How To Stay True To Your Principles Under Pressure
"Knowing your principles does not mean you know how to practice them, particularly under stressful situations.”
I wish the above statement was easily dismissible and that we as humans effortlessly practised our core beliefs. I wish that once core values were stated, behaviour would naturally follow – especially when under pressure.
But this is not my experience; whether I talk as a witness of my own life or of others. Simply knowing what’s important doesn’t mean it comes naturally or easily. It’s one thing to say we believe something, but it’s another to act in alignment with that belief.
A cruel experiment
In 1973, social psychologists John Darley and Daniel Batson conducted an experiment at Princeton Theological Seminary College. In this well-known experiment, 67 seminary students were asked to deliver a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan.?
The students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, a hurried condition and an unhurried condition. In the hurried condition the student, upon meeting a host, was presented with these words, “Oh, you’re late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago. You better get moving.”
?In the unhurried condition, the host gave these instructions, “It’ll be a few minutes before they’re ready for you, but you might as well head on over.” Each student walked alone to the building where they would deliver their sermon. On the way, the student encountered a man slumped in a doorway with his eyes closed, coughing and moaning, clearly in distress.
What do you think happened?
Read my next blog to find out!
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5 个月Its not always easy to do that but certainly for me my values are my "North Star" always guiding me through uncharted waters - and whilst we may struggle in life - because sometimes its not easy to just opt out because of differing values, we certainly know and feel the impact of trade-off's. I have found that as long as I am progressing towards it that I grow and develop but mostly that I have faith and confidence to persevere.
Growth facilitator | Process optimiser | Solution finder | Broiler expert
5 个月During these last six months or so…this topic has been top of mind… Only when you realise the gap that exists between your values and behaviour can something be learned. I am grateful that am learning alot. Mindful vs mind full… In my business, i have forgotten to remember who i am. Fortunately, i have great reminders.
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5 个月I don't know what happened But I remember a time in my career when I ahd buckled under pressure, and acted in a way that I was not very proud of when I later looked back upon it. Then a few months later I read the book I had written a year before that -- And realised that if I had lived by what I'd written, I would have acted very differently. I think it takes a lot of practise to align our actions with the values that we truly want to live by.