Be A Class Act
Published August 17th, 2007 in Success, Happiness, Law of Attraction, Life, Thoughts, Belief.
Influenced by Takuni’s The Rule of 5, today I took Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (which from the book-shelf to flip through again and this time, Principle #55