Developing your character as a person
is a step to developing your whole self. Character is made up of your values,
your morals, and the basic way you react to situations. Character is who you
are when you are caught off-guard. When you are stressed, when you are caught
in traffic, your character shows with how you react to these situations.
Character is what is left when all the trappings that serve as eye candy to
other people: possessions, influence, and power, are stripped away.
Character is who you are when faced
with situations that require you to compromise. It is who you are when you are
tempted to do the wrong thing. To have character that worth commending, you
have to learn and practice it on a day-to-day basis. Though they say that
values and morals are being learned during childhood, a person has the capacity
to learn and unlearn well into old age. Further, there are a lot of people who
have had negativity programmed into their systems ever since childhood who have
learned to go past that in their adult years. Their secret is that they have
chosen to reprogram their thoughts.
Thus, if they have been able to
unlearn negative things and learn positive ones, you can unlearn your old
values and adopt new ways to look at and deal with the world. In this regard,
there are three areas that are helpful for you develop the character you like
as an individual. The steps may not be the easiest ones but they sure are
fulfilling. Once you get the hang of these, your whole self will improve.
Leading the long list is integrity.
When you are honest to the hilt, people will learn to trust you for your
unwavering and uncompromising honesty. But you have to keep in mind that
honesty needs to be tempered with discretion. You have to learn when not to
disclose certain matters, and when to do so. Your motives have to be pure and
good when you do decide to use honesty and integrity in making strategic
decisions.
A component of Integrity is being
you. Who you are when others are not watching is a sign of integrity. Living a
dual, hypocritical life is dishonesty and worse is that, you are only hurting
and fooling yourself. You also lead people to lose trust in you because of the
dubiousness of your character. Having integrity means being able to stick to
your convictions no matter what.
Consistency is also an integral part
of one's character. When you act in a consistent way, when you are productive
in a consistent manner, you then earn the trust of people, and you also impress
your bosses. Consistency is an important part of a career, and it is what would
define the line between keeping and losing your job. The last area I suggest is
the area of compassion. Compassion is the capacity to extend grace to, or to
have mercy on people who are in dire need, who have wronged you, or basically
are in a place that requires your mercy. Without compassion on others, you are
nothing more than a robot. Without compassion, our world will be a place where
productivity and money are the only things that run it.
To have compassion on others is not
restricted to giving street children money. Compassion could also mean giving
your mother a lift home because her car broke down. Compassion could also mean
giving your wife a back rub because her pregnant belly is straining her spine.
Character in a person is one of the things that would get others' respect. It
is a component that occupies a huge part of the personality, and it is what is
left when everything else is stripped away. Develop your character, and
consequently, you will develop your entire self.
