what is respect?

“Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners”
― Laurence Sterne

A lot of people want more respect.   That must mean a lot of people are experiencing hurt by others.   To respect someone else means not to desire to harm them emotionally and for some people that takes an enormous amount of self-control.

What does respect look like for you?   Take a few minutes and jot down what respect is and what it isn’t.   What does it mean to be respected?   What does it mean to be disrespected?

Respect means to listen to what others say without judgment.  It is to leave right and wrong alone for the moment and just give audience to the one who is speaking.   It doesn’t mean that you approve of what was said.  It means that you have stepped aside of judging and listened wholly.    It is to realize that what they are saying is from their place of understanding and knowing.   They might need to see new things, new approaches and achieve a new level of understanding all of which can be done without condemning the person.

If their ideas and thoughts are not true then what would bring truth into the conversation.  How would you bring a new truth into being for discussion?

The challenge is to do that without offending the person or blaming them but to look at the truth and contemplating a new way of thinking about what was said.  It is often easy to rush to judgment or to elevate your ideas to a level higher than that of the one speaking and that just sets the stage for conflict.

How do you want to be respected?

10 rules to improve performance

Don’t mistake activity with achievement.”
― John Wooden

What rules do you work by or live by?   Are the rules supporting your growth and success or are they pushing you backwards?

Many people are living by rules they aren’t even aware of.  Rules of living that lead to procrastination, poor time management, small expectations, negative self-talk and worse.   What you do each day is dictated by the rules that govern your life.   If you exercise you have a rule for exercising.   If you are overweight you have rules that permit you to eat more than you need.   If you are unhappy you have rules that allow you to stay unhappy.

The rules you live by support the results you get each day.  If you don’t like the rules you are living by then it is time to change them.  Live by a new set of rules.

Robin Sharma shares some rules(in bold) that can improve your daily results.  Here they are:

#1. Generosity beats scarcity in every situation.

– Implement the rule by living by this statement.  “I am generous”

#2. If you’re the most successful person in every room, find a new room.

– Implement a new rule here, “I am growing”

#3. If you’re not up early, you’re sleeping too late.

-Change your rule to, “I get up early.”

#4. Epic performance has more to do with saying no than saying yes.

-Manage your time better by, “I carefully choose what I do.”

#5. Commit to becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of your craft.

-Improve your performance by:  “I am an expert”

#6. Get fit so you can serve more people.

-Master your health with the rule, “I am healthy”

#7. Impact is a better measure of success than income.

-Create a rule to live more significantly, “I am making a significant contribution.”

#8. A failure only becomes a failure if you let it become a failure.

-Switch your thinking, “I am successful”

#9. Your job is to see the greatness in people who have yet to own the greatness within themselves.

-Help others to succeed, “I am help others be their best”,  take the “ego” out.

#10. Don’t wait to be inspired to start your dream. Start your dream to grow inspired.

– Set goals and work on them, “I work on my goals daily.”

#11. What the victim calls luck, the hero calls relentlessness.

-And, “I create my results.”

What rules do you live by?   What rules do you want to change?   What results do you want this year?

make it happen …

Are you living the life you thought you’d be living now?   Did you imagine things turning out differently?   What changed?

If you find that your life isn’t going in the direction you would like it go, then what do you want to be doing differently?   What I have found is that life without direction is often due to the fact there is no plan, there are no goals, and without goals and a plan life just tends to happen.

What do you want from your career?

What do you want to contribute?

What are your own personal development goals?

Where do you see yourself in ten years?   Or, where do you want to see yourself in ten years?

Imagine the life you want to live.  Write down that story and use that story to guide you to a better and happier future.   Once you have the story written down, set some goals and assign a date to those goals and then start working to achieve those goals.   See what you can do this year to grow, learn and to experience a better life.  Start today!