Friday, December 18, 2015

Constructive Feedback

Here is something that nobody knows about me. When giving "constructive criticism" to an employee on my team, or a co-worker, I will never do it on a Friday afternoon. I will always wait until Monday. You may be wondering why.

When I was working my first job back in 1993, I was learning the ropes as the low man on the totem pole. There were a few different managers who would give me work to do, and teach me about it. One time I was running a job on a Friday afternoon, which I finished and then gave to one of my supervisors for review. On her way out for the weekend, she left it back on my desk with a note that I had used the wrong discount rate by mistake and the job would have to be re-run. My interpretation of the note was that she was bitter and disappointed. Rather than just re-running the job and forgetting about it, I ended up internalizing it and it ruined my weekend. I was wondering how mad she was going to be on Monday morning. Of course, by Monday morning she had already forgotten about it. I had unnecessarily stewed about it for two days.

Anyhow, ever since then it has been my policy to delay any negative feedback until Monday. There is no reason to deprive someone from enjoying their weekend.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Values

I have had some time this year to re-dedicate myself to certain activities. After taking several classes, , losing weight, and setting up my daily and recurring habit/task system, the next question to ask was "what things are important to me?". This will help me determine where I want to focus my time, toward achieving these goals.

So I found an exhaustive list of values, and went through them to identify which ones I feel are most important to me. This was a very difficult exercise, since there are 418 goals on the list, each of which are worthy endeavors. But I went through and tried to isolate those that really resonated with me. These selections will differ from what other people would choose. So here are the 68 values that I selected (with the ones that are duplicates grouped together):

  • Altruism / Selflessness / Empathy
  • Appreciation
  • Approachability / Conviviality / Courtesy
  • Assertiveness
  • Benevolence / Generosity / Kindness
  • Bliss / Fun / Happiness
  • Awareness / Calmness / Clear-mindedness / Composure / Contentment / Discipline / Introspection / Mindfulness / Reflection / Thoughtfulness / Self-control
  • Care (v) / Sincerity
  • Consistency / Punctuality / Reliability
  • Control / Poise / Temperance / Unflappability
  • Diligence / Motivation / Preparedness / Proactivity
  • Discovery / Experience (v) / Exploration
  • Financial independence / Self-reliance
  • Harmony / Peace / Serenity / Tranquility
  • Honesty / Integrity / Trustworthiness / Truth
  • Humility / Modesty
  • Knowledge
  • Liberty
  • Meaning
  • Mellowness / Sanguinity
  • Optimism
  • Order / Organization
  • Patience
  • Prudence
  • Rationality / Reason
  • Realism
  • Simplicity
  • Willingness



By the way, here is the full original list if you want to try the exercise to see what your values are:

