What is Your Philosophy?

This is not meant to be an intimidating question? I’m not asking you to think like Socrates, or Kant or Emerson. I’m asking how do you approach life? How do you respond to challenges on a daily basis? If you have ever listened to Jim Rohn, you know that this was a big part of him going from debt collectors knocking at his door to becoming a millionaire in six years at the age of 31.

The main philosophy that changed his life was going from blaming others for everything that happened in his life, to taking full responsibility for everything in his life. No longer did he blame the weather, the state of politics, taxes or any other external cause. He simply recognized that the outlook he had on life wasn’t serving him and turned himself around - dramatically!

Have you ever missed a Daily Scrum? Who did you blame? If it was you, then congratulations. Put that in your Sprint Retrospective. Maybe you were at a party the night before that went later than you’d planned. It would be easy to blame the party, when in fact you had complete control over when to leave. (Holiday parties may be back this year, so keep this in mind.)

Did you get a late fee on a bill that you forgot to pay? Was that because you were overwhelmed at work, or because you don’t have good systems in place to remind you when bills are due?

At the end of a Sprint, you may not complete all of your goals. It happens. It happens to me. But it only happens because of things we can control. Did we overschedule? Did we engage in activities that were contrary to our stated values? Or are you noticing that perhaps your values are changing. That happens too. In fact, it is through committing to our values that we learn more about ourselves and find reasons to make course corrections. The point is that it’s up to you to discover that. Does that fit with your philosophy?