Right Things Right

I took a sip of my coffee, looked at today’s fortune this morning and asked Bunny our cat, “What could be better than doing something right?” She looked at me but went back to her nap. If you’re doing the right thing, and you honestly care enough about doing the right thing, then in my opinion, you’re already at your best. What else is there to say?

I stared at this screen for a while and realized maybe I’m being a little fixated on the moral perspective of right and wrong. So, let’s look at “doing things right” as the measure of perfection instead. Nobody wants to see you do the wrong thing perfectly, and we’d rather see you do the right thing even if it flops. If you truly want to do the right thing for all the right reasons, but you still end up doing it wrong, then, yes, I suppose there’s room for improvement and learning to do the right thing even better.

If you care about being better at doing the right things right, then this is where your creativity comes into play—especially if your best efforts and good intentions have fallen short. The cool thing about creativity is that it allows you to see challenges from different angles. As you figure out a new game plan, listen to feedback, try out some new ideas, and refine your approach, you will start doing the right thing even better next time.

We all have things we do well. Achieving success in those areas may even feel effortless. People notice our strengths, and you can get branded by others for them. My nickname is Smyles. I love having fun, telling jokes, and when I’m at my best, I smile a lot. It’s a strength. Laughter is my favorite sound in the world, and I love making others laugh.

Then there are those situations we’ve repeatedly struggled with and often avoid. These are our weak spots. Confrontation is the worst for me. It’s tough to deliver bad news or tell someone something that might hurt their feelings—even when it’s necessary. I tend to shy away from those uncomfortable situations whenever possible.

While perfecting our strengths is easy, working on our weaknesses is terrifying. Unfortunately, the only way to actually improve is to let yourself go into those tough situations and try. It takes some courage, but with practice, it can be as today’s fortune says, “Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.”