My friend Eve is very young and naive, but she is clever and is trying to be a complete person. She will succeed. She just completed a HELLISH tour of duty for an unnamed social sector activity, and this is what I told her highness -
Eve -

Well, your long national nightmare is finally over...congratulation. Now the real hell begins. I have attached a document I have found very useful in the past, and I hope you do too. It is a Lessons Learned Survey. I first started using these in the military, as it is useful to review an operation to see where you messed up, and to see how you can improve. Toyota and other companies that practice Six Sigma, Total Quality Management or Kaizen-based management use something very similar to improve the way they do things, and explicitly learn from their mistakes.

Socrates said that "an unexamined life is not worth living", and I too believe this. The exercise of reviewing what you did at e7center may seem trivial, and even silly and pointless, but if you do it (after taking a few days off, of course) I think you will find it useful, as I have.

Some tips - Don't do this all at once... Let it flow out more or less naturally, over 2 or 3 weeks. Put it away for awhile, then get it back out. When you are "done", keep it somewhere for safe keeping. Review it from time to time and fill out a new one every once in a while.

Print the thing out, then fill it in. Don't do it on the PC. What I do is scribble on separate sheets of paper, with the appropriate numbering for the exercises.

Share it with someone...Keith would be a good choice. Write down the feedback. There is something about the act of committing thought to paper that is clarifying in the deed. Lou Reed wrote that "Between thought and expression lies a lifetime", so take advantage of the opportunity to improve by using this simple tool. I really believe you will find it a truly spiritual experience.

russell