Character Definition: The mental and moral qualities distinctive to

an individual.

Or

One of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an

individual.

Over the past month or so the theme of Character has been continually

playing in my mind. As we are propelling our dreams, to the highest of

heights, please do not make the mistake of being someone you are not!

Better yet, continually keep yourself in check to ensure you are

staying within the MUCH NEEDED guardrails. Make sure you are

continually molding and sharpening your character as you are on your

journey.

Believe it or not, your Character is being challenged each and every

day! It can be just the subtleness of leaning off course just a wee

little bit and then before you know it you may be headed for a

collision course.

I recently attended an amazing retreat in Nashville and the theme of

the weekend was “The Authentic You”. At one of the breakouts

sessions Dan Miller, a well renown coach & author, stood before us and

said, “Gentleman I have one thing for you today and that is … Don’t

Lie.”  It’s ironic because my Mom (who is not renown and not an

author) said the very same thing quite frequently as I was growing up.

However, during his declaration, a hush went throughout the room and

what he said seemed so simplistic and easy! But in the business of

life, the truth is harder to find.

Dan shared that he grew up in a very religious home where all you had

was your word and that was all that was required.   He then related this to the verse in

Matthew 5:37

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’

Whatever is more than this is of the evil one.

Basically, there is no need to promise or swear by this or that, because your

word is the bond.

But let’s break that down and examine. Let look at a couple of

scenarios. Let’s say that as a car salesman the buyer asks you to

document the sales price as a little less than what he is actually

giving to you during the transaction. What would you do? Your reply

could be that this doesn’t really count because everyone fudges on the

exact amount given and they rarely document the exact amount that was

given. Well, guess what … NO THEY DON’T. People who value the

truth and stand for what is right, moral & honest do not.

Here’s another scenario. What if someone asked you about your faith

during a business lunch?  What if this someone just happens to be a highly successful CEO worth a bundle of money and you can hardly

believe you’re even having a chance to be sitting at their table.

Would your answer be truly authentic or would it be a very watered

down version of what you believe?  Would your reply be one as to not offend in order to try and win this

someone over so they would like you? I could go into many more scenarios

but I won’t belabor the obvious.

I will just say your Character matters more than a few bucks to get a

deal done and that the encounter with this person is one that God may have specifically

orchestrated for His greater purpose. Your True Authentic Self really

matters and we shouldn’t be cruising along to test how close to the

guardrails we can get during any part of the journey.

In fact, we should always be surrounding ourselves with those who want

to stay as close to the plumb line as they can, to be of strong

character and integrity and to be striving to grow into the best

versions of themselves that they can be.

You need to make sure you have the right people to help challenge

you.  You need people who can hold a mirror up to you so they can point out

areas that you are doing great in, areas where you may have a bit of a blind spot and specifically pointing out areas that may be your kryptonite. By holding

this mirror up you may be able see that weakness or a scar from something that

caused you to previously fall down or crash. You want to

avoid those tragic moments in life from happening again and again,

That’s why you need to have trust worthy people walking beside you because you have invited them in to offer guidance and help.  When walking alone,  you will not go far.

Believe you me, when I look in the mirror I don’t see those wrinkles

or that muffin top spilling over my jeans or the receding hairline.

I can still see a 21-year-old stud muffin with Fabio hair and rock

solid abs and smooth complexion.

A note of advice from one friend to another. Do not ask your spouse

to be the one to hold that mirror up for you or vice versa. It may

lead to a comical moment or in some cases, a tragic one.

*Photo below is of my Son playing in front of a mirror.  You can hardly see it but he has a band-aid on his forehead from a crash on a tricycle. 

I personally do not have much time to watch movies but I recently

watched one entitled “The Founder”. It was about the legendary Ray

Kroc that took McDonald’s to amazing proportions by franchising it all

over the country, and ultimately, the world. The movie was really

interesting until Ray’s character started ever so slightly detouring

into a very narcissistic egomaniac persona. He began to take credit

for everything and became bigger than life. He strong-armed the two

brothers, who actually came up with the McDonalds model, to buy them out.

The movie portrayed Ray as making a handshake promise when he bought

them out and then never living up to his promise.

Others may see this and tout this as being business savvy, but I see

it much differently.

I would say that Ray most definitely was successful with what he did with McDonald’s.  However, it is my opinion that he certainly missed out on what I feel as significant

when he did not keep his promises by doing the right thing to people who

deserved better treatment.

I believe we owe it to ourselves, and the people we serve, to

continue to not only propel toward our dreams but to get there by

being the best person we can be.

We need to embrace the definition of Character and we need to look at

ourselves in a mirror and be proud of what is reflected back at us.

We should be proud of the story we live and be proud of the legacy we

leave behind.

 

I can do it! You can do it! We can do it!

Here is a little video  I stitched together from the amazing mastermind weekend outside of Nashville listen to the words in the music!