Monday, October 26, 2009

Principle Based Life

I recently read the quote, "When a life is based on principles, 99% of the decisions are already made." At first glance, this seems to oversimplify decision making in life. However, knowing what the right decision to make is not as difficult as following through with the right decision. Living life and exercising leadership requires successful application of principles. Principles are character-based ways to choose the right path at the right time. Principles make decisions easier to make, especially when under pressure.

For example, I have commited to maintain right relationships with everyone I know. Because of this principle, no question or doubt exists when I gain knowledge of how I may have caused an offense with someone. My immediate goal then becomes, "How can I make this right?" I do not have to agonize over what I should do; the decision has already been made. As John Maxwell once stated, "Successful leaders make right commitments early in life and manage them throughout their lives."

What principles are you learning that you desire to commit to now and manage throughout life? Remember that these principles will ease the burden of making difficult decisions in life.

36 comments:

  1. I would like to live with integrity by being true to myself, my words, and my actions. And if I screw up, then I'll just admit it, do what I need to do, and move on. I strive to always seek wise counsel on any decision I make so I can weigh the pros and cons, and then go from there. Living by what I know to be right is also a principle I strive to live by. One thing that I always try to keep in my head is that every action of mine has either a positive or negative effect on someone else. Honestly, it's kind of scary realizing that so many people are watching you and sometimes their decisions are based on yours. I also want to have positive relationships with people. That way, there won't be as much negativity and hard feelings. That's never good.

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  2. I would also like to live my life with integrity. specifically, I would like to live with truth and love. In my life there are three arenas, people, circumstances, and temptations. I would hope that in all of these the decisions I make would be made 'in truth' and would be done with love.

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  3. I would like to have the principle of living my life through the eyes of others that are truly important to me. What I mean by this is that if I do something that i know is wrong but at that time it seems fine to do i want to think to my self, now if i were to do this how would other people that i care about look towards me? Would they think nothing of it? Would they not put trust in me anymore? Would this make me seem to have a bad since of character? This is what i am going to try and start asking myself when I am put in a tough situation. I know its not right to care about what other people think of you but if the people that you know, love and trust no longer feel as though you are trustworthy or have good character; than to me that is what is important. Its to live up to and past yours and others expectations.

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  4. I really don't know what I want to call this but I would like to do the same things in front of authorities that I do in front of my friends. By this I mean that I don't' want to act fake in from of some people or fall under peer pressure with my friends. I jsut want to be the same person in front of everyone!!

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  5. Hey Channing! I love what you wrote! I also would like to strive to be the same person with whoever I'm with. Sometimes I struggle with being the same person with people I don't know very well. So, yeah. What you shared is something that I think is important to live by too! :)

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  7. I would like to live my life in a way that I act the same around everyone. I don't want to be two-sided to different people. I would like to live so that my actions are consistant and people can expect consistency from me. I want them to know what I stand for, what is right and wrong. I don't want to be easily swayed by others opinioins, actions, or anything. Life is too short to be a different person all the time. This is very important to me and I want to live by it for the rest of my life.

    Ciara

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  8. Ciara, you've brought up a great topic and I agree with you all the way. Everyone changes when a new situation comes or they're with different people. This is normal. It's sometimes funny too. A person sometimes even changes the way they talk with others and also their body language. It's kind of funny but it's a reality. Everyone wants to 'fit in' with the mainstream crowd. They want to be accepted in the 'society.' But, the leader will be a lion that doesn't have to roar. The leader will stand on his/her ground no matter what the others think. Of course, leaders sometimes have to be reasonable, but when ethics comes in, the leader won't be swayed by others; just like Ciara said. The sheep will always be with the herd and always scared to stand by itself. They have fear. This kind of leader should not even be called a leader. So, be a lion who is decisive. Don't be a sheep who is not.

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  9. I would like to live my life by giving everything 100%. I believe that anything i committ to i should give my all. By doing this people will trust you and know that you will not give up no matter what the case is.

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  10. I would like to live my life by doing my best with everything I do. I want to be a very committed and focused on everything I do in life. If I do this people will began to believe in me as a leader.

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  11. I like what Kelly said and would like to live the same by giving my 100% in what ever i am doing. I want to be focused on whatever it is i am trying to accomplish.

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  12. I like what jake said. I really just wanna give it 100% my last year and just stay focused.

