Sunday, July 22, 2007

Practice What You Preach

I get really annoyed with people who talk a good talk and don't walk the walk. It has always bothered me when I see people with that old "monkey see - monkey do" attitude. When someone talks about being a good leader and then behaves in a way that is contrary to one's stated opinons or philosophy - it leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouths. When an authority on any subject says, "this is how it should be..." they better live it. Otherwise, people will be thinking, "What a hypocrite!"

Do you want to be labelled a hypocrite, or do you want to be consistent in your philosophies, beliefs, and actions? I know I do. That doesn't mean I am successful. Sometimes despite my best efforts, I turn into the monster I seek to destroy; that is an inevitability of being human. Having said that, I find that life is much easier when you just live out your beliefs. Now, if you have read my previous blog entries, you may be thinking "huh?" - especially after the one about my email rant to a colleague... the fact is that I know I'm not perfect, but I do my best to learn from my mistakes so I don't keep making the same ones over and over again.

So as you go through your daily activities, think about what your personal philosophies are and how they apply to everything you do. Don't make excuses from your mess-ups - trying to cover up a mistake rather than admitting to it just lessens your credibility. Rather, work towards learning from what toook place and think about how you can revise your actions, reactions, and responses so that they can be more congruent with your self-avowed beliefs. You'll find the following:
  1. People will respect you more, and feel angry or frustrated with you less.
  2. You will feel negative emotions because your life is conguent with hw you say you choose to live.

Lastly, become a student of human behaviour. You can learn a lot about yourself by simply paying attention to how people react to you and how they interact with you. Comments? I welcome your thoughts. Please keep it clean - no profanity allowed. Thanks!