Testing Your Own Work

Have you ever sent out an email and found out later that it had an error in it you hadn't noticed?

Sometimes that error can change the whole meaning of the message.  We see that a lot when texting with autocorrect on, so it is important to check our work before sending it.

For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.  All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride. - Galatians 6:3-4

In Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, we encounter a word of advice for text users and anyone who puts effort into their labors.  Test your work.

Test your own work.

We are often told to have someone else test our work, because it is so easy to miss our mistakes.  But Paul is telling us that the only way we can take pride in what we do is to correct ourselves.

If spotting mistakes in an email is hard to do, how can we test ourselves in everything we do?  Is it even possible to be good at self-checking?

Through all my years managing people in a corporate setting, I came to believe that most people think they are doing a good job.

Sure, there are some who try to do as little as possible and would never admit that they know they are giving minimal effort.  For the most part, though, we all like to think we have done well.

In fact, it is the perfectionist, the one who keeps going back to tweak this or add that or correct one more thing, that drives us crazy.  That person is usually classified as an under-performer, since he can never get anything done.

So we are conditioned to get on with it, to be satisfied with what we have done and move on.

Still, Paul says, we should take time to test it, to make sure it is right, meaningful, on point.

I guess I can do that.  I can take a minute or two to read over what I write and look for those misspellings, those flipped letters that change the meaning of the word from "from" to "form," one of my common mistakes.

But will I?

Will I check and test, or mark it done and move on to the next thing?

When it comes to making sure I have done a good job, taking a little pride in my work may just be a
good thing.

So, the lesson I see in all this is simple.  Take a moment to check.  Be as thorough as possible, and if time doesn't allow it, find a way to check as I go.

It may not be easy, but I should do it.  After all, why should you find it difficult to read this?

Now, let me go back over this post and make sure I didn't make a mistake.

More to come...