LIVING A GREAT LIFE PART B
CHANGE YOUR THINKING CHANGE YOUR LIFE
By Brian Tracy
CHAPTER 12: Living a Great Life
INTEGRITY IS ESSENTIAL
The most important single quality for success is the quality of integrity . Aristotle insisted that only a life based on values such as integrity, honesty, courage, generosity, persistence, and sincerity would lead to happiness and personal fulfillment. I used to think of integrity as only one of the key values, equal to and separate from the others. Then one day a wise and wealthy man pointed out to me that integrity is really the value that guarantees all the others. Integrity is the foundation value on which all of your other values are based. Having true integrity means that you always live and act consistently with your values. If you lack integrity, you will compromise your other values at the slightest temptation.
CLARIFY YOUR VALUES
In our strategic planning sessions, both for corporations and for individuals, we start off by asking people to define and clarify their values. You must do the same in your own personal strategic planning. What are your values? What is it that you believe in? What do you stand for? What will you not stand for?
Your ability to clearly define your values is the starting point of your developing the kind of character that causes people to want to be associated with you and which will lead you inevitably to enjoying a good life. When you have a fine and noble character, rooted in solid, life-affirming values, you will be a genuinely good person. As a result, you will be happy inside, no matter what is going on around you.
ORGANIZE YOUR VALUES
Once you have defined your values, you should organize them in order of priority. To start, you need only three to five key values to create a foundation for your character and personality. These are the values that you personally consider to be more important than any others. The order in which you arrange your values is terribly important as well. This ranking of values largely determines the kind of person you are, and the kind of life you live. Everything you do is the result of a choice. You are constantly making choices of one kind or another, to do one thing or to do something else. This ability to make choices distinguishes you from all other creatures.
Each choice you make is based on your primary values at that time. Each action is based on what you consider to be the most important value at that moment of choice.
ACT ON YOUR VALUES
When you choose, your higher-order values always take precedence over your lower-order values. Every act you take, every decision you make, is based on your dominant value at that time. You can do only one thing at a time, and you always have to choose what it is going to be. You always choose what is most valuable to you at that particular moment.
How can you tell what your values are? It’s simple. Your values are only and always expressed in your actions. It is what you do rather than what you say that tells you, and others, what you value most. Especially, it is what you do under pressure, when you are forced to choose, that reveals your true values and beliefs about yourself and the world around you.
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