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If you want something done right do it yourself: This quote by Napoleon talks about ownership, quality of work, responsibility and trust. As much as I like the ownership element in this quote, I’m not sure if implies trust in others. At an extreme end, I worry that this quote implies micromanagement! However, let’s look at the positive. If you want something done right, do it yourself motivates us to take full ownership and responsibility for something. It also tells us that we will invest completely into something when we do it ourselves.

If you want something done right do it yourself

Napoleon

The one aspect I like about this quote is – if you do something yourself, you’ll also appreciate the complexity of a task. Sometimes, when we delegate tasks, it is easy to ignore their complexity or appreciate the hard work. If we do something ourselves, it helps us empathise with others and be helpful to do the work instead of being judgmental.

If you want something done right do it yourself meaning

When we do something ourselves, we have greater control and autonomy over it. We also know all the details associated with a task. It not only helps us define the scope and size of the task but also creates a sense of control over the outcome. We can increase or decrease our time allocation based on the outcome that we want. In essence, we can be sure of the steps involved, when something is completed etc. Critical tasks that have high dependency etc are best handled this way.

It is good to do things ourselves because we can set the expectations right and have better control. We might not be able to impress the same level of expectation of priority, quality or outcome from others. The benefits of doing things ourselves are:

• Ownership and ensuring delivery on time
• Maintaining the expected standards and quality
• Assigning the right level of importance to something deserves
• Trust that it will be done since we are in control

However, if you dig deeper into the meaning of if you want something done right do it yourself, you’ll notice that it ignores teamwork, collaboration and trust in others. It also extends to the definitions of micromanagement because we will never have the time to do it all ourselves. Sometimes, we don’t have all the capability or expertise to do everything ourselves. This is precisely where this quote fails to hold. Maybe it is time to modify the meaning of the quote – if you want something done right do it yourself to find the best team route to accomplish the goal. Perhaps it is time to think about outcome-oriented thinking rather than the output or the type of work required.

References:

Other Napoleon quotes – https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/napoleon-bonaparte-quotes