I am sure you have heard the phrase or probably have at least repeated it in your mind that “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” For some of you this might be a reality but for all of us, we have challenges everyday which we will have to overcome. In today’s world we are facing a challenge we have not had to deal with before. How you respond is now more than ever extremely important. Now I know I have not always responded the best in the past to adversity, but I believe I have learned through my life’s experiences. Those times of adversity have challenged my character. By reflecting and learning from those past experiences, I have grown my character. How about you?
Character in today’s world is something that is a fading commodity. I think it is helpful to go back and first take a look at the dictionary definition. The English Oxford Living Dictionary defines it best. Their definition states that character is “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.” To expand on that, character is really about who you are as an individual. What you stand for and what you believe. It is at the core of who you are, the values you believe in and the values you live out. Some values you may have include integrity, generosity, relational, and excellence. Each one of these taken individually will guide you and should be a beacon in how your life is lived out. Your character is a foundational principle in the development of your legacy. Let me dive in a bit further and look at those four areas of character.
- Integrity
Integrity is so important that it can be a deal breaker if not lived out personally. Let us say that you are faced with a situation where embellishing a fact about yourself will gain you more recognition in your boss’s eyes. You succumb to the temptation and embellish. The embellishment then gets passed on to the next person and then the next. Under this embellishment, you have even gotten a couple of promotions. However, the next phase of advancement comes, but it requires a bit more scrutiny. As your company digs into the matter, they find out that half of what they know about you is false. It is found out that it is even fraudulent, and you are fired. A person who lives with integrity, in this case is the person who refuses to embellish because it is a lie. Your integrity would have corrected the issue back when it first started. Integrity means you need to be humble and truthful even when it might hurt.
- Generosity
The word generous is often put into the paradigm of what you do with your money, but in reality, it is more of a lifestyle then just what you do with your money. Generous people look out for others and put others ahead of themselves. A great example of this is found in an article by Vitor Lipman in Forbes magazine . In writing about point guards in the game of basketball, Lipman writes, “In a massively chaotic environment, point guards influence so much of the game around them…. They’re artists with creative passing. The good ones are selfless – they elevate others. The best ones have a unique ability to make their teammates better.” Generosity then is putting others ahead of yourself and is what will develop your character and propel you to a great legacy.
- Excellence
Sports teams that become champions are the ones that perform their best on the day of the game. Does this mean they are perfect? By no means. Both
teams and the and the individual team members themselves will have had to struggle and fight throughout the game. There may have even been setbacks and disappointments, but in the end, excellence prevailed with a winner coming out on top. In life, you are a champion if you have worked through life’s challenges and have gotten to that point by trying to do the best that you can every day. Often in life there is drift, but if you desire to have great character, you will commit to tirelessly pursuing your goals and dreams with excellence.
- Relational
It takes work to be relational because it all is a matter of trust. It starts with your integrity and flows through how you interact with others. If people know what you stand for and know what is at your core, they will be more than willing to engage with you. If you are generous and serve others with the understanding that they feel that you genuinely care for them, it builds trust. Weeping with those that weep and celebrating with those that are celebrating goes a long way in strengthening friendships. Putting it all together the final piece of having open and trusting relationships is humility. For some this might be hard, but I can assure you that it is well worth the effort. As you grow in your relationships with others, your life will be richer for the time and effort put into it!
Where are you on the continuum of character? Who are you at your core? Knowing that character is built over time, even if you have areas where you struggle, you can make the change and grow in living out your legacy today. There are many tools that are out there, but one tool that is invaluable is to have someone who can hold you accountable and will encourage you to grow into your legacy. That is one of the great benefits of getting into a coaching relationship. You have the power to be more then you are now and the power to grow into who God has designed you to be. Live into your legacy by scheduling your FREE “zero” pressure consolation today!