A Gift from Me to You
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
As I turn a year older, I feel compelled to question if I’m really a year wiser. What better way to do this than a personal retrospective?
What have I (re-)learnt?
Perfection doesn’t exist. Perfect doesn’t exist. Perfect is something we aspire to, it’s elusive by design.
Immer besser. It’s OK to make mistakes so long as you learn from them and don’t make the same mistakes. Being better matters more than merely being right.
Courage! Fear is what our lizard brain tells us to be. Courage is what sets us free.
What do I need to (re-)learn?
Drink my own champagne. I was disrespectful to a colleague yesterday. And last Wednesday. Twice in one day. It’s all well and good espousing the Agile Values and Principles. What really matters is that I apply them myself.
Work a Sustainable Pace. The problem with loving the work I do is that it can consume not only me but all those around me. Pretty soon I lose not only my perspective, but compromise my effectiveness.
Admit when you don’t know. This lesson consists of all the lessons I’ve (re-)learnt and need to (re-)learn. It’s not so much about what I know as recognising and then admitting I don’t know. The faster I acknowledge my not-knowing (or forgetting), the faster everyone can move towards creating value together.
No. 1 — September 15th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
What an inspiring retrospective.
Happy birthday Portia!
No. 2 — September 16th, 2010 at 4:03 am
Sounds like you are a bit wiser, wouldn’t you think? Happy belated birthday 🙂
No. 3 — September 17th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Very true. Whenever I hear somebody saying “I don’t know” I recover a little bit of confidence in human species.
It’s so disturbing how everybody always pretend to be an expert about everything. And as soon as you start digging, most of the time you discover they are simply bullshitting.
No. 4 — September 17th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Belated happy birthday and all the best
No. 5 — September 23rd, 2010 at 2:50 am
We can all learn from this. Thank you Portia!