Honesty & Integrity

Honesty is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as: the state or quality of being honest; a refraining from lying, cheating, stealing; being truthful, trustworthy, or upright. Integrity is defined as: the quality or state of being of sound moral principle, uprightness, honesty, and sincerity. I like the definition I heard given some time ago concerning honesty and integrity. Honesty is doing what is right; integrity is doing what is right when no one is around to see what you are doing.

The lack of honesty and integrity can be seen in every walk of life. Recent statistics from our public schools and colleges reveal some alarming trends. Not only are more students cheating on tests and papers, but also it is occurring among a wider age group of students. Elementary students are now reporting that cheating is a common occurrence. Even of greater concern is the mind set many expressed of there not being anything wrong with cheating. It is as though cheating has become a way of life, something one is “expected” to do.

This plague of dishonesty is not restricted to students in our educational system. It is a very real problem in the work place. Talk to any business owner or company official and they will tell you that one of their greatest problems is with dishonest employees. Employees that steal money, merchandise, and time from the company or business. The consensus among most employers is that it is becoming more and more difficult to find honest people that they can trust.

The cause of this lack of honesty and integrity that is plaguing society can be attributed to many areas. One is that of leadership within our nation. Think of the many politicians, both past and present that while campaigning for office made boasts and promises of great things that they would do if elected, only to renege on most if not all of them once in office. Or when being questioned concerning their conduct and practices in various dealings and decisions, have responded with bold face lies or invoked their Fifth Amendment right rather than just simply being honest and telling the truth. The unfortunate thing is that few within our nation care to hold any of these accountable.

Listen dear people, if we continue the path that we are presently on, there is a very dark future ahead. Change must take place and it needs to begin with us. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:22-25, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.” And in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Compassion

First we must understand the meaning of Compassion before we can act upon it. Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and person hood. Now that we know what compassion is, we all should face a situation in life were we show compassion for one another. Looking at it from a religious stand point and being a follower of Christ, I suppose that when our Saviour looked upon certain sights, those who watched him closely perceived that his internal agitation was very great, his emotions were very deep, and then his face betrayed it, his eyes gushed like founts with tears, and you saw that his big heart was ready to burst with pity for the sorrow upon which his eyes were gazing. He was moved with compassion. His whole nature was agitated with commiseration for the sufferers before him. If you have the love of Christ in you, you will have compassion for the poor and the suffering. Sadly not all of us have compassion for people because we’re to busy stuck on ourselves.

Diversity

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, sociology-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
The truth of the matter is that diversity effects each one of us. The logic to diversity is how you handle it, either in a positive aspect or negative aspect, entirely up to you. The world that we all are born into is a diverse world, that’s what make it so unique.
One dictionary says it like this,”diversity is the condition of having or being composed of differing elements”. Wow when you see it put in those terms then you can relate to the one key word in that sentence, differing, which also means different. How many of us are different, rather its culture, race, or religion preference. That’s the way life is, we either adjust or get left behind because this world is always going to have differences and there will always be diversity!

Goal Setting

Well what i have to share with you guys are some facts i found out about goal setting that makes a lot of sense. Despite the popularity of goal setting, there is compelling evidence that regardless of good intentions and effort, people and organizations consistently fall short of achieving their goals. More often than not, the fault is attributed to the goal setter. But the real problem may be in the efficacy of goal setting itself.
Our society, at both the individual level and in organizations, has an obsession with goal setting, particularly “stretch” goals or “audacious goals.” We tie goals to accomplishment. In our culture, an individual or organizations cannot be considered successful unless goals are achieved. And the usual motivation method used by leaders to achieve these goals is the continual focus on “improvement,” “bigger and better,” through harder and harder work, and increased productivity. And the way to measure that success is to measure goal attainment.
Finally, there are psychological manifestations of not achieving goals that may be more damaging that not having any goals at all. The process sets up desires that are removed from everyday reality. Whenever we desire things that we don’t have, we set our brain’s nervous system to produce negative emotions. Second, highly aspirational goals require us to develop new competencies, some of which may be beyond current capabilities. As we develop these competencies, we are likely to experience failures, which then become de-motivational. Thirdly, goal setting sets up an either-or polarity of success. The only true measure can either be 100% attainment or perfection, or 99% and less, which is failure. We can then excessively focus on the missing or incomplete part of our efforts, ignoring the successful parts. Fourthly, goal setting doesn’t take into account random forces of chance. You can’t control all the environmental variables to guarantee 100% success.

