Sunday, May 20, 2012
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"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

Eric Hoffer

The Six Living Principles

These six Living Principles form the foundation of high performance in individuals, teams and organizations. Mastery of these principles is a lifelong effort requiring ongoing commitment and practice. If you haven't already started on this journey, there's never been a better time!

Awareness

Awareness refers to being conscious of, and accurately perceiving, what is happening in yourself and in the world, and in the interaction between the two. Awareness begins with the self - if you are not aware of yourself, and able to perceive accurately how you are interpreting the world, your ability to be aware of the world outside of yourself will be limited.

Choice

Choice is centered in Awareness. You can only make choices about things you are aware of. If you are not aware of your own mood and beliefs - e.g., that you are angry or believe that someone has a hidden agenda - then your anger or belief will dictate your behavior and you will have no choice in the matter. Likewise if you are not aware of another person’s mood and beliefs you cannot make wise choices about how to interact with that person.

Accountability

Accountability is a personal choice you make to influence some aspect of the world. Accountability is more personal and involves a much deeper level of commitment than responsibility. While others can assign you responsibility, only you can choose to take - or not take - accountability for your actions. Likewise, while you can hold someone else responsible, you cannot hold them accountable - that is a choice only they can make.

Honesty

Honesty is more than “telling the truth” because “truth” has many layers. The degree of your honesty is proportional to the degree to which you reveal yourself. Telling someone your surface opinion, but not revealing your deeper beliefs or emotions, is a shallow level of honesty. Real honesty requires courage and commitment, and a willingness to be vulnerable and to trust others to respect what is true for you.

Integrity

Integrity is a measure of how fully your inner truth lines up with your words and actions. If you are fully in Integrity then what you care about and how you intend to influence the world around you are in complete alignment with what you say and do. You are fully transparent to others in your life. To the extent that you are holding something back or saying one thing but intending something else, you are out of Integrity. Integrity is deeply rooted in Awareness, since you can only be transparent about those aspects of your self that you are aware of.

Trust

Trust arises out of assessments you make about other people. If you assess someone to be sincere, capable, and reliable, then you have trust in them. When you realize you do not trust someone, or someone does not trust you, you should examine these three assessments to discover where the breakdown lies. Trust is also a moment by moment choice that you make in your relationships with others. When you choose to trust - or not - you should pay attention to what possibilities your choice opens and closes.
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