Many people in the workforce perform a regular job evaluation to judge how well they have done. Not as many people perform a personal evaluation regarding the other parts of their lives. When we are born, we don’t come with a job description, and so it can be difficult to decide who we want to be, and how to get there.
If you were to perform such an evaluation, what criteria would you use to judge yourself? Do you think you would judge yourself more harshly or less harshly as you judge others?
How do you judge yourself?
Related questions: How do you define success? What is important? How do you judge others? Why do we judge others?
I have several life job descriptions — eight, to be exact: four core capacities (i.e. physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual); four personal (i.e. spouse, director, home economist, and friend). And, I’ve created missions for each of these roles. For instance, in part of my role as a friend, I want “to be proactive and support those close to me.” And, in part of my role as a home economist, I want “to maintain my house and home, building in its simplicity and richness.”
I review my roles frequently — weekly, when I am a good boy — to see how I am doing and try to figure out tangible ways to make progress on each. For example, as a friend, I want to keep building this blog with my friend Lee Urton; we call each other weekly to plan for progress. And as a home economist, for instance, I want to grow a beautiful and bountiful heirloom garden; this week I start my tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings.
For each role, I’ve identified my strengths, weaknesses, and how to build my capacity for successfully living each one. On an annual basis, I do a deep reflection for each of the roles.
Now, as to the questions of whether I judge myself more harshly than others, the answer is undoubtedly “yes.” If you’re interested in finding out more about that, visit my other blog, Prone to Hope, and specifically the post inspired by a visit with my therapist, “Affording myself kindness, patience, and understanding.”