Performance Review

Having gone through the hiring process recently, I had an odd revelation. “If I was my own boss, would I hire me to be me.” It was a question of self reflection. Would I actually hire me to be me or would I pass me over? When it comes to growth/improvement, quality, and consistency, would I hire me to do be me, or would I keep looking for someone else to do the job? It was an odd question, but it really made me step back and take a look at how good of a job I have been doing what I might expect from someone in my stage of life.

Then I rearranged my into a new question, If I were my boss and I was up for a review, what would my review look like? Would it be a good review? Would I be pleased with how I am doing? Would I be succeeding in my role? What would my growth plan look like?

How about you, would you hire you to be you? If you were your boss and you had to create a growth plan for yourself, what would the growth plan look like? What would the deadlines and measurable be? Where are you succeeding? What are the areas you have that might fall into the category of ‘needs improvement’?

Reviewing,

–JT

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Quarterly Reviews

Given the new year and my views on annual resolutions, I have been struggling a little with the concept of how to better grow and improve. I dislike forcing an annual plan where I have to accomplish X, Y, and Z in twelve months or I am a failure. And truly resolutions are semi-synonymous with, “a cute goal I won’t achieve this year.” 

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I struggle because I can lose track of the goals I am working towards and the way I am moving forward in the areas outside of work. Growing personally has much more significance and long term payment than a job does. Do not get me wrong, I love my job and I think there is much significance and long term payoff in my role. However, when I was slinging coffee, my job started when I clocked in and ended when I clocked out. The long term significance lasted as long as caffeine buzz and a trip to the bathroom. 

I was left to grow and develop on my own during those days. I did not have someone who paid me to grow as a person. There was no responsibility or eternal significance to my success or failure as a barista. Thus I had to motivate myself. I had to push myself to grow and get out of my comfort zone. I was not using any solid metrics to ensure I was growing. To a large extent, I still do not use any excellent metrics. What is worse, I usually have no clue how I am doing in progressing towards accomplishing my goals. 

I need to assess regularly. I need to look at my goals more often, be reminded of what I want to achieve, who I want to become. Where I want to go in life. I need to look at where I am at more often. There is a detrimental side to this where I assess too often and am defeated by measuring my lack of progress. I think for me I will start with assessing three or four times a year. Each phase of assessment will require me to recalibrate my interworking and assess my progress.

What are your goals? How often are you assessing them? What are your metrics to know if you are progressing.

Assessing,

–JT

Preparation

As I approach the weekbetween Christmas and New Years I often take time to reflect on the last year, where I have been, what I have done, things I have done well, things I have not done well and generally how this year has been. I am looking to see not only what has happened to me but also how have I reacted and responded to the year.

For some reason, I work backwards in this exercise. I start at the end of the year the current season and work back towards the beginning. I would not say it is the most logical way to do it but it has always worked for me and my quirky personality. When I look at the end of this year I have a bit of a rubric of things I think I should probably be outputting. I should be outputting things like hope, joy, and love. This is a season of Christ. The season of preparation. 

Preparation.

I am to be prepared for to be these things. I am to be ready to be hope to people. I am to be prepared to live out joy. I am to be available to share love with other people. I need to be prepared to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. 

I would not say It has been a good year. Generally, these have been two long years. In my short life, these last two years are in the top five hardest years I have had. I do not think I have some sort of right to claim this year as harder than anyone else’s; I would say with out a doubt there are people who have had significantly harder years than I have had. 

These messages are bigger than we are though. I would say for all of us, we can bring these messages of love, hope, and joy to the people around us despite the years we have had. We are to prepare ourselves to bring these things to people around us. The Christ child came and brought these things to his parents when they needed it. 

For me, it all revolves around preparation. Am I preparing myself to bring love to the people around me? Am I preparing myself to bring joy to the people around me? Am I preparing myself to bring hope to the people around me?

Not because I have an abundance of these things, but because I am preparing myself. Focusing myself. When I wake up, do I decide to bring love to others, despite knowing I am going to sit in more traffic than I would want. When I wake up, am I preparing to bring joy to the cashier at Starbucks despite the child behind me throwing a tantrum. Am I prepared to bring hope to the employee at the department store, despite her inability to get off her phone? 

Am I walking into the situation prepared to better someone else’s day despite my perception of what they should or should not be doing? Am I preparing myself to be to others what I need and want in this season? 

Are you prepared to be love, joy, and hope? Are you preparing yourself?

Prepared,

–JT