Is This Going to Be On the Test?

"Is this going to be on the test?" I can still hear my classmates (and me) as we asked that same question of various teachers. The intent, of course, was to try to see if we could get some inside track that would help us to maximize the effort we spent studying the things that would be on the test, while totally ignoring those things that would not.

The teachers rarely gave us a straight answer, though, and with good reason. Their expectation was that we treated all of the material in the class as if it were part of the test. As such, we were always paying attention and learning as much as we could.

At work, we often search for the same lowest common denominator. Sometimes we try to guess which items are most important for our performance review. Sometimes we try to figure out what our supervisor really wants us to say before we say it. Sometimes we overkill the due diligence and overanalyze the problem just to avoid making a mistake.

Instead, we should go to work every day and give the best we can give. Make decisions. Take risks. Be bold. Do not fear failure.

Stop trying to guess what you are being judged on, and start acting like everything you do matters. Tweet This! Go to work today and try to do something. Better yet, do something important. Then tell me what it was.

Image credit: antoniusales via Pixabay