Abundance
Acceptance
Accessibility
Accomplishment
Accountability
Accuracy
Achievement
Acknowledgement
Activeness
Adaptability
Adoration
Adroitness
Advancement
Adventure
Affection
Affluence
Aggressiveness
Agility
Alertness
Altruism
Amazement
Ambition
Amusement
Anticipation
Appreciation
Approachability
Approval
Art
Articulacy
Artistry
Assertiveness
Assurance
Attentiveness
Attractiveness
Audacity
Availability
Awareness
Awe
Balance
Beauty
Being the best
Belonging
Benevolence
Bliss
Boldness
Bravery
Brilliance
Buoyancy
Calmness
Camaraderie
Candor
Capability
Care
Carefulness
Celebrity
Certainty
Challenge
Change
Charity
Charm
Chastity
Cheerfulness
Clarity
Cleanliness
Clear-mindedness
Cleverness
Closeness
Comfort
Commitment
Community
Compassion
Competence
Competition
Completion
Composure
Concentration
Confidence
Conformity
Congruency
Connection
Consciousness
Conservation
Consistency
Contentment
Continuity
Contribution
Control
Conviction
Conviviality
Coolness
Cooperation
Cordiality
Correctness
Country
Courage
Courtesy
Craftiness
Creativity
Credibility
Cunning
Curiosity
Daring
Decisiveness
Decorum
Deference
Delight
Dependability
Depth
Desire
Determination
Devotion
Devoutness
Dexterity
Dignity
Diligence
Direction
Directness
Discipline
Discovery
Discretion
Diversity
Dominance
Dreaming
Drive
Duty
Dynamism
Eagerness
Ease
Economy
Ecstasy
Education
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Elation
Elegance
Empathy
Encouragement
Endurance
Energy
Enjoyment
Entertainment
Enthusiasm
Environmentalism
Ethics
Euphoria
Excellence
Excitement
Exhilaration
Expectancy
Expediency
Experience
Expertise
Exploration
Expressiveness
Extravagance
Extroversion
Exuberance
Fairness
Faith
Fame
Family
Fascination
Fashion
Fearlessness
Ferocity
Fidelity
Fierceness
Financial independence
Firmness
Fitness
Flexibility
Flow
Fluency
Focus
Fortitude
Frankness
Freedom
Friendliness
Friendship
Frugality
Fun
Gallantry
Generosity
Gentility
Giving
Grace
Gratitude
Gregariousness
Growth
Guidance
Happiness
Harmony
Health
Heart
Helpfulness
Heroism
Holiness
Honesty
Honor
Hopefulness
Hospitality
Humility
Humor
Hygiene
Imagination
Impact
Impartiality
Independence
Individuality
Industry
Influence
Ingenuity
Inquisitiveness
Insightfulness
Inspiration
Integrity
Intellect
Intelligence
Intensity
Intimacy
Intrepidness
Introspection
Introversion
Intuition
Intuitiveness
Inventiveness
Investing
Involvement
Joy
Judiciousness
Justice
Keenness
Kindness
Knowledge
Leadership
Learning
Liberation
Liberty
Lightness
Liveliness
Logic
Longevity
Love
Loyalty
Majesty
Making a difference
Marriage
Mastery
Maturity
Meaning
Meekness
Mellowness
Meticulousness
Mindfulness
Modesty
Motivation
Mysteriousness
Nature
Neatness
Nerve
Noncomformity
Obedience
Open-mindedness
Openness
Optimism
Order
Organization
Originality
Outdoors
Outlandishness
Outrageousness
Partnership
Patience
Passion
Peace
Perceptiveness
Perfection
Perkiness
Perseverance
Persistence
Persuasiveness
Philanthropy
Piety
Playfulness
Pleasantness
Pleasure
Poise
Polish
Popularity
Potency
Power
Practicality
Pragmatism
Precision
Preparedness
Presence
Pride
Privacy
Proactivity
Professionalism
Prosperity
Prudence
Punctuality
Purity
Rationality
Realism
Reason
Reasonableness
Recognition
Recreation
Refinement
Reflection
Relaxation
Reliability
Relief
Religiousness
Reputation
Resilience
Resolution
Resolve
Resourcefulness
Respect
Responsibility
Rest
Restraint
Reverence
Richness
Rigor
Sacredness
Sacrifice
Sagacity
Saintliness
Sanguinity
Satisfaction
Science
Security
Self-control
Selflessness
Self-reliance
Self-respect
Sensitivity
Sensuality
Serenity
Service
Sexiness
Sexuality
Sharing
Shrewdness
Significance
Silence
Silliness
Simplicity
Sincerity
Skillfulness
Solidarity
Solitude
Sophistication
Soundness
Speed
Spirit
Spirituality
Spontaneity
Spunk
Stability
Status
Stealth
Stillness
Strength
Structure
Success
Support
Supremacy
Surprise
Sympathy
Synergy
Teaching
Teamwork
Temperance
Thankfulness
Thoroughness
Thoughtfulness
Thrift
Tidiness
Timeliness
Traditionalism
Tranquility
Transcendence
Trust
Trustworthiness
Truth
Understanding
Unflappability
Uniqueness
Unity
Usefulness
Utility
Valor
Variety
Victory
Vigor
Virtue
Vision
Vitality
Vivacity
Volunteering
Warmheartedness
Warmth
Watchfulness
Wealth
Willfulness
Willingness
Winning
Wisdom
Wittiness
Wonder
Worthiness
Youthfulness
Zeal