“We are never deceived. We deceive ourselves.” ~Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe~
Are you winging it? Do you carry relativism to the extreme? Will you sell yourself to the devil, if the price is right? Can I trust you?
If any of these questions above make you wriggle in your skin, then you have shortchanged your life. Your prospect for long-term, meaningful success is diminished.
There is no legacy for the fraudulent. Only a quicksand death.
In a world where the small guy can now create a spin online to turn even Adolph Hitler into Dr. Seuss in tights, it is easy to get off track and lie with regularity.
In the short term, we can reap profits from such artful and designing means – sometimes obscene profits.
Selling foul air to the wind is becoming an ingrained custom. We offer products and services which are targeted not at a specific group or market, but instead at the gullible and get-rich-quick schemers and wannabes scavenging the Internet or the back alleys for that one shortcut to the top.
You can do better and be better by not whoring yourself to the highest bidder or sweetest talker.
Within each of us are all the tools we need to live a prosperous and above-board life. Don’t let the cynics and blusterers of the world call your shots for you.
Here are ten honest steps you can (and should) take to insure impeccable greatness:
1) Know what you stand for. Your unique DNA cannot be packaged, nor can anyone’s. If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.
2) Don’t lie for advantage. Little lies become messy and difficult to clean up. Once you are compromised, your credibility is shot.
3) Don’t stand by idly when you see others blatantly lying for advantage. Point out the contradiction in a puppy-dog, innocent-tone question.
4) Don’t sell products or services on word-of-mouth alone. However, if you are a satisfied customer of the gadget, software or whatever…then, by all means, share a good experience with those in your sphere of influence.
5) Don’t flippantly dismiss negative criticism of a product or service your marketing by saying, “I am an optimist and I don’t touch base with negative people.” Respond honestly and respectfully to ideas which you may not agree with. Trash only personal attacks on you which use many bad words about your bodily functions or refer disrespectfully to your origins.
6) Find people (alive and dead) whom you can respect and then model your ethical behavior accordingly. For a good starting point, CLICK HERE.
7) Never forget that you are among the privileged few in the world having access to the learning tools and freedoms which can elevate your life and status. Rather than go for the quick kill and the country club life, pass it forward. It’s the honest and highest-value thing to do.
8) Absolutely never – and I am guilty as charged! – talk ill about others in order to forge alliances. If you bad-mouth John or Susie, no doubt you will turn on your newest partner over time the same way as you did on them.
9) Cut the hype, sell the advantages and point out the disadvantages. Then, leave it to the customer to decide. It’s called the Ben Franklin System.
10) Be real. The designer life is often an attempt by an insecure person to impress us that he or she is special. Loud tattoos, perfumes that can catch fire, 18-bedroom homes for two, James Dean smoking styles and a host of other put-ons detract from your essence and are often not a statement of individuality.
Honestly speaking, most of us have a long way to go on actualizing all ten of these principles. Most assuredly, following them will define each of us as a man or woman of integrity. Get started today.