Choices

First I’m going to start out by saying,”Everything in life is about choices”. Now it’s important to understand the correct meaning of a choice. Choice consists of the mental process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them. While a choice can be made between imagined options (“what would I do if …?”), often a choice is made between real options, and followed by the corresponding action. Now after clearing that up there are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. We quite often have important choices in life to make and the wrong decision could effect the course our life takes. But just remember there are no mistakes or failures, only lessons. We learn from bad decisions made by choices thrown in our path, but it’s a part of life not to be correct every time. So whenever a complicated choice is driven directly in your path, make sure and try to analysis all your alternatives and possibilities before giving your best decision, it will help your life prosper or die. It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Excellence

First lets start off by giving the definition of excellence. Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. It is also an aimed for standard of performance. In order to obtain something you must first know exactly what the meaning of the word is and how it is applied. Excellence can be obtained if you, care more than others think is wise; risk more than others think is safe; dream more than others think is practical; expect more than others think is possible. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” After reading all that do you think you can perform at an excellent level when you perform.. To preserve excellence is to excel over others with strong ambitions of success, knowing that failure is not an option. Some people are good but those who put in more are excellent.

Workplace Ethics

The word “ethic” is defined as, “The body of moral principles or values governing or distinctive of a particular culture or group” or “A complex of moral precepts held or rules of conduct followed by an individual”1. It has been said that having ethics is doing the right or moral thing when no one is looking. Ethics is a personal choice and therefore, how workplace ethics are governed depends upon the personal ethics of those who are in authority over that workplace and also those who work in that environment.

Workplace ethics are an extension of the personal standards or lack of them that is inherent in the people who make up the workplace. With all of the news and attention upon those who have proven that they were devoid of moral ethics in the way that they conducted their business, it behooves us to look at the basis for ethics that will stand the test and the trial of temptation in a world that seems to reward the “shady deal.” It seems that the current worldview deems that the only wrong thing about shady business dealings and immoral workplace ethics is in getting “caught.” It’s very important to obtain a certain level of ethics while in the workplace.

Having a positive attitude

Attitudes can generate from the kind of thoughts one may perceive. Thoughts are very powerful. They affect your general attitude. The attitude you carry reflects on your appearance, too – unless, of course, you are a great actor. And it doesn’t end there. Your attitude can also affect people around you.
The type of attitude you carry depends on you. It can be either positive or negative. Positive thoughts have a filling effect. They are admittedly invigorating. Plus, the people around the person carrying positive thoughts are usually energized by this type of attitude. A positive attitude attracts people, while a negative attitude repels them. People tend to shy away from those who carry a negative attitude. That’s why it’s so important to maintain a positive attitude in everything that you do, make it a part of your everyday living.
A positive attitude begins with a healthy self-image. If you will love the way you are and are satisfied, confident, and self-assured, you also make others around feel the same way. Positive attitudes are very contagious, just like the flu except in a positive way. You don’t want to be around a person with a negative attitude because soon you find yourself being just as negative. So remember, if you want to leave a good impression with someone make sure to share the gifts of having a positive attitude when talking. Everyone remembers the person with the good attitude and have nothing but good things to say about them. So let’s stay positive, live positive and be positive!

Communication

Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in person to person processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. Use of these processes is developmental and transfers to all areas of life: home, school, community, work, and beyond. It is through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur.
We must learn that without communication we are set for failure. We have to apply communication in all that we do, rather it’s relationships or working with others. Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an idea, information, or feeling to a receiver. Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the either the direct result of people failing to communicate and/or processes, which leads to confusion and can cause good plans to fail. So one important thing to learn in live is to communicate with everyone, rather it’s family and friends or co-workers, communication skills are essential to our everyday life’s.

Teamwork

When it comes to teamwork, it is a concept that I know and understand very well. From my many years of playing team sports to my many years of working, I have known all along that there is no “I” in team. I am against people wearing the number 1 for this very reason. The team is number 1, not an individual player. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth!I guess we can learn a lesson from the many people who have accomplished true greatness, they never accomplished it on their own. They knew it was better to have a partner than to go for it alone.

They shared the work, and shared the profits. They accomplished much more, collectively, than they would have ever done on their own. The power that works through Team Work is the power of leverage. It is the power that enables you to multiply I guess we can learn a lesson from the many people who have accomplished true greatness, they never accomplished it on their own. They knew it was better to have a partner than to go for it alone.

They shared the work, and shared the profits. They accomplished much more, collectively, than they would have ever done on their own. The power that works through Team Work is the power of leverage. It is the power that enables you to multiply your outcomes with little extra effort or resources.

You can also harness this power of Team Work and achieve your goals much faster than you though was ever possible. your outcomes with little extra effort or resources. You can also harness this power of Team Work and achieve your goals much faster than you though was ever possible.