Your reputation will focus how the world views your actions.
Iran is giving us a big lesson in this right now. I’m not a big reader/watcher of the news because a) I know it is slanted towards whatever the media favors so I am getting only a half-truth at best and b) I don’t like to fill my brain with negativity which is what gets sensationalized by the media in general. There are more reasons than this, but you get my point. Anyway, Iran is shouting to the world right now that they are working on a nuclear program so they can have electricity and better medicine. The U.S. (at least according to the media) is saying that they are developing weapons.
The truth of what is really going on in Iran is not relevant to my point…..the point is that Iran’s reputation is not very good and therefore anything they do will be looked at through this lens. I love the saying “you cannot talk your way out of something that you behaved your way into” because it represents the way we all develop our trust. If you do things that are self-serving in your interactions with people, then everything you do will be seen as being this way…even if you are trying to do something to serve others!
Trust is something that takes a long time to develop yet can be destroyed in seconds. Then it will take a long time of taking the right actions in other’s eyes, before they begin trusting again. It’s not your job to spend your life trying to please people…this isn’t what I am referring to…it is important to our reputation that we are consistent in our behaviors and actions, that we do the right thing, that we serve others, and that we keep our commitments regardless of how big or small. This is how you build a reputation as someone who can be trusted…and this reputation will help you in all of your life’s pursuits.
