Episode Transcript

What’s up, everybody? Welcome back to THE a.m.

So guys, I want to talk about character, and I want to talk about your personal character. I think that character is highly underrated. And what I mean by that is this who you are behind closed doors and who you are when nobody’s looking it’s very easy to perform when you’ve got eyeballs on you. It’s very easy to do the things that you’ve said you’re going to do when everybody’s looking at you. And often times it’s a different story when no one’s looking.

So for instance, it’s very easy to get up, go to work, be on time and be early when you have a boss telling you to do it, but when it’s your own self telling you to go to the gym, or when it’s your own self telling you to go to the park at a certain time, well, it seems not to matter at that moment, does it? It seems not to be a big deal if you’re 10 minutes, 15 minutes late. That’s your character, the way that you treat yourself when no one ‘s looking, the way that you keep your word and you honor your word when no one ‘s looking, that ‘s really who you are behind the scenes, when there’s no outside pressure applied, that ‘s when self discipline matters the most.

And it’s very interesting, because when you are in a system, the discipline is created for you and reinforced. I’m not saying that really being on time for work doesn’t require you to have some form of discipline, but it’s not true self discipline, because other factors and pressure is involved, and I want you to think of it this way cool. You’re playing sports. Your coach, right? Is the one in charge of conditioning. He’s the one in charge of telling you when the workout is going to end. He’s the one in charge of telling you what the workout is going to be. He’s the one in charge of telling you how far and how hard you have to go, not you. And so there’s a pre built system that you conform to, you agree to and say, I will do this, versus you’re the only one telling you what you’re going to do. You’re the only one telling you how far you’re going to go. You’re the only one in charge of quitting or not quitting. You’re the only one in charge of those things.

And it t it tends to be that when we are the only ones in charge of doing what we said we’re going to do, we fail more often than when somebody else is involved. I’m saying this because the higher up you go in freedom, the more self discipline is required. The higher up you go in authority, the more self discipline is required in order to steward your life and steward the responsibility that’s given to you. The higher up you go in leadership, the more self discipline is required, and that self discipline is going to come from your character who you are.

You said, Cool, I’m going to get up and make my bed every morning. Do you actually do it? Nobody sees that. Do you do it? I’m going to get up and I’m going to work out. I’m going to get up and I’m going to count my calories. I’m going to do these things. Do you do it? now Here’s the other thing. You could be so focused on the self discipline. You can be so focused on the the task at hand, that you forget what life is about as well. Because you can be obsessed with, Hey, I’m just going to work hard and grind and then you forget about the other side too.

See, I think having a healthy balance and character to where you serve you love other people. You’re not just about just grinding out day after day, ruthlessly and heartlessly to accomplish the mission. You will go farther with people than you would alone. And think about that, every major success involves people being and coming together as a team. I want to say that again, every major success in life involves people being and coming together as a team, and your character has to support that.

So who you are behind closed door matters, and then also how you operate as a community and as a leader within a team matters. And who you are behind closed doors is who you really are. And even if you’re good at faking it until you make it, as a lot of people say, even if you are good at that, eventually, the real you is going to come out. And this is where I personally believe a lot of imposter syndrome comes from, because we’re one way in front of people in a radically different way, when we’re by ourselves, and then all of a sudden you feel like you’re an imposter. You’re just faking it and doing these things, because you’ll keep your promises to other people, but you won’t keep your promise. Keep your promises to you, and you are one of the most important people to keep promises, too.

Think about it, if you lie to yourself, how would you ever believe yourself when you say you’re gonna do something? You have distrust towards yourself, and you have broken trust towards yourself.

So anyways, all that being said, character is one of the most important things that you can have as a person. It’s one of your most valuable attributes and things that’s been put in your possession to steward, so take care of it well.

Anyways, guys, peace.