How do you spell success: E-T-H-I-C-S!

So what and where is your success? According to the Encarta dictionary, success is the achievement of something planned or attempted.

The choice one has is on what is this plan for this achievement-based? What is the modus operandi?

Let me share with you a few ideas that might help.

?Don’t think so, read on.

E = Experience.?Experience is not what happens to you, but what you make of what happens to?you. Learn from the lessons of life and use that wisdom. Values are caught not taught. Think back, who modeled those life values to you, does that wisdom stand the test of time? Identify those values and integrate them into every decision you make in life. A result is a person of true character that people admire, respect and with whom, they want to do business.

T = Training.?????Train yourself to keep asking the question: “Am I doing the right thing, at the right time for the right reason?” This question will help keep you more ethically focused. If companies don’t train their people to focus on the question consistently, they leave themselves open to a greater chance of an ethical lapse or legal trouble. The more we train people to consider things from an ethical viewpoint, the better equipped we are forgetting and keeping our business relationships.

H=Hindsight.????Hindsight gives us that opportunity to, hopefully, look more objectively into the past to analyze, discern, and when necessary, make appropriate changes. Hindsight makes the wisdom of previous experiences available to us to discern whether we have lived our values, acted ethically, and were “other-centered” in our business dealings. We must learn, assess, and adapt to be more value-based and principle-driven in our business dealings.

I= Intuition.??????What does your ”gut” tell you is the right thing to do? ?Be attentive to it as it affects all areas of your life. View intuition as your moral code,?because deep down, you know there is a right and a wrong! Tap this “gift” of self-reflection for it will lead to better decisions, which lead to better results!

C= Customer.????Ask yourself, are you making a sale or making a customer? Whatever your answer is, is where your values lie! Here’s where people go “astray.” Your best advertising is the word of mouth. Your worst advertising is the word of mouth.How do you treat customers consistently and what is the treatment based on? Your values, your ethics, and the focus of building relationships. This is what creates or destroys your reputation. Each time you interact with a customer, ask the question, am I making a sale or making a?customer? ??Whichever is your answer, show everybody what your values are!

??The bottom line in business today is NOT just about money, but how well you build customer relationships! If you focus on relationships, the money will take care of itself.

S= Self Esteem. Positive self-esteem, as opposed to ego, simply is this. Self-esteem is my perception of myself in relationship to the world, not the world’s perception of me.?The more positive one’s self-esteem is, the more ethical one becomes. The best?decisions are self-esteem “makers”, not self-esteem “breakers.” Self-esteem is the basis of everything we are, believe in, and become. Remember that no one can make feel anything without your permission. Don’t give it to them! Own it?and keep that power.

We are daily challenged to respond to the world around us. How and what we decide and the effect of those decisions will dictate in many ways the return we can expect from those decisions. Go slow, choose well, and above all, enjoy the journey, for this too shall pass too quickly!

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