The first article for 2015, I choose to bring your attention to is YOU and YOURSELF. This time of the year is usually a time for resolutions and most of us are keen for a change or in search for something NEW.
There are a couple of very important questions, which you have to answer first one is: Are YOU really ready for a change? What if this change starts with you? This is maybe something you have already heard by today, but have you actually considered this as a possibility? Do you really respect yourself enough to do so?
To respect yourself is much more difficult, than to respect others. Why is that? It is because you are with yourself all the time – 24 hours, 7 days a week. You have to agree with every action you take, every promise you make, and every word you say, and more importantly – to stick to it.
There were several occasions in my career path, that I have witnessed how a broken promise or words said in an inappropriate manner, can actually ruin one’s reputation and influence built over months or years. Be careful what you are committing to and know the variables that may affect the final outcomes. Always give clear explanations to protect yourself. Do not promise or lie about something you cannot deliver. Lies leads to nowhere.
“You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”
Abraham Lincoln
Have you asked yourself why are you not taken seriously by others? May be they do not pay attention to your action and do not respect your opinion. Your actions or more often you passiveness has put you in a position when you have to rebuild your credibility and respectability if you want to be respected as professional.
Ask yourself if you have done what you have committed to before you require your employees or friends to put the extra effort. Try to feel what it is to walk a mile in their shoes before require them to do more and more every day. This is not an easy task, more over if you have already crossed the line…Do not give up – everything is possible. You have the power and the change starts with YOU.
One advice: Before you say something – THINK and RE-THINK! Don not do something you might regret later on.
“Be open, be tolerant and above all be honest!”
To Respect yourself means to respect others as well. Respect the different people, opinions and consider what you do and how you interact with others. Stand out of the crowd by what you have to say and not because you are dressed with khakis shorts on a gala-dinner at the Embassy…
You may spend thousands of dollars on clothes and still not to be respected. It’s not what you spent on you – it’s how other accepts you! Nowadays we say a lot by the way we dress and behave, combined with good communication skills and you could become a Winner!
The combinations of those factors are important and if you are missing one of them, you are not up to your true potential, so stay alert all the time and first respect yourself and then ask others to respect you!
