Diligence
Diligence simply put, means staying on top of things,
in all aspects of your life.
Most employers would give their right arm (at least their left arm) to be surrounded by co-workers that are truly diligent. Diligence means doing your very best. Unfortunately, doing your very best today is interpreted by many people as making an effort. But, doing your best goes way beyond just "trying". It means making your best possible effort, and then double and triple checking your work. In other words, it means thinking through what you're doing, thinking through all the possible angles or problems that might occur, and thinking up a plan for each possibility (much like the game of Chess).
Being diligent means following through, spending that extra hour making sure there are no mistakes, whether it's proofreading your work, making an extra call, rewriting your memo to make sure that it's extra clear and can't be misinterpreted, or examining your product or business plan for any flaws. What haven't you seen? What haven't you anticipated?
Diligence demands a combination of commitment to do the job right, the discipline to be thorough, paying attention, and personal integrity.
Diligence means different things for different people. For a receptionist, it may mean making sure that you clearly understand the person's name (and to spell it correctly), diplomatically finding out what they want, so your Boss can decide if he wants to call them back or not. This is opposite to the "normal method", scratching down the first thing that sounds remotely similar to their name, and barely getting down the phone number without any additional extra information.
If you're an employee making a corporate plan or one for your own company, whether financial or otherwise, diligence means anticipating a variety of variables that could effect the plan one way or the other, and then plotting the possible outcomes accordingly. If you are an assistant or a secretary, it's not only doing what the boss requires, but also thinking in advance what he or she requires, and having it ready before they have to ask for it.
Diligence is required with children more than in any other area. What are your children learning, and from whom? Are these the sorts of values you want instilled in them? How do they integrate this information? What is their relationship with you, the world, and their friends? What assumptions are they beginning to already make about life and their own potential? And of course, the big question is exactly where are your children even now? Do you let them roam the streets? Do you let them ride their bikes across town? Do you bother to read the newspaper to note how many child kidnappings or molestations have occurred in your area?
Diligence requires actually thinking about the consequences of your actions, each and every action, whether it's professional or personal.
In the end, diligence simply means staying on "top of things", whether it's your family business project, or virtually any endeavor in life. New information can dramatically change the future course of your project from day to day. That means you need to stay "on top of things", seeking new information out, analyzing how it affects your goals, monitoring your progress, and making adjustments as needed. If you don't stay on top of things, you'll notice that they "get away from you", and don't end up the way you, or anyone else desired. That's because you weren't diligent.
by C.V. Doner
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