Action

There are 72 posts filed in Action (this is page 8 of 8).

If you want to hurry, slow down

The title of this could have been “If you want to go faster, slow down”, but I liked this one better. The reason for this post is a set of events that happened to me recently, where multiple immediate actions fell in my lap. As I tried to take case of these actions, I made mistakes along the way, which slowed me down. As I was trying to solve one of these actions, other things changed which I did not know about until some time later. If I had known, I could have taken other steps to address the action. As it was, those people were hurrying as well.

What is the takeaway here? If someone presents you with a request for immediate action, slow down and think about it. Ask some clarifying questions. See if the deadline is really as dire as the person thinks it is. By taking these actions (slowing down), you have a better chance of finishing faster (the goal of hurrying). I will try to remember this when (not if) this happens to me again!

On taking responsibility

When someone says “I take responsibility…”, what usually happens is that they take some action (they apologize for something, they amends, they do what they said they were going to do).

Taking responsibility is taking action.

I observed several examples of this over the past week. I attended a homeowner’s association meeting with 50-60 homeowners present. One of the agenda items was about taking care of dog poop in the neighborhood. It came out that the HOA board had decided to spend money to put a poop bag dispenser near the HOA office. However, the “year supply” of bags ran out in 5 months, and the board did not want to spend any more money on bags, so they removed the dispenser. In the meeting, there was not any further action suggested that anyone wanted to take. The real problem (unstated) was that people who have dogs that walk through the neighborhood are not picking up after their dogs (not taking responsibility).

I then thought of several things in my life that I would like to see happen (do more writing, lose weight, get in better shape). However, I have not taken any action. By my statement above, I am not taking responsibility for making those things happen.

I am taking this as an opportunity to take stock of my own responsibilities – a good action for all of us.