Responsibility

This is a tough one for Sperbs. We tend to think if our name, belief, hope or faith is in any way attached to a project, it is our responsibility to ensure it succeeds - and if the project does not succeed, the failure belongs to us entirely.

I'm still learning this one myself. I've finally gotten over the sports thing - it was in no way my fault that any of the recent Ohio teams I follow (OSU Football, OSU Basketball, Cleveland Cavaliers, Akron Aeros, or Cleveland Indians) did not claim The Big Prize in their championship games / series. Ten years ago, I would have pretty much set myself on fire by now, fully conviced that I had cheered wrong or something similarly inane to cause my teams to come up short. I'm still working on separating my performance for the project's performance for things I have a more active role in.

If you execute your portion of a project well and you offer help to others working on the project when they request, you have done all you can do. If the project on the whole tanks, well that's a disappointment, but you shouldn't lose sleep over it.

You should assign yourself responsiblity for anything over which you have control, but even then outside forces can mess it up for you - weather, theft, Sparky piddling on it while you sleep, etc.

Always do your best, and always take responsibility for what is yours to control. If your efforts were successful, you were successful - regardless of the final status of the project.