Man is the doer of his own deeds; as such he is the maker of his own character; and as the doer of his deeds and the maker of his character, he is the molder and shaper of his destiny.
James Allen
The book about Destiny can be downloaded here.
Arnold Bennett in How to live on 24 hours also talks about the importance in principles
The chances are that you have already come to believe that happiness is unattainable. But men have attained it. And they have attained it by realising that happiness does not spring from procuring physical or mental pleasure but from the development of reason and the adjustment of conduct to principles.
And if you admit it, and still devote no part of your day to the deliberate consideration of your reason, principles and conduct, you admit also that while striving for a certain thing you are regularly leaving undone the one act which is necessary to the attainment of that thing.
Benjamin Franklin also introduces his 13 principles and that they made a huge impact on his success as he strove to be morally perfect.
“We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we have selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are, in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make.
I also believe in Karma, and how everything is connected, and how small things can make a huge difference. By doing good and having the best principles, it will impact all the areas of my life, and enable me to do and achieve much more.
Having a clear mission, values and principles is important for the same reason that horses wear blinders.
Blinders keep horses focused on what is in front, encouraging them to pay attention to the race rather than to distractions such as crowds.
By being more focused I will not be distracted. By media, social media, temptations or other shiny paths.
I have achieved incredible waves of growth before, and that has come from being incredibly focused.
I also like the quote:
“you don’t get what you want, but you attract what you are.”
It is important to build and design yourself consciously, as if you are a computer program. Otherwise you may just end up the product of your environment, which is likely to be an average of your environment.
It’s also my belief that it’s harder to do one or lots of small things, than it is to do something big. Doing one good thing to one person, for example, or forcing your will to use your time more efficiently for one day, requires much more conscious effort than if you were to make it a habit. Having a big inspiring goal is actually easier to achieve than performing one small and “easy” act as the returns are smaller and effort is relatively larger. We can use our power to build habits rather than attempt to do something that goes against our habits.
It is also amazing the impact small things can have. A habit of going to the gym, or cleaning a room, or taking care of appearance for example, might seem small in itself, but it can have huge knock on effects on people around you, and the attitude impacts all the other areas in your life.
I believe that first it is important to have a mission statement, then values, and then principles.
What is my mission?
To develop myself and my talents to do the maximum good in the world.
My 6 Values
– Health & Wellness – the foundation of all achievement. You need to fill yourself up so you can give.
– Speed – Always learning
– Excellence – set and accept excellence
– Caring for others – we need to do good, and put good out and make the world a better place
– Focus & Simplify – We keep things concise and focus on the most important
– Learning – being open and always learning and improving
I talk more about my values here.
What is the difference between values and principles?
Values are the set of priorities that we have that helps us make decisions. Principles are the set of rules we have that governs our behavior.
Mission: What is my purpose?
Values: What is important to us?
Principles: What habits do we want to live by?
More about that here.
My 13 principles:
- Industry – Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
- Resolution – Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
- Order – Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
- Justice – Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
- Being Present – Focused the powers of concentration on the now.
- Frugality – Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
- Courage – Doing what is uncomfortable / scares me
- Silence – Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
- Sincerity – Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
- Tranquility (Harmony / purity) – Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
- Cleanliness – Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
- Humility – Imitate Jesus and Socrates, and Benjamin Franklin.
- Chastity – Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
I adopted these, adapted, from Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues, and like him, I will focus on one of these each week. I may experiment and adapt in the future.
Franklin talks about how difficult it is to be morally perfect. It is like copying by hand from printed text. It can never be perfect, but it can be better than if not copying from printed text.
If I do not consciously think about how I want to live then otherwise I am living off of habits that are natural / random, or following those around me / society.
I believe that having and developing principles will enable me to achieve more and grow and improve more and faster to achieve my mission better.
