really bad at others. So what? Why should you frustrate yourself? This doesn’t mean you can’t learn new skills or improve existing ones. It merely suggests that you spend the bulk of your time doing whatever you are good at and is most important to your success.

It’s easy to get bogged down and defeated doing tasks you aren’t very good at.

Courtesy: Email fwds

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Persistence

Persistence is the number one reason for our success. Joe Kraus