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  13. I would really like to be more consistent with my actions around everyone that I encounter. I want to be able to show to everyone that I am the same around them as I am, say, around my family. That's important because people would see that I am being true to them.

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  14. I also would like to be the same person to everybody. Sometimes i feel that I have to change who I am to certain people and that I can't be myself all the time. Some people have certain expectations of how I should act and sometimes that isn't how I am. I want to be "me" in front everyone and not someone that I have to pretend to be.

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  15. I think that you should be able to be your own person no matter who is around. When certain people are around i think you should be able to stick to your guns, or what you believe in.

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  16. I think that it shows a lot about a person when they defend what they believe. I think you should be true to yourself and not change just because of the situation or who you happen to be around.

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  17. I choose to live with integrity because i think its one of the most important principles to live by. Being the same person to everyone to everyone around you, including being true to yourself.

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  18. I want to stay committed to being true to myself. By this I mean doing what I know is right rather than going with the flow and everyone else. If I do this all the time then people will know what to expect from me & also expect how I will react.

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  19. I want to commit to never giving up. If things dont go your way then you cant just quit otherwise you wont get anywhere. If something doesnt go your way you have to try harder

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  20. I hate to say the same thing as everyone else, but I to desire to be the same person around everybody. I don't want to be a person that is constantly changing who they are to fit in with the people that I'm around. I also want to commit myself to loving others 100% of the time. No negetive comments and nothing hurtful and if that were to happen, I know that I need to find a way to make it right.

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  21. i think it is important to believe in what you are doing. without passion for something, you will never be able to succeed.

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  22. Two things I am committing to now and vowing to follow through with throughout my life are staying true to myself and living my life to the fullest, giving my all in everything I do. I will always have my goals and values in the back of my mind, and I don't want to wander off path and forget what's important to me. I know this second part is a little silly, but I vow to never be the old lady in the nursing home saying, "I wish.. I wish.. I wish. I wish I could have done this.. I wish I wouldn't have said that.." and on and on. I want to live my life without any regrets and never look back and think, 'What if?'

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  23. quote of the day "Every man dies. Not every man really lives."

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  24. The golden rule is a principle that I try to live by. I try to treat everyone the way i want to be treated. I know that if I show respect for others they will do the same for me. I have chosen to follow this principle so I don't need to decide how to treat different people. I just treat everyone the same.

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  25. I want to look back at life and know that I did my best. To live my life to the fullest. Giving it my all in everything I do is something that I strive to do and am trying to improve on.

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  26. I think I should try to live by the Golden Rule. You can't always control how people treat you, but you can control how you treat them. It may not always seem like they deserve the respect, but you should follow through and give the respect anyway.

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  27. I agree with Anne and AMac, Treat others with the same respect that you would like to recieve from them. Although you may not recieve the same respect from them right away, it may influence how they treat you later in life.

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  28. I would like to put relationships first, because those are what are going to stick with me for life and are way more important then how much money I earn. For instance my family. I have never really tried to be close with any of them, but now after realizing in a few months I will be gone it makes me want to establish and build on relationships and never sacrifice them for personal gain.

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  29. I would like to be an trustworthy honest guy. I want people to know if they need to know something that. I will give them my honest oppinion. because with honest comes opertunitys to lead if you no what I am saying

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  30. One thing I try to live by is to show people that I am trustworthy. If you are not a trustworthy person, you will get nowhere in life. What good does it do if you are a successful person, but no one can fully trust you. I try to do everything in my power to keep people's trust with me.

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  31. I really want to be a person that people can trust for the truth. I want people to be able to count on me and to know that I am reliable. I want to live to be a person of integrity.

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  32. I think everyone knows the right thing to do in a situation. It a matter of if they WANT to make the right choice. It's a personal commitment to doing what you know is the right thing. I want to be someone who doesn't lower the standards to certain people or certain situations. I want to set an example of doing things right now matter what.

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  33. I am going to make the right decisions. Sometimes i may make some mistakes and follow the crowd, but i will catch myself and fix the wrong. I will not follow the crowd and do what is right. I will step away from the crowd and do the right thing.

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  34. I want to live my life with out any regrets, although they are a few things I regret from my past it's a new day so it's time to start fresh. I want to learn from my previous mistakes and teach other from what I have learned.

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  35. I think you should act as you feel it's right, because sometimes there will be situations, where you will just have to act against your principles to succeed.

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