Helping others

So many people try to help others are then get frustrated when it didn't work out how they expected it to work out.

If you are going to help someone out make sure that you understand everything and there is an agreement between you. Here are some things to think about:

• Understand your abilities and your available time.
• Understand what the other person requires and the time commitment.
• Make sure the two of you discuss the needs, abilities and timing
• Don't exaggerate your abilities as it could come back at you.
• If you are donating your time the other person needs to understand what time you have to do this thing.

It is very important to make sure that when you are helping others that there are some discussions as to what is expected, when it is expected and how it is to be delivered. I have heard of cases that a person has had just a couple of hours to donate to do something and the original job was going to take that long but the person or organization kept changing their minds so the job took a lot longer and took a lot longer than the couple of hours.

Making sure that there is a clear definition of what is expected is sometimes a challenge to get because in cases of organizations they are unsure of what is needed until something is started. Sometimes an organization may want something and they expectation is it will only take a couple of hours as they are just making some basic assumptions and don't understand the requirements.

As an organization it is also important to understand that individuals donating their time need to understand what is expected of them. It is also important for the organization to know that not everything is going to be available all the time to help with issues or projects. You also need to understand that a project may not be completed by one individual if the requirements keep changing.

Helping others especially when you are donating your time can be a challenge. Make sure you know what time you have available and communicate that up front so that everyone knows.