9th June 2011
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them ... every day begin the task anew.
~ Saint Francis de Sales
In managing huge organizations, consultants suggest an approach called Total Quality Management, in short called TQM. Under this concept, people believe in small continuous improvement. Japanese call it as `Ky Zen'. People working in an organization are encouraged to look out for scope for continuous improvements in their work.
If people commit a mistake, a type of approach called FMEA is recommended. FMEA stands for `Failure Mode Effect Analysis'. Under this approach, if there is a failure, one goes into the root cause of the failure and countermeasures are suggested so that the same mistake does not happen again. A group of people who know the issue sit together, brain storm and come out with an action plan to solve the problem and prevent it recurrence.
While dealing with personal productivity, this approach will be very effective. As human beings, it is natural to commit mistakes. There are two ways we can deal with mistakes: one, we can get discouraged and lose our self confidence; two, we can learn from the mistakes and take corrective action. The second approach has produced great people in this world. If you read the life history of any great person, you will notice that everyone committed mistakes, big and small. But they never gave up.
We cannot be perfect. To aim perfection in everything we do will only dampen our enthusiasm and effort level. It will be good idea to introspect everyday and convert every failure into a learning opportunity. Develop writing a journal everyday like:
- Today did not present my project to my boss effectively: I learnt......
- This week the article I sent to magazine `x' was rejected: I learnt.....
- Today in spite of my best efforts to remain cool, I got angry on ....: I learnt...
Why not consider the world as a big university and yourself as a student and try to learn a new lesson every day?
N C Sridharan
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