Does Character Really Determine Our Success In Life?

We usually don’t think of character as having a direct effect on our successes or failures. But when we consider the individual qualities that together make up a our character, we can easily see that it does.

Students can often succeed with better grades by being diligent to study and work problems every day and by showing endurance when he/she is tired and would like to quit.

Magic Johnson, one of basketball’s all-time great players, developed his skills in part by practicing every day as  youth. He demonstrated determination and persistence.

Abraham Lincoln became President after repeatedly losing elections for lower offices. His character was such that he would not give up.

There are endless examples… how attention to detail has made the difference, how diligence has paid off, how a person’s dependability has put them in line for promotion.

There also are many, many negative examples. Richard Nixon’s failure to be truthful eventually led to his downfall. O. J. Simpson’s apparent lack of self-control caused extreme problems for him. A student’s lack of diligence led to him not being able to complete his course of study.

What Can We Do To Improve Our Character and Become More Successful?

Benjamin Franklin designed for himself a plan for building character that certainly seems to have been successful in many respects.  He identified thirteen character qualities that he felt he needed to improve in his own life and he devised a method of focusing his attention on each of those qualities for one week at a time. Thus, during a year’s time, Mr. Franklin would go through his entire list four times. (Click here to read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography online for free.)

From Benjamin Franklin’s plan we learn the value of focusing our attention on one character quality at a time. During that time we should seek to understand as much as possible about the character quality – what it really is, how it has been illustrated in positive and negative ways in history, how it can be applied to our own life situations. We should also attempt to live our lives as if we fully possessed the character quality upon which we are focusing. We should be aware of how the character quality (or the lack of it) is demonstrated in the lives of those around us and evaluate the results and consequences we see in their lives.

Each of us can, as Benjamin Franklin did, undertake to improve our own character. We can intentionally seek to build good character qualities into our lives and the lives of our family members.  Like Benjamin Franklin, we can study one character quality at a time and apply what we learn in our lives. (The best tools I know of for studying individual character traits are the character bulletins published by Character First!)

We can certainly demonstrate good character on the job and in our community and encourage others to do the same. We can recognize the vital importance of character to the success of our lives, our businesses, the organizations to which we belong, and to our country and world, and we can seek to influence the part of the world that we touch to become involved in developing better character. Many resources are available to us. If we will use them, we can make a difference our own lives, in our families and communities, and, ultimately, in our world.

Real Self Improvement Is Character Improvement

How character affects the world around us.

The World Needs Better Character! Today’s world faces many difficult problems. Escalating crime, drug and alcohol abuse, workplace violence, gang activity, vandalism, school dropouts, deteriorating work ethics, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, racial tensions, broken families … The list seems endless.

At their root, all of these problems spring out of the lack, or mis-application, of good character qualities. If we are to find lasting solutions to the problems of our day, we must deal with these roots! We must work to improve our own character, teach good character to our children, and help those around us to improve their character! Character development is essential to the ongoing success of our society. That is why Character Education is so important. Character truly is the Key to Success!

Businesses Need Employees with Good Character Qualities

The character qualities of the people in a business have everything to do with the success or failure of the business.  It affects productivity, profitability, and ultimately even the success or failure of the business.