Written Saturday March 20, 1999. Also inspired by a book I was reading, not sure which one.
Principles – excellence, honesty, trustworthiness, communication, prioritize
Excellence – every project that I undertake, whether school, work, or personally related, I will try to do the best job possible
Honesty – be honest with myself and others about what I’ve done (good or bad) and what I want.
If I don’t have something nice or constructive to say, be quiet.
If I do have something nice to say, be sure to do so.
Accept compliments gracefully-just smile and say thanks-DO NOT discredit or blow them off, by doing so I discredit myself AND the person complimenting me. I deserve the compliment. If someone else helped earn the compliment be sure to share the credit with them and pass the compliment on.
Trustworthiness – If I say I’ll do something, do it. If I say that I won’t do something, don’t. Unless someone gives you permission to share personal information with friends, assume that you don’t have it. Honor prior commitments, if I won’t be able to or something else comes up, talk to the people involved and/or affected (by the change in plans) before breaking a commitment.
Communication – Listen first to others problems, then offer empathy, then support or help if appropriate-look first at what help would entail (time & resource wise), then determine how much you can contribute without compromising higher priority goals.
Congratulate people on happy circumstances and success.
Share my problems-others can help-do not expect help, but if it is offered and is useful, accept it. If it is not useful, thank them anyways.
Share my happy circumstances and success, but don’t brag.
Prioritize – Do not take on more than I can do, overloading myself impedes excellence and if I fail to do everything that I said I would, trustworthiness is affected. Be honest and communicate, tell people if I will not be able to do something (don’t tell them that you don’t want to or have better things to do, just tell them that you don’t have time or have too many prior commitments to take on something else).
