Lemonade Makers with Yaya Rudo: Why personal self-auditing is important

By Yaya Rudo

I have received a number of emails and messages from readers promising to be Lemonade Makers in 2019. I hope it is not the new year euphoria talking, it normally fades away right about this time in January as more and more people realise that change requires work.

Angela says she has so many lemons she wants to be the top Lemonade Maker of her generation. Tanya says, never again will she waste her pain. It is all good feedback, but like any kind of change, real change starts from within.

We need to clean house. The next big step is a Personal Self Audit, an examination of what is going on inside. How you do it does not have to be with army precision, it simply has to be backed and powered by an open and honest heart.

In a world where we filter almost everything, from how we feel, to air brushed social media photos and propped up bank balances, being brutally honest with oneself is not popular.  I doubt if it will ever be in fashion.

Successful Lemonade Makers are those who have figured out the power of cleaning the inside. Modern dish washers and washing machines have a self-cleansing mechanism, let us keep up. There is unusual peace from a sound internal examination, it is the inside job that we must encourage each other to have.

The concept of an internal self-examination reminds me of my time in the corporate world. The word “auditor” was a joy killer, at least at all the organizations I worked for. The moment it was announced that auditors would be visiting, like Elvis Presley, joy left the building.

You could almost cut the tense atmosphere with a bread knife. I believe I was a good employee, honest and reliable but I really did not like auditors. I do not know what it was, but I am pretty sure it had a lot to do with having a bunch of guys who did not know us tell us that we were getting somethings wrong. Internal auditors were particularly annoying because they were colleagues. I know it does sound both naive and crazy now, but I kind of expected feel-good audit reports from them.

On a typical auditor visit, they would come in the office and ask a lot of questions about the job. I clearly remember how the auditors studied and went over the job description like a matric exam paper.  I remember they asked many questions to get to know a lot more about one’s job, and then they would sit back like hawks and watch you do, what you said you do.

After about a week, auditors would then go back to their fancy air conditioned, fully carpeted offices and write a rather lengthy report of all the things you are doing wrong. If you are lucky there would be one line with just one thing you are doing right.

The unplanned audit checks were even more traumatizing and cemented my dislike of these people. I felt that they were too pedantic with unrealistic expectations. I was convinced good audit reports were impossible to achieve.

Now that I am slightly older and a little wiser, I realize there was no good reason to dislike the auditors. They were not out to get us. It is good practice for any modern company, big or small to have some kind of audit on a regular basis.

Auditors review accounts, look at risk and find ways to prevent it. They make recommendations that keep the organization profitable. Auditors protect shareholders interests; their trained eyes pick up problems before they occur and come up with preventative measures. The more profitable the organization is, the higher the chances I have to keep my job. Thanks to you auditors.

An internal self-examination requires that you become brutally honest with yourself, no need to sugar coat anything. YOU are self-auditing for the benefit of YOU. It is all about acknowledging the current condition of the heart. The lemons we face in life often come with negative emotions and attributes. The audit is about acknowledging that, as of now, I am indeed mean, angry, unforgiving, impatient, rude, short-tempered, lazy, easily offended and unapproachable.

You then look at the flip side, the stuff you want to re-learn, grow and store in your heart. Stuff which is most likely to be the opposite of what you have or feel currently. I am talking about kindness, humility, forgiveness, patience, integrity, you know the list.

Personal self-auditing is one of the greatest moves you can ever make in your life. It brings to your attention all the things that are not edifying, you also get to see in black and white what you really need to re-learn and unlearn. If you are one of those bold Lemonade Makers you can ask close friends or family, especially your spouse, on what you need to re-learn and unlearn.

This personal internal audit gives us a chance to see how we are doing against values and attributes that matter to turning a life around. You get to know how you are doing on anger management, how patient you are, how bad pride is killing you. What of kindness? How hard is it for you to forgive?

You can change the attributes or values on the chart below to add what is important to you. Do not worry at all about scoring badly, it is the thinking behind the exercise that is important. You are not perfect, but not all bad either. There is a diamond inside of you, hold on to that goodness that comes out of the internal self-audit. Celebrate the boldness behind this exercise because a lot of people would rather filter their weaknesses away.

I did my own Personal Self Audit in 2016, I scored badly on pride. I did not realize I had pride literally sprouting all over me, most of it real hard-core foolish pride. The type that adds absolutely no value. Just like you, I am work in progress still striving to be a better version of Yaya Rudo.

Why should Lemonade Makers self audit?

-hurting people hurt others, make sure you have healed or you are healing

-you get to know yourself a bit better than before.

-applied knowledge will always be power. Knowing my pride score means I am more alert, I know the triggers and I am more deliberate about how I respond to people and situations. I can now smell my own pride creeping in when it is 10 miles away!

-when you know where you are, it is easy to move forward.

-It reveals what needs to continue and what needs to be discontinued

Let’s start the scoring, shall we? Below is my score sheet from 2016. Let me know how you score. Once again, I raise my glass to the Lemonade Makers who are bold enough to do a self examination.

YAYA RUDO- SELF AUDIT GUIDE 2016

TRAIT OR ATRIBUTE	CURRENT SCORE	DESIRED SCORE AND ACTION PLAN/COMMENT
Kindness	7/10	9/10 – need to be kind to people who are hard to love.  Cut mean people some slack.
Pride	3/10	6/10 by December- got too many signs and symptoms of pride. Need to learn to be the   bigger man.
Anger management	7/10	9/10 by December – getting angry is a choice. I have control over my reactions to situations. I should be able to respond positively all the time .I can do better than this.
Easily offended	7/10	As above
Gentleness	5/10	As above- I can decide to be deliberately gentle.
Patience	4/10	7/10 by December- need to be more patient with self and others
Thankfulness	7/10	10/10 I am in control- I can deliberately be more thankful to God and man
How trustworthy/reliable are you in general, time management, supporting others. Shoulder to cry on (ndinotembeka here/)	8/10	9/10 by December-I keep my word. I believe I am reliable, I also like reliable people. I am very loyal to my friends and family.

 

2019 Powered by grace and mercy!

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