Mark Twain said, “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” The reason I post here so often is to help you (and myself) continually think about our character development journey. I’ll keep posting and you keep showing up. Over time, I remain confident that we will see results. On this theme on continuous improvement, here are some critical questions to ponder this week. This will be short and sweet. But, you should take some time and wonder about this stuff. Our topic this week is:
Your True Colors
My church is doing a series on this topic as it relates to faith. I decided to borrow it and apply it to our character development journey. Here’s the point. We do our best to show the world one side of us – the best side possible. This is what I call our “Job Interview Persona.” In a job interview, we all come off as poised, smart, patient, kind, loyal, dependable. We put our best face forward because we want the job. You get the picture. We are able to pull this off because job interviews are short. We’re only there for a brief moment. Most people can hold their breath underwater for a brief moment too.
But, when life gets tough or we’re just around our loved ones, a different side resurfaces. This persona tends to be more authentic and also tends to display our character flaws more transparently. These are our true colors, our authentic self. The idea is to have your true colors echo the persona you show the world. This moral consistency will pay huge benefits. Think about it . . . if you’re just one (high character) person, you don’t have to fake it anymore. Isn’t that refreshing?
So . . . spend some time this week answering these questions. Click on each one for a cool quote and some more info. Enjoy!
Does Your Reputation Echo Your Character?
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
— H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
In other words, does your reputation echo your character? What areas of your life do you Photoshop?
What Virtues slide first when you get upset?
“Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.” — James Lane Allen
For me, when things go sideways, patience is always the first to go. My compassion, graciousness, and optimism quickly follow. The problem is that I try and hide my impatience, jerkiness, and bluntness from the world in these moments. I don’t want people to see my true colors. But, instead of hiding it from the world and being fake, it would be better to fix these issues before the next stressful situation arises. So, I need to practice pateince, compassion, graciousness, optimism more often. This will build my reserves of these virtues for future use.
What life events bring out your true colors?
“Dear Stress – lets break up!” — unknown
Where do you experience the most stress? Is it:
- At work . . .
- Driving . . .
- With your extended family . . .
- At the gym or working out (this is for my basketball buddies) . . .
- Returing email or phone calls . . .
- Paying bills or otherwise dealing with $$$ . . .
These are your inflection points – the places where you are vulnerable to showing your true colors. This means that you should place extra emphasis here for the next week. Try to move these from an inflection point to a more joyful part of your life. Here’s how I need to think about two of my inflection points this week:
- Driving – I have a really nice car. It has an amazing sound system. It’s a pleasure to drive. Why would I want to rush that experience by driving like a crazed lunatic to work (i.e., show my true colors of impatience)? I commit to driving outside the fast lane this week.
- Work Meetings – I have a really good job that I love. Not many people can say that. Yes, it comes with some tedious aspects – long meetings where professors pontificate about meaningless things. But, that’s comes with being part of a community. In the end, this is my chance to contribute to the conversation instead of sitting there acting upset and annoyed (i.e., showing my true colors).
Therefore, this week, I’ll commit to drive more slowly to work and take a deep breath in my 6 hours!! of meetings this Friday. This is my initial attempt to have my true colors be something I am proud to exhibit.
What is your plan for your inflection points this week?
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