Comments on: Define and Conquer http://www.productivity501.com/define-and-conquer/40/ Pieces of the productivity puzzle. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:55:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark Sheadhttp://www.productivity501.com/define-and-conquer/40/comment-page-1/#comment-811 Mark Shead Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:51:54 +0000 http://x.xeric.net/productivity501/?p=40#comment-811 @Rebecca - I think the issue with "do your best" is that it isn't very concrete. I have no idea what my absolute best is in pretty much any area. Lets say I can run a mile in 5 minutes. Is that my best? By trying just a little harder, I could probably run it in 4:58. My "best" is a constantly moving target. What happened in the case of the loggers, is that they were given an outside means of measuring success that didn't change. They could tell if they were being successful or not. The group that was just trying to do their best, didn't really know if they were being successful. It is kind of hard to come home and brag "I did my best at logging today." But it is easy to come home and say "I cut down 75 trees and the average logger only does 50." That being said, I think that we need to place more emphasis on doing our best and recognize that simply being better than average doesn't mean we are accomplishing what we are truly capable of. One of the easiest ways to make sure we are doing our best is to give ourself a concrete goal that is easy to measure. As our skills develop we can set the goal higher and higher. @Rebecca – I think the issue with “do your best” is that it isn’t very concrete. I have no idea what my absolute best is in pretty much any area. Lets say I can run a mile in 5 minutes. Is that my best? By trying just a little harder, I could probably run it in 4:58. My “best” is a constantly moving target.

What happened in the case of the loggers, is that they were given an outside means of measuring success that didn’t change. They could tell if they were being successful or not. The group that was just trying to do their best, didn’t really know if they were being successful. It is kind of hard to come home and brag “I did my best at logging today.” But it is easy to come home and say “I cut down 75 trees and the average logger only does 50.”

That being said, I think that we need to place more emphasis on doing our best and recognize that simply being better than average doesn’t mean we are accomplishing what we are truly capable of.

One of the easiest ways to make sure we are doing our best is to give ourself a concrete goal that is easy to measure. As our skills develop we can set the goal higher and higher.

]]> By: Rebeccahttp://www.productivity501.com/define-and-conquer/40/comment-page-1/#comment-808 Rebecca Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:44:34 +0000 http://x.xeric.net/productivity501/?p=40#comment-808 I know this is an archived post, but I'd like to comment. One of the problems is that we, as a society, have not defined "doing your best" AS a goal. This would need to start in the very early years of education. I'd suggest we take the word "just" out of the directive: "Just do your best!" This minimizes the idea of personal best, which actually, is a very potent component of goal-setting. The key question is "What is MY best?" And out of that, spring the goals that you are talking about. It doesn't mean we have to set goals that are the most superlative of all our abilities, but goals that, if achieved and streamline productivity, do define our best. :-) I know this is an archived post, but I’d like to comment. One of the problems is that we, as a society, have not defined “doing your best” AS a goal. This would need to start in the very early years of education. I’d suggest we take the word “just” out of the directive: “Just do your best!” This minimizes the idea of personal best, which actually, is a very potent component of goal-setting.

The key question is “What is MY best?” And out of that, spring the goals that you are talking about. It doesn’t mean we have to set goals that are the most superlative of all our abilities, but goals that, if achieved and streamline productivity, do define our best. :-)

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