Get Out That Calculator

Reliability

There are reliability calculations for most everything in the world.  In simple terms, reliability is determined calculating the expected reliability against the actual reliability.  One commonly used in my industry is data center availability which is measured in hours of uptime.  Data Centers have one purpose: process information.  What is the value of the data if it cannot be processed?  The common measure used when discussing Data Centers is the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).  If a Data Center is down, the information is left unprocessed, which means companies are losing money.  The goal in designing and operating Data Centers is to get the MTBF as close to 100% as possible.

I believe there are MBTFs for the people in our lives.  Some are as dependable as the atomic clock and others, well you know who you can and cannot call on when you need someone.  Some people are just professional victims and takers.  They have expectations for you to be there no matter what, expect you to drop any and everything to help them, or have a 100% availability rating for them.  Yet when it is the other way around and you need them, their MBTF spirals downward at the speed of light.

I am not saying you help people with the expectation of getting something in return, but there does have to be a balance in life.  Being the giver and there 100% of the time for others, leaves you feeling drained and left wanting.  Boundary issues (yours being broken or others not respecting them) are typically the culprit in those situations.  We are not perfect and cannot be the strong one all the time.  We all break down, have failures, and need help sometimes.  There are and will continue to be problems we just cannot solve on our own.  It is not a matter of if and all about when.

The good Lord designed us to need others.  That is where the connections in life I talk about often come into play. We are not made to be the strong one and problem solver 100% of the time. Have you looked at your MTBF along with the MTBF of those in your life lately?  Maybe it’s time for a Reliability Assessment.   

Rodney