Entrepreneurship Development: Self-Management (III)
In the self-management series, we have so far defined the concept, discussed its elements, benefits and principles. Today, we shall continue our discussions on how to develop self-management skills which we started last week. Be purposeful: The foundation for doing the right things in life starts with the understanding of our purpose. Unless we know […]
In the self-management series, we have so far defined the concept, discussed its elements, benefits and principles. Today, we shall continue our discussions on how to develop self-management skills which we started last week.
Be purposeful: The foundation for doing the right things in life starts with the understanding of our purpose. Unless we know what we are here for or what good we wish to achieve, we will ‘wobble and fumble’ gathering no moss like the proverbial rolling stone! Being purposeful is fundamental to the design of the life we want to live. It gives us the long-term picture of what we are or are striving to be. Sometimes we create our own purpose, like a person who runs a foundation to help provide start-up capital for budding entrepreneurs in order to help create wealth, employment and overall public good. Other times, political, social or economic circumstances can force a purpose upon us, like an engineer that leaves their highly paid employment to go into politics because they are unhappy with local political developments and wants to help alter the fate of their people. Purpose makes us live honourable, responsible and focussed lives.
Be conscientious: Once we are clear about our purpose in life, the next challenge will be about being alert to doing everything that will support the continuous achievement of that purpose. Similarly, we have to be alive to all those things that will undermine our effort towards living the purposeful live we aspire to. Being conscientious is the ‘short term’ leg of being purposeful in the long run. It makes us deliberate on the seemingly little things of life, but which may have terrible short- and long-term consequences. Being conscientious makes us conscious of the time that we have on this earth and commits us to make the best use of it.
Be diligent: It is very easy to want to live a purposeful life and even try to be conscientious. However, we may still fail in achieving our purpose because we aren’t diligent in what we do. Being diligent is about being thorough and complete in whatever it is that needs to be done. Mentally, it is about a presence of mind in everything we do and physically it is about the capacity to actually get things done. Diligence is an integral part of self-management because is required to be able to beneficially seize opportunities as well as solve problems as they may arise.
Develop your compartmentalisation skills: Compartmentalisation is just that ‘dispassionate’ ability and willingness to assess and value everything around us appropriately and respond by putting them exactly where they belong. Compartmentalisation is that ‘out-of-nowhere’ capacity to get things right. It refers to the ability and willingness to analyse everything happening around us and attaching an appropriate value. Based on the value attached, an intelligent action is then taken.
Compartmentalisation is what make it possible for self-managed people to take a difficult but right road when the convenient but wrong road is crowded by everyone else. A highly compartmentalised person will process, internalise and ‘box’ up a massive loss they just suffered and, nonetheless, do the right thing on other issues in the next minutes. Compartmentalisation makes us highly adaptive to the vagaries of life even as we fight honourably and relentlessly. It is what breaks the marathon that life is into piecemeal segments that we handle wisely and sort of effortlessly. It is of the greatest quality of self-managed individuals.
Learn from the past and others: Of compartmentalisation ability that should be brought out on its own is the willingness to learn from the past but without getting stuck with it. We should be able to retain what works in the past and can work now but should be comfortable to make positive changes where required or if necessary. Similarly, we should learn from others and be able to build better. The world gets better in science and technology only because the present crop of scientists and engineers are standing tall on the shoulders of giants of the past. It is no gainsaying that what we could never achieve what we are able to do today without having the past knowledge passed on to us by those people that lived thousands of years ago.
Be a positive experience for others: Last week, I was in a Nigerian central state for some work. At the onset I knew that I would need some assistants for the period that work would last. When I told a friend resident in the state what I needed, he suggested three young persons known to him. On my team’s arrival in the state, we met with the recommended individuals. Their qualifications met our requirements and in return I told them what the standards we expected were. We agreed all details and the young persons worked with us for the duration the work lasted.
It is the reality of life that we meet scores of people every day. Some we only spend a few seconds with whilst others we spend hours on end with them. Some of those people we probably meet every day whilst others we may never get to meet again. Whatever is the extent and frequency of contact, it is appropriate that we have the intention and do work to give them a positive experience of being with us. That will make us conscious of whatever we do with them and its likely long-term impact on each of us.
This concludes our ‘global’ series on self-management which simply all about doing what is right and optimum in the daily situations we find ourselves. However, next week we will take up a single self-management issue that needs its own mention; Keep Your Word.