The Russons' Top YEE Tips

**3 min read**

Top Tip 1. Do not compromise your standards of integrity.  Janis Joplin is famously quoted as saying, "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." Be true to yourself. Do what you feel is right and honest in your work, though it may not be the easiest or most convenient. At the end of the day, we all have to live with ourselves.

Top Tip 2. Put evaluation in perspective. Decision-makers and policy-makers rely on multiple sources of information coming from constituents, audits, evaluation, political pressures and personal preferences or intuition. The evaluations that we conduct are just one stream of information that contributes to a course of action. Manage your expectations for what your report will do.

Top Tip 3. Cultivate diverse interests. Werner Heisenberg, author of the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty in quantum physics, is famously quoted as saying

"It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking, the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow."

It is therefore important to have diverse interests. You may be able to relate some of these interests back to evaluation, thereby improving your own practice and enriching the evaluation field.

Top Tip 4. Nurture relationships. At the end of your career, the good friends you have made will be more gratifying than the articles you have published.

A corollary of that is family first. Family should come before your career. Jobs come and go but family does not.

Top Tip 5. The universe unfolds the way that it is supposed to. Do not be too disappointed if you do not get the job for which you had desperately hoped. Maybe it was not meant to be. Rest assured that you will end up in the places you are supposed to be, at the times when you are supposed to be there.

Having said that, keep applying, keep doing. The fact that the universe unfolds as it is supposed to does not preclude us from having to search out our karma. We cannot wait for destiny to come to us; we have to go and find it.

Having a 'boring' life is not necessarily a bad thing. You do not waste all of your psychic energy dealing with interpersonal dramas thereby freeing your mind for creative thinking.

Top Tip 7. Maintain a balance in your life. Pay attention to mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life. It will help you to be better evaluators . . . and better people.

Take care of yourself. Eat healthfully, exercise regularly, get adequate sleep. Remember you are in this for the long run.