Becoming a Person to Trust – Part II
I am sure you will agree with me that trust is vital in any relationship. You see, when this exists, strong relationships will be built to last between one another.
Trust depends little upon a person’s name, how much money he/she may have, their titles, or what place they are in life at any given moment.
The key to ongoing, dependable trust is the character of the person who is leading. Whether we are leading in our homes, businesses, or community, it doesn’t matter where, we are responsible for being trustworthy. We have to prove ourselves daily to everyone that our ‘word is our bond.’
How do others see your character? Are you sincerely trustworthy or are you just acting the part?
Maybe you act like Lucy, Charlie Brown’s friend...
Every fall when football season comes around, Lucy would hold the ball for Charlie Brown to kick it. Unfortunately for Charlie, Lucy would always yank the ball off of the ground just as he approached to kick it and he would miss it. He would end up flying through the air and falling flat on his backside. (it is amazing that he never gets hurt) Somehow Lucy is able to convince Charlie to ‘Trust’ her that the ball will be where she says it will be for him. He continues to attempt kicking the ball every season with Lucy holding it, hoping one day that she will show that she is trustworthy. How good of an actor are you?
Most of us will not give people too many second and third chances where lack of trust is a factor…it is not 3 strikes and you are out. I act similarly to how other people act in this example. It is very hard for me to give those that have broken the line of trust with me nary a second chance. I will trust you until you give me a reason not to.
How you instill values of trust into others can be challenging…people need to see what they ought to be. Dr. James Dobson, psychologist and author, has told us that our children begin to develop their value system by five years old. Amazing how critical it is to train our children from the beginning about morals. During the child’s early years, we, the parents, are their main role models and if what we say is different from how we act, they will pick up on it very quickly. The child will choose to act out what we do every time. As you know, they mostly learn by visual acuities at that age so we should expect no less of them. Zig Ziglar, another famous author says, “Your children pay more attention to what you do than what you say.” A daunting task as parents. The best teaching tool we can give them is to live a consistent, disciplined, approach to life. Funny, that would be a great suggestion of the ways we should live our lives around everyone and not just our kids. Walk the talk and living by example each day will definitely develop trust in who you are and how you want others to live.
While we are living examples each day in our own lives, we can use this livelihood as ways to give encouragement to others. Encouragement is like the spring rains…it gives consistent, steady growth.
Did you know that Andrew Carnegie had a secret for helping in the development of others?
He chose to encourage the good qualities in people while holding criticisms to a minimum. Our confidences will wilt under constant criticisms until we lose our self-esteem and self-confidence in our own abilities. It has been said that it takes up to seven positive comments to overcome one negative word spoken to us. I have yet to see a person not perform better in all walks of life when they are being encouraged instead of being constantly criticized. The world is full enough critics, so what we need are many more cheerleaders.
ARE YOU TRUSTWORTHY YET??
Next time we will be discussing different ways that you can be an encouragement to others to build them up, instead of being a demolition expert and tearing them down.