Lao Tzu said: Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Fantastic thought from such a great mind as Lao Tzu. I think that information precedes thought. I do think so because it is the information you receive that you process. Processed information become thoughts. As a matter of fact, the actual processing of information is what thinking is. Thus, after thoughts have been processed they are released as words which are information in themselves.
Worthy of note is the fact that not many have developed the ability to process thoughts and ponder information deep before they release them as words. This value of caution is not commonplace. Every person who has earned mastery in their chosen area of life must have used the value of discipline to uncommon levels before they are able to surpass the average, if not good or great threshold before they can be considered masters of their game.
The culture of discipline in any human endeavour is a value practised over a period of time. The outcome is great and positive character with which results, outcomes and victories or attainments are sustained. Without sustainability, wins do not endure. Enduring accomplishments are made possible through maintaining a culture of discipline. It does take the strong to maintain wealth. This value can be applied in every area of life. Unless you have strength of character, you cannot maintain anything of value.
It is extremely important that we develop, imbibe good values and live them as our beliefs and guiding principles for daily living. Imagine living integrity and candour beyond lip service, writing on walls or on documents. Such a life becomes a model and example to emulate. You do it. You do not say it. Doing is greater fortune. It is the habit that becomes character and endures forever.
The Japanese are reported to have the longest surviving businesses globally. There are Japanese businesses like hotels and the likes that have existed for more than 1000 years. Some of them have been in existence for over a thousand and five hundred years. You wonder what is responsible for such excellence. The people have a culture of integrity. A Japanese would rather take his own life than renege on a promise he or she made to you.
Professor PLO Lumumba is quoted to have said: In Japan a corrupt person kills himself. In China they will kill him. In Europe they jail him. In Africa, he will present himself for election. The Japanese are that personally strict on the value of integrity. It does seem natural to them and has become a way of life. That is a national culture for the Japanese. Unless we take integrity beyond slogan, dealing under the table will end up destroying us. There is nothing that can stop that.
Think of the value that service can bequeath to you either as an individual or a corporate entity. Great service precedes profitability. Great service earns referral which in turn shoot growth up. With great service comes proficiency because there is constant engagement and unless you take the value of humility with you, it is impossible for you to manage offences tossed at you by customers.
Service seems to be our bane in the space we occupy. It does seem alien to us in these parts and it is a problem incurred by the culture of corruption. Dealing under the table erodes quality. Poor quality of both formal and informal education is at the core of our problem and its worse because we either do not know it or we fail to accept it. What you do not accept, you reject. Acceptance is the access to all accompliments, great or small.
Can you pause a bit and imagine the benefits of being driven by accurate knowledge, authenticity, compassion, selflessness, loyalty, and being a routineer. We become what we do routinely and constantly. We cannot equate the value of consistency with that of intensity. The former beats the latter.
These values are at the very core of great missions. With missions accomplished customers and stakeholders are satisfied and visions are attained. Values practised become cultures we are known for and by.
As there are positive values, so are there negative values. Imagine what it means to prefer shortcuts to the due process of doing things. If you are so driven in life, you would make it a way of life to always circumvent processes, and you would not see anything wrong with doing that even if it is pointed out to you. While some may applaud you as Mr. Fix-it and Mr. Sharp-sharp, there is a sure and just recompense when all the processes evaded come full swing in evaluation.
Imagine if we embrace the value that money is everything. Could such a mindset amount to doing whatsoever is necessary to have financial success? How can we live by the value that money is omnipotent and escape the worship of mammon. Money is good, but money is not omnipotent. Only God is.
When you see law enforcement agencies especially the police mount checkpoints on the roads afresh, you are amazed at the revenue generation drive. Is the focus on propriety or feeding on drivers who are anti-propriety? Ponder on this rhetorical question a bit. Police presence is good but to what motive and intent?
Not a few people live their lives defined by the opinions of others. While it is a good value to seek different opinions, it is better to pay attention to your gut, your instincts and intuitions because that is the very essence of your being. What you discover in your gut is who you are and it is informed by the template within you. Once you identify it and place premium on it, you constantly feed it with the right information and knowledge which you in turn apply in your processes. If we always have to seek external validation before we breathe, we are enslaved by the bonds of inauthenticity. It is precarious.
When we live by comparing ourselves with others, we are left broken in many pieces without a personal identity of who we are. Our fingerprints tell the better than the best story of who we are because they actually mean that we are wired differently within. This means that everyone has their time. Learn from nature: The right leg goes before the left and each follows the other in regular pattern. They do not compete.
The failure to be in the moment means an absence of having presence of mind. We become slaves of the memory when we tinker with the past and the imagination if we ponder on the future when we are supposed to focus on the moment. My counsel on this is: Focus on today and stop beating yourself about yesterday. You cannot undo the past, but you can use the past to fix today and reorder tomorrow. The experience of failure is a great treasure for you. Take it or leave it. You would not be made without it.
Countries whose good values transform into a culture live the utopia. Excellence in all they do is their watchword. They have a work ethic that is unrivalled anywhere. They set the pace and become models to others. This is the same with individuals. Men and women who inculcate the right values live great habits that become the character that define their destinies. They also pass same over to their offspring. Without positive values, we cannot have good character and cultures whether as individuals, communities or people.
