"Doing Things Right" versus "Doing the Right Things"

For most of my life, people have tried to teach me the value of doing things right. I totally get it. If you’re going to do something, you better be sure to do it right. If not, you’ll probably have to do it again or never get the job done. It is a value that I want to pass on to my own kids.

Doing things right is a habit is an important one to have. It gets people promoted and propels people toward success, but it’s just one factor; you need to also do the right things. If you’re going to get promoted, you’ll have to prioritize and make good decisions of how you’re going to spend your time and energy. It’s important to pick the right things to do, and do them well.

Let’s say that you’re in charge of dessert for an upcoming family dinner. You decide that you’re going to make apple pies from scratch. It’s important for you to make them correctly or you’ll have inedible apple pies, have to redo them, and have wasted time and materials. So you make 6 pies, then you find out that half your family are allergic to apples and the other half hate pies and no one eats any of your food. You just wasted all that time, effort, and money on dessert, which could have been avoided if you asked everybody what they would like, what they were allergic to, or just got cake.

People are going to always tell you that you need to do things right, just don’t forget that’s it’s just as important (if not more) to do the right things.

Roderick Conwi is the Executive Editor at Nourishment Notes. He is also the author of The Procrastinator's Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights that enhance your day, join his free newsletter.