During my freshman year of high school as an eager young student interested in computers, technology, and the internet I developed an interesting quirk. I sought out any and all website URL’s that I could find. Whenever I would find an address I would write it down in a notebook that I carried around. I would search through computer magazines and spam e-mail messages, the content of the web pages mattered very little to me. Before too long I had almost filled that notebook with these random URL’s. I would proudly display them to my friends saying “look I have the website for X or for Y”. Since the internet had not yet lost its novelty factor they would marvel along with me at the hundreds of addresses I had collected. In my mind I was laying the groundwork for success by chasing after this one aspect of a technology I did not really understand.

I’ve often wished for the chance to return to that time, to give my younger self a bit of direction with which to channel that desire. Clearly I thought that what I was doing was important, I was so busy working hard in one direction that I failed to ask if the work I was doing had value.

Often times we encounter those around us who are willing to work hard but who are also either ignorant or unable to recognize how a lack of direction limits the effectiveness of their efforts. Just like myself as a freshman, proper direction would have applied my efforts more constructively.

Consider an introspective look and ask yourself the following questions:

Is what I am doing important?

Am I adding or creating value?

Can I quantify my results?

The benefits of time, age, and experience have provided me with a lens with which to view my activities and to ask the important questions, and yet repeatedly I still fall into the trap of equating hard work with effective work. Consistent self evaluation is a simple key to success for those willing to honestly assess themselves.