Knowing Your Pride Limit

Last week, I called in a professional. Yes, I could have kept going at the problem. Lord knows, there are many more internet threads I could have read or YouTube videos I could have watched on the subject. But I stepped back and knew I had been putting up a good fight for months—my pride was allowing me to drift from determined to just being hard-headed about the issue.

I was sacrificing quality of life and literally flushing money down the drain. You see, my months-long saga focused on a basic household toilet. It worked; it flushed. Yet, its daily inconsistency in automatically filling the bowl or running on for an extended period became an extended tweaking game—and one I would win! Until I repeatedly didn't. No matter how many times I cleared the valve or tweaked the water fill levels, it did not work as it should. Yet, I was straining to mentally allow this persistent annoyance to be categorized as an issue requiring additional resources—a professional, a plumber.

These same types of hindrances happen every day in business environments. Think about how many times you have walked into a place of business and seen a handwritten sign taped up saying something to the effect of, "Sorry for the inconvenience, this (object) is jammed. Please use the other side, next counter, another check-in machine, copier on 2nd floor, etc." Sometimes, it's a matter of a team member being confident they can fix this issue outside their scope as soon as they "have time."? ? ? ?

Employees have the greatest intentions. They're proud of their organization and want to make things work so they can please customers immediately. They find workarounds, diverting time, talent, and energy down other paths to make things function. Sadly, this can lead to less efficiency in the long run—working but not as planned.

So, how do we determine the right time to let go of our pride and call a professional (subject matter expert) to fix or properly tune a misaligned piece of equipment or business procedure?

Regulate with Rules

When sorting through emails, I like to set up rules. For example, "For all messages from (X), move to folder (X)." These rules help me streamline how emails are processed and keep my focus on the priorities of my role.

We can do the same for peripheral situations requiring attention. For example, I could have avoided my saga above had I established a rule: "I will allow myself three attempts (or X number of hours invested) to remedy the issue. If unsuccessful, I will seek professional assistance."

Tapout at Set Time

Ritu Ghatourey said, "Sometimes you have to eat your words, chew your ego, swallow your pride and accept your mistakes. It's not giving up. It's called growing up."

Maybe a gentler close is, "It's called moving forward." Walking away from a fruitless undertaking is healthy. It allows us to downshift from an ongoing stressful fighting stance to a peaceful state, which puts us in a better place to learn. When discussing embracing failure and lessons learned in 30 Worthy Guides for Mapping Your Best Life, I note, "The goal is to move from trudging through experiences..."

Tapping out doesn't have quite the sting when you have defined the horizon: "This issue needs to be resolved by (date/time)."

So, the underlying questions are: 1) Are you aware of how big your ego is, and 2) how far are you letting it siphon off your time, talent, and energy into tasks that aren't within your areas of expertise or interest—dumping these resources down the drain?? ?

Even if we initially proclaim we can fix something, it's not an all-or-nothing scenario. As we learn more about the extent of the issue in relation to our skill set or resources, it's perfectly suitable to modify the plan and call for help. Remember, "failure is not a measure of our worth or value as a person"(30 Worthy). So, get to know the limit where your pride begins to stand in the way of progress and call the professional. When the problem is fixed, you'll be happy you did. ??