Auditing your life

A few weeks ago my friend John P. came to visit me and stay here for 4-5 days. During that time, I asked him to audit my daily life..."everything from my morning workout routine, to work time, to socializing"...just so I could get a bit of perspective and see if there were areas in which I could improve my own daily habits and routines. This is something I ask close friends for on occasion, including my own client that I work with. I prefer constructive criticism as opposed to compliments, because I'm always striving for self improvement. It kind of reminds me of the "Devil's Advocate" approach that I picked up from Business School. In that approach, you ask you business school colleague to find a contrary viewpoint to whatever ideas and thoughts you discuss, just to provide a bit of perspective.

I find these "audits" and "devils' advocate" concepts very useful in any business and think that it should be part of any organizational structure. All employees, from the top down, should on routine occasion, get a bit perspective about his / her approach, management, methodologies, ideas, and perceptions from those around him that he is interacts most with, and is closest to.

You'll be surprised what you find out!

-Raj