A good habit

Early on in my career negotiating contracts I made a decision. I decided that my word would be my bond. I then found that there were many things I had to learn to enforce that decision. I had to learn not to make hasty decisions. I had to learn to set boundaries. When to say yes and when to say no and mean it. I had to learn to slowly consider, to do my research and due diligence before I made a commitment to anything or anyone. I had to learn to do small test models, build hypothesis. And I had to learn to judge people and situations.

To train myself I would fulfil my part eventhough I had made a mistake in judgement and got the shorter end of the stick. Even if I entered into a contract that lost me money. I redoubled my efforts to see where I had made the mistakes and continued to change myself.

I believe it is this habit that lead my mentors to me. With this habit I could build trust and credibility.

When I discovered chess, I found that it is the same skill set that was needed to play good chess. In chess you cannot take back your move. The challenge is to find the right thinking before the mistake.