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Consider any professional environment in which people are continually striving to improve. You will notice some key things. For example, everyone involved is working toward certain goals. Along the way, regular audits are taking place. Most are self-audits designed to help individuals understand where they are in the process. We could all learn a thing or two here.
It is fair to say that the culture is constantly reminding us that we can do better. We are told that we can be healthier by eating right and getting regular exercise. We are told that we can improve our finances by controlling spending and saving for the future. It goes on and on. But in order to be the individuals we want to be, we cannot focus solely on the goals. We also need to regularly evaluate where we are. We need to embrace the self-audit.
An Official Examination
The term ‘audit’ is most often defined in business and financial settings. But it has other meanings as well. One of those meetings, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, is “an official examination of the quality or condition of something.”
An audit is official in the sense that it has some authority and purpose behind it. It is not haphazard. It is not conducted without a goal in mind. As far as the quality and condition aspects, they should be self-evident. The purpose of an audit is to examine the condition of the thing, process, etc. being audited.
We can apply this definition to the self-audit rather simply. Let us say one of your goals toward becoming the person you want to be is making yourself more available to your spouse. You can regularly examine your life to see where you stand.
If you want to be more available, are you making the attempt to do so? Are you pulling away from things that have prevented you from being available in the past?
Audits and Compliance
Another aspect of the audit principle is related to compliance. Consider the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) put in place by the EU several years ago. Like all government regulations, it is not open to debate or personal preference. Compliance is required by law.
A smart company had a GDPR audit done in advance of the regulation’s implementation. Moving forward, that same company conducts routine audits in order to guarantee ongoing compliance. The audit requirement never ceases because changes to the way they do business are inevitable. Regular audits keep them on track.
Likewise, there are certain things you and I have to do to become the people we want to be. A person who wants to get out of debt has to stop spending more money than he earns. He must comply with one of the fundamental rules of finance: spending what you don’t have creates debt.
An audit of his spending habits is necessary to get the ball rolling. Regular self-audits keep track of how he’s doing. And because life circumstances continually change, the need for self-audits is ongoing. The minute those audits cease the individual risks the possibility of falling back into his old spending habits.
Why Self-Audits Work
If you are skeptical of the whole concept of self-audits, you are not alone. It is a concept a lot of people struggle with. But before you dismiss it completely, consider why self-audits work. Consider why so many well-being experts recommend them, even if they use different terms:
1. They Reveal Failures
Self-audits reveal failures along the way. They let us know where we have fallen down in our quest to become different people. As uncomfortable as it is to have to face such things, there is no possibility of succeeding if we don’t know where we are failing. That is just reality. We cannot fix what’s broken if we don’t know it’s broken.
2. They Celebrate Successes
The other side of revealing failures is celebrating successes. Regular self-audits show us the things we are doing right. They show us the improvements we have made in our quest to change. Those successes act as an encouragement to keep pressing on. They give us a foundation to build on and a reason to hope for eventual success.
3. They Provide Accountability
If self-audits are done correctly, they force us to be honest and open about who we are. That provides accountability – which is something we all need more of. We need to be accountable to ourselves and the decisions we make. We also need to be accountable to others who are impacted by our decisions and actions. Self-audits are the foundation of that accountability.
Know Where You Are
Are you working on becoming the kind of person you want to be? If so, good for you. Keep working at it until you reach your goals. And as you do, always remember that you need to know where you are in the process. That is what self-audits are for.
Regular self-audits show you where you are by reminding you where you once were. When you can see both of those things together, you will have a clearer vision of where you are headed in the future. You will be in a much better position to become that person you want to be.
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This content is sponsored by Jamshed Chaudhary.
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