WHO, NOT WHAT, YOU ARE

"Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't."

Richard Bach, American author.

Maybe the first question should be, do you know what your life's mission is?

Hint; it's not what you do it's who you are and who you are is not who you say you are, it's who others say you are.

NO ONE TO ANSWER TO BUT EVERYONE

"All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind."

Joseph Conrad, late 19th/early 20th century Polish-British writer.

If you couldn't care less about this, take heart; no one is policing how you conduct your life.

You can be as nasty and mean as you want.

However, while no one can stop you they can, as many will, shun you.

Life alone.

Think about it.

WHEN OTHERS DON'T KNOW, MORE THAN WHEN THEY DO

"Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer

As it should be.

Who more important to answer to about you than you?

WHAT YOU WILL DO MORE THAN WHAT YOU DID DO

"Good character will be recognized as a result of many acts, and sometimes lost, the result of just one."

Unknown

There isn't one among or gone before us who hasn't done and/or said things that reflect poorly on their character.

You, me, all humans.

But more important than what we did wrong is what we do after to make the wrong right.

CHECK YOURSELF

"If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Mr. Franklin advises us to do and say what need be done and said, knowing there will be those who disagree with us.

Agreed.

But we have an equal obligation to be as certain as we can that what we say and do should be said and done.

Not all of it should be.

PICTURE YOU

"Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."

Samuel Butler (1612-1680) British poet and satirist.

That being so, how do you want others to picture you?

I SEE YOU

"The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages."

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist and essayist.

There is very little bad or good you can do that will not ultimately be known to others.

Choose carefully what that will be.

THIS I PROMISE YOU

"Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it."

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) Swiss political philosopher and essayist.

Promise only what you intend to do, only that you have considered carefully before promising.

TELL ME AGAIN; YOU'RE FAMOUS FOR WHAT?

"Obscurity and competence: That is the life that is worth living."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist/writer/lecturer.

Being the first (obscure) does not mean you are not the second (competent), although the reverse is rarely true.

For far too many, being famous is all they have; an "advantage" of little to no value if you aren't also something other than just famous.

NEW HIRE FIRST AND LASTING IMPRESSION

"Life is the childhood of our immortality."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet/novelist/dramatist.

Stepping back a bit from what I'm sure was Mr. Von Goethe's more lofty intent, this is just as true for your new hire business "life" as it is for life in general.

Your first impression is the "childhood" of how others will view you from that time forward.

Do your best to make it as positive as possible.

HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED, FOR NOW

"Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, easily blown out. It is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit."

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American poet/critic/editor.

"Finds merit?"

Well not always in all cases; one's reputation can also be bad.

And whatever your reputation today may not be what it is tomorrow.

Work to improve it if bad, to enhance it if good.

HOW CAN YOU NOT BE INTERESTED IN ME???

"Egotist. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me."

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) American newspaperman/short-story writer.

Be careful; taken one way the speaker is not an egotist while taken another s(he) is.

Which way would you take it?

THE PUBLIC YOU

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) British novelist.

Constituted maybe but not destined, particularly in this day of social networks.

Be careful what you share of yourself with others; what is once said is said forever.

MOST LIKELY TO . . . ?

"Popularity? It's glory's small change."

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French poet/dramatist/novelist.

Given a choice I think most of us would choose to be popular.

Just don't let that be the only thing you choose to be.

EMPLOYEES: THE COMPANY IMAGE

"Choose your wife as you wish your children to be."

Proverb

A slight but critical suggested edit, "Choose your wife or husband as you wish your children to be."

In business, choose your employees as you wish your company to be known.

There is no company beyond its employees.

WHO WERE YOU AGAIN?

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing."

Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman/scientist/philosopher

Even tougher in business.

Your company will be dead if it doesn't stay in the public's consciousness and for that to happen you must continually give reason to warrant being remembered.

Not an easy task.

And You Are . . ?

"An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience."

James Baldwin

20th century American writer

In other words you will be what you've seen, heard, and done.

Whenever possible make sure you're ok with that before you see, hear, and do it.

You Are The Company You Keep

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation.  It is better to be alone than in bad company."

George Washington

First president of the United States of America

I'll bet President Washington knew to do this because he didn't always do it himself.

But we can learn from our mistakes.

Be mindful of the company you keep before you become them.

But What If They're Right?

"Love your enemies for they tell you your faults."

Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman/inventor

Not everything they say about you is true.

Only that which is.

Your Reputation Precedes You

"The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour."

Unknown

We do more remember the bad than the good.

Think before you act and speak.