The Best Version of us is always a target to achieve. This means that we visualize it, dream about it and plan to reach it. On the contrary, our highest good as we had a chat about last week in The Future of Maintenance – 24 – Work for your Highest Good is our momentary selection of what works best for us in this situation. In maintenance we say Best Practices or world class records for those KPIs achieved by some reputable organizations. However, those records need to be considered only within the context they were achieved in. This doesn’t justify any compromise for reaching excellence in what we are doing. It is only a reminder that someone’s else target might not fit you.
Why we need to go after our Best Version?
Because if all you do is wait for the best version of yourself to happen, you’re forever going to be stuck with the current version. But what’s wrong with that? Universe including maintenance is designed to be in a continuous change. So, there is no way that you can hold everything in position or in your current comfortable status. Things and people either relatively move forward or return backward. Relatively here means relative to their previous status or relative to you. Software apps receive updates. But then your hardware becomes outdated.
Similarly, equipment deteriorates but most of their troubles had become known. Your team is older but more matured and experienced. Both situations in each statement represents two relatively different positions of two interrelated objects. Your interpretation for the situation you realized gives it the meaning you perceive. If you perceive the equipment or team getting old as negative, that’s how your future will look like. Otherwise, if you are thankful more for the experienced team and the absence of unknown failures, you will get more to be thankful for.
Selecting the highest good in every aspect of your life is like selecting the correct puzzle pieces of your Best Version. The path to your authentic best version is the one that fits mystically to all related and unrelated situations. So it is not the matter of selecting a glittery best version and making it as your target. And, it is not the matter of selecting a version that satisfies everyone else’s expectations. What matters is selecting a version that truly satisfies your authentic values and desires. This applies for the personal best version as well as the best version organizational function called maintenance .
How to draw an authentic best version?
Let’s start by two (2) important realizations here. The first one is authenticity. the simple definition of authenticity from Wikipedia is : “Authenticity is the degree to which a person’s actions are congruent with their values and desires, despite external pressures to social, work or, political conformity”. This shows us in simple and straight forward words that we need to make our best version image representing our own desires. In simpler words, if you prefer sportswear, don’t draw your best version in a tuxedo. If you love Coursed Stone or Mountain Ledge Stone, don’t draw your future home in marble because that’s look more rich.
The second realization is that never set your best version in stone. If you reflect on the word “draw”, twenty to thirty years ago, you were not having the possibility to edit your finished drawing. Unless, you were using CorelDraw or Photoshop, you would need to draw a complete new drawing. And, even when you were using those digital tools, printing a final version was a big task, that you rethink investing in another print. Nowadays the digital art is valuable as it is; digital and online special in the NFT era. Moreover you can repaint it it at any time. This applies for your best version, once you figure it out, you will continuously make touch ups.
Drawing a complete new Best Version image of you might be necessary at one point. But then, you need to thank the time and effort spent on the older track and don’t regret them. Because if what you will focus on is regretting the old, then this will be regenerated in you life. Simple because your valuable energy of concentration and focus creates what you will see next door. So, select where to focus and sustain your focus on this target for sometime till it materializes.
Let’s see some examples
When someone is working in the maintenance planning, usually he is not under the stress of the day-to-day failures and backlog execution. He is doing a brilliant job in synergizing everything together so the production can achieve its targets and the maintenance can do its job. There is a very wide variety of tools and techniques to learn and apply. However, if a planner sees his job, even he is doing it successfully as dull, then the field job will let him develop an authentic job. On the other side you can a skilled field maintenance team member can’t stand anxiety. Then he will be able to develop his best version in planning or reliability management.
This applies also for anyone who pursues a well-paying job but spends his days and night in frustration. He couldn’t find easiness and piece of mind in the midst of the normal work chaos. This means that this well-paying job won’t take him any near to his best version.
Let’s take it a bit technical. One day some many years ago we were discussing whether a star or ring network topology or a hybrid arrangement would secure the data flow and provide stable factory control. At this time, the automation was in the hands of logic controllers hardwired to field sensors. Now-a-days, having your data on the cloud and applying intelligent IIoT sensors signifies that we are on the path towards the best version of our factory controls. On the other hand, some where, still PLC’s and a redundant ring network is producing very fine products and generating profit. Moreover, the team there is happy.
So, how do you chose to draw your best version?
In conclusion,
Our best version is always changing. Our environment and its rapid evolution adds touch-ups to how the end image will look like between now and then. However at any point of time, we have the freedom to switch to a different version that suits us better. The two main aspects of the best version we chose are authenticity and free evolving.
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