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Doing the Best You Can with What You Have

One of my favorite things to do when I feel a little discouraged (it happens to everyone at some point!) is to step back and ask myself this question: Am I doing the best I can with what I have?

I like this question because it forces me to look at reality and consider if I’m just being hard on myself and need to put my critic away or if there’s something I could be doing or a resource I could be using to my advantage that I’m not. It forces me to take an honest assessment of things and thus elucidates areas where perhaps I’m missing something.

Here’s an example: at one point in my career I was working with a manufacturer to address a process issue on the floor. We had taught the crews the skill, we were in the process of generating buy-in, and we were not seeing the results we wanted to see. We’d been working on this issue for what felt like forever, and I was starting to feel like nothing was ever going to improve.

The hard thing about life, and also the relief, is that we simply are not in control of that many things. I have the power to choose how I will respond to situations, but I don’t control other people’s decisions. And even if I work my hardest, I can’t make things change or improve any faster than the least willing participant is able to get on board.

Considering this at the time of that project caused me to ask myself this question: Am I doing the best I can with what I have? If I am, then I need to keep going and not give up. If I’m not, what do I need to adjust? Do I need to change how I approach my team? Do I need to bring in someone who currently isn’t involved? Have I gone out of scope on the project? Am I still focused on the goal?

As I said, this reflection always helps me get back to reality. It helps me understand where I still have room to grow and where I can help others grow if they’re willing. It encourages me and then I can turn around and encourage someone else in what they are doing, too.

Activity: Look back at the last time you felt discouraged in your work or a personal undertaking. Why did you feel that way? What was happening? How did you respond to that feeling? How did you address it in yourself, and what was the outcome?