The Fastest Way to Ruin YourselfWritten by Dr. Freddy Davis
I don’t know many people who would admit to wanting to ruin themselves, but there are a lot of people who are doing everything they can to accomplish that very goal. They certainly don’t see it that way, but if you look at way they live, you can see it happening. I knew a man who was very strict on his daughter. This strictness was more than simple discipline. He felt he had to control every part of her life. And, of course, he never liked any of her boyfriends. While his daughter was young he could get away with being an “all controlling” parent. The sad part of this was that he thought he was being a good parent. It is certainly every parent’s responsibility to protect and discipline their children. But it must always be for purpose of helping them grow up to make good decisions on their own - not simply to dominate. As will happen in every case, there came a time when girl grew old enough to get out from under dominance of her dad and make her own way. When she did, she ended up marrying very kind of guy her dad despised. Not only that, but resentment that had built up in her life caused her to move away from him and not even speak to him for years at time. Now, I don’t know whether or not she consciously did all of this for spite, but result was that her dad was devastated. In spite of his wrong actions and attitudes, he still loved his daughter very much, and years of alienation were a torture that ruined his health and other areas of his life as he let it “get to him.” This father did a destructive thing, in his parenting. But parenting is not only place that this happens. Many people do it in other areas of life and result is same - personal ruin. It happens when individuals try to live another person’s life for them. Whether it is as a parent, an employer, a spouse, or any other relationship you operate in, you cannot live another person’s life for them. This is probably fastest ways to self-ruin that exists on planet today.
| | Your Organization Is Only as Good as Your PeopleWritten by Dr. Freddy Davis
Let’s begin by singing jingle from an old US Army commercial. Ready? Sing! “Be all that you can be, in Aaaaarmy.” Now, don’t you feel better? “Be all that you can be.” Why do you suppose army selected this slogan? They selected it because there was a certain kind of volunteer that they wanted to attract, and that message would appeal to that group of people. They wanted to attract risk takers and adventurers. The purpose was to try and tap into need that many people feel for adventure and growth. In more recent times slogan has been changed to, “An army of one.” A slightly different slant in order to appeal to a generation with slightly different values, but still an appeal to same basic group of people - adventurer and risk taker. Just why do they want to attract this kind of person? Simple! In a military organization, that is kind of person they need in order to be successful in carrying out mission. They can’t recruit a bunch of lazy folks who are not self-starters and expect to get job done. Every organization has a type of person it needs to attract in order to become more successful. If they can recruit those people, they will accomplish what they intend to do. If not, they will fail.Is That All There Is? Wouldn’t it be great if that was all there was to it? But reality is different. Sure we have to start with people who have right qualifications and personality characteristics. But beyond that, every single person who comes into organization has a whole set of other needs that must be fulfilled. They have personal growth needs, physical needs, emotional needs, relationship needs and on and on. And so what? Organizations don’t function for purpose of providing those kinds of things to its associates or employees, do they? Well, no and yes. Certainly primary purpose of any company or organization is to provide for needs of customer or client first. And even though it is not primary purpose of an organization to provide for human needs of its workers, people in organization still have needs. And if you ignore those needs beyond a certain point, productivity will begin to suffer, regardless of overall competence of workforce. The trick is to, somehow, accomplish primary mission while creating an environment which allows organization’s human individuals to experience fulfillment. It may be possible get away with being totally task focused for a while, but soon you will begin to see declines in morale and productivity. Four Keys to High Organizational Morale So, what are some things that can be done to insure good of organization and its personnel? Number one is to be absolutely clear about task expectations. People respond more enthusiastically when they know exactly what is expected of them. This is a principle of human nature that can be clearly seen at every age of development. What happens when you don’t give children clear parameters within which to live? They, literally, go wild. They need boundaries, and so do your workers. People are able to focus more fully on task, and will have a strong feeling of accomplishment when a job is completed, when they don’t have to worry about issues that are beyond scope of job.
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