The year 2008 is the hardest year I’ve seen so far for my country, Vietnam. Inflation goes sharply due to the international prices of some commodities like food grains and oil. As a result, people have to adjust their life in facing with it and definitely, I’m not the exception.
However, I see it as the good chance to put my material needs aside and think of my spirit and morale. Do I know what I really need? What do I need to make my life all I want it to be?
Stephen Covey says that people all share four basic needs: the need to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.
Need to live? Yes. Not just to breathe but to live fully.
Need to love? Yes. But need to be loved as well.
Need to learn? Yes. Not only when we are young.
Need to leave a legacy? Yes. But need to be worthwhile behind.
These four basic needs are simple to say but hard to fulfill. For a long time of being seeking the light which I can stick to it, I deeply believe I know what gives meaning and what I should do right now.
I’ve just created the circle of life which contains OUTSIDE and INSIDE parts.
1. OUTSIDE
It means objective factors that affect our life and you cannot avoid them. It comes from all directions around you as you can see in the picture.
2. INSIDE
It is our conscience and intrinsic values that distinguish whether your life decisions are right or wrong. It is placed in the center and takes larger part since it determines what you want to be.
These objective and subjective factors are the "heart" and "mind". Decisions with the best opportunity of leading to a good result are those for which the heart and mind agree.
To face with objective factors, I created my own method named as LAUGH. LAUGH reminds you that you need to smile and to be optimistic with the external environment.
1. Listen: always listen first to collect enough information related to what you are going to handle it
2. Analyze: analyze the information you have so far to figure out the root cause or the problems behind the scene
3. Understand: understand the matter after listening and analyzing
4. Gain: work out and gain the experience and the outcome
5. Heal: conclude and heal the matter
To ask your heart for instructions, I created 3 intrinsic values to follow (two of them are similar to IBMer’s values)
1. Healthy and integrity to life development
2. Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships
3. Dedication to people's success
Besides, I created the method named as TEAR. TEAR reminds you that to be successful might take a lot of tears from the failure. All my expectations, purposes and effort to be achieved will be divided to small targets which are followed this process.
1. TARGET (SMART)
a. Specific: a target must be specific since it has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal
b. Measurable: criteria to measure the progress
c. Achievable: not far away and out of reach since you need to figure out ways you can make them come true
d. Realistic: realistic to accomplish
e. Time Based: within a time frame
2. EXECUTION (SRCR)
a. Systematic: execution must be systematic to get the best outcome. Remember Put First Things First - The third of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
b. Result Based: all execution activities always aim to the result
c. Change Control: has a plan for change management
d. Risk Management: has a plan for risk management
3. ASSESSMENT (QMF)
a. Questionable: use questions to estimate and assess the upcoming activities and outcome
b. Measurable: use metrics to assess then adjust the execution or even the target
c. Feedback: give effective feedback back to the target and the execution to get better
4. RESULT (LA)
a. Lesson Learned: get lesson learned to improve further target’s execution
b. Acquisition: use to add value back to each phase for enhancement
Follow your values; go with rational decision-making!
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