Author: cbarney.45

If you have principles or rules that you live by, it will automatically dictate what needs to be done when certain situations present themselves to you. Here are five principles that I try to live by after listening to an “Art of Manliness” podcast a year ago…

1) Direction over speed. You need to know where you’re going, or have a goal in mind, before you hastily make decisions trying to get there. It doesn’t matter how quickly you’re moving or how busy you are…if you’re not aiming in the right direction, it will take you much longer to get to where you want to go.

2) Live deliberately. Time, and life, is fleeting. It can be taken from you or a loved one at any moment. Make sure that you are intentional with how you spend your time. Pursue your passions today.

3) Thoughtful opinions held loosely. If you are willing to share your opinions, make sure that they are thoughtful. That being said, do not be tied to the words that you say. You should be focused on getting to the truth, not being viewed as correct or intelligent. Be willing to change your mind as new information is presented to you.

4) Principles outlive tactics. Tactics, such as memorization, don’t necessarily mean that you understand the what, the how, or the why. Seek to understand those aspects first, then work on implementing different strategies to spread the word.

5) Own your actions. Take ownership of your mistakes. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it will actually garner you more respect than if you hide from it. It is much harder to admit a mistake than it is to blame others, but you will never grow as a person or as a leader if you constantly point the finger at someone else’s wrongdoing. Don’t let your ego get in the way of truly owning your actions.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” – Greek proverb

Don’t be narrow-minded or short-sighted. Some actions have short-term benefits, but long-term consequences. The easy statement for the cynic to make is, “oh well. I’ll be dead before it ever affects me.” But that is no way to think to build a better future.

An example that comes to mind is environmental health. The short-sighted action is to deregulate laws that make it difficult for oil companies to drill offshore. Without these laws, it would allow for increased production/profitability for the oil companies and because there is more supply available, it should offer decreased costs (in theory) for the consumer. What is missed in this though is that it often comes with decreasing safety standards, protocol, or other items that serve as a barrier…this barrier acts to protect the environment (avoiding another oil spilling disaster) and to protect their employees (as this can be a dangerous profession). If we’re not driven solely by money, we should be on board to have crucial safety measures in place, right?

So, the options above are, maximize company profit now at the expense of the earth’s and the company’s employee’s health OR lower company profits and increase the health and safety of the earth and the company’s employees.

What do you think the oil companies will choose? The oil conglomerates, their lobbyists, and even some of our own politicians have a lot to gain (or lose) financially based on how much oil can be extracted. They think so short-term that they try to convince themselves that what they’re doing is fine. It’s safe. It’s not bad for the environment. There’s no such thing as global warming, or if there is, that what we humans do has no effect on it. They want more money in their bank accounts and are willing to sacrifice the health and safety standards of others to get it. After all, they’ll be dead before we see the true ramifications for what they’re doing. Greed is an ugly thing.

There are more examples out there like this, many of them not as obvious. But think about what you can do in your daily life to build a better future. Build it, if not for yourself then for your children, or your children’s children.

Try thinking about the long-term consequences of your actions and then act based on your predicted consequences. You may never see the desired result, but at least you know that you have contributed towards a better future.

If you’re limited on time (and everyone is because time is a finite resource), spend your most productive hours and the greatest amount of time doing meaningful activities that move you closer to your goals.

Why are you wasting precious time doing things that don’t matter – things that aren’t important and aren’t urgent? Find ways to eliminate what is useless, delegate what can be, and automate repetitive yet necessary tasks. Batch like-minded tasks to be completed at the same time to not disrupt your fast brain or slow brain activities. This should free up your time to work on what matters most.

You’re only human. Even if everyone around you only sees the good. Even if you don’t lose your temper and portray that you have it all together, you know the truth. Sometimes you get angry. Sometimes you make mistakes. Own up to those feelings and actions.

Do not let others build your ego, making your mind more fragile in the process as it craves the applause and recognition of others.

Nobody is perfect – not you, not your spouse, not your best friend, and not the famous person who you admire and look up to. Admit this to yourself and to others, set realistic expectations, and avoid the trappings of thinking too highly of yourself.

“We are what we repeatedly do, therefore, excellence is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

“How you do anything is how you do everything.” – Unknown

If you’re always looking for the easy way out, cutting corners, or taking shortcuts, you’ll never reach your full potential. But, just as the two quotes above say, you are what you repeatedly do and how you do anything is how you do everything. Work to eliminate your bad habits (cutting corners) and replace them with forming and repeating good habits. There is no such thing as a magic pill.

For example, say you are looking into getting gastric bypass surgery to lose weight. That only addresses the symptom (obesity), not the root cause (eating too much and living a sedentary lifestyle). If you haven’t changed the habits that got you to where you are, having the surgery is likely to only be a temporary fix. The surgery will help you lose weight (the easy part in this scenario), but you didn’t have to earn it. You didn’t have to change your habits (the hard part) to get your desired result. Over time, if you haven’t changed the bad habits that got you to where you are, you will revert to being overweight. You become what you do.

Make sure to always look for the root cause of the issue you’re experiencing and try to solve for that, not the symptom. Once you determine what habits need to be stopped and what habits need to be created, begin implementing them on a daily basis and you will be more likely to see a long-term solution.