Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared with you the principles that I try and live my life. I’ve found the “Life Principles” of Truth, Trust and Learning to be incredibly powerful but even more so the interactions between them.

In this video I explore what it means when each of the principles interact with each other. For example, what happens when truth and trust are expressed towards others? How about truth and learning or trust and learning?

Rather than be blown by the winds of circumstance, what happens to your relationships and your own character when you begin to live your life through a firm set of principles. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live a more fulfilled life, then I would encourage you to watch this next installment in my “Life Principles” series.

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Have a great weekend!
Michael

Trust is the second Life Principle that forms the bedrock of my own life. All relationships are built upon a basis of the truth (from the previous week’s video) and trust. In fact, you could also say that society is built upon an unspoken contract of trust.

When I look at the world today one of the things that dismays me the most is the assault upon the bonds of trust between us. COVID-19 has brought about an air of suspicion where people are fighting for the “I” rather than the “we”. You can witness this behavior at supermarkets as shelves are emptied in a frenzied zeal to protect “me”.

What makes a person trustworthy and how can we become more trustworthy ourselves? In this video I outline the characteristics of trustworthy people and what I personally look for in someone that is trustworthy.

I hope you are enjoying this Life Principle series. Have a great weekend.
Michael

When I was twenty something, I went on a quest to try and find a series of life principles that would carry me through the rest of my life. I needed the principles to be timeless, practical and all encompassing.

In this video I relate the three principles that I have endeavored to rigorously apply to my life. I’ve found them to be liberating, powerful and a beacon for me to follow in every circumstance that I have found myself in.

I hope you enjoy what I share and find some merit in applying these principles to your own life. If you’ve found the video thought provoking then don’t forget to leave a comment, like or subscribe.

Are you a person of your word? In a world of contracts, non-disclosure agreements and other legal paraphernalia a person’s “word” appears to be a bit of an archaic concept. Why is it then that the fictional character of Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice is so revered?

Being a person of your word is ultimately at the heart of every relationship, whether it’s familiar members, friends or in business. When you say you will do something then you will do it…..but what happens when you can’t?
In this Saturday Musings I attempt to explore what it means to be a person of character where your word is your bond and how to overcome the problem of failing the “Mr Darcy” high bar.

One thing is for sure, the world could use more people that do what they say and say what they will do. I wonder what it would be like if you were a little more like Mr Darcy and the impact you would have on the people around you. I would encourage you to take some time-out this weekend to consider the challenges posed in this video.

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Have a great weekend!
Michael

Several months ago, I shared with readers the three principles of truth, trust and learning that I’ve endeavoured to build my life upon. In this article I would like to expand upon the principle of trust and show you how you can become more trustworthy by incorporating the three foundations of trust into your life.

Logic
I’m sure you’ve been in a meeting at work where a person has been giving a presentation that just didn’t hang together. Everyone else in the room can sense the lack of logic and end up rolling their eyes to one another….what they are actually saying is I can’t trust what is being presented.

The more logical you are the more likely people will believe what you are saying. This goes for all your relationships, whether they are friends, family or work colleagues.

For example, you may be able to tell your 8-year-old child that they can’t go to a friend’s house because “I said no” but trying that approach with an 18-year-old will get you entirely different results. The older child will expect to hear a logical reason why they can’t go out. They may still not agree with it but at least it made sense.

The rule of thumb is to think before you speak, and you’ll look a lot wiser. In fact, if you are in a work meeting, be the last person to speak and then you can logically build upon the input of everyone else in the room…..this will gain you a lot of trust as you’re considerate to the input of others.

Empathy
Empathy and sympathy are often confused between each other. The best way of thinking about the difference is that sympathy is feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for another person while empathy is putting yourself in their shoes.

When you really care about another person you will become empathetic and they will notice that you are. It’s all about getting alongside them and together sharing what they are going through and bearing whatever the burden is together.

A friend of mine was doing exceptionally well in his business but within the space of about a week everything turned to disaster and he lost everything due to being caught up in a scam. He’d done nothing wrong and yet he'd lost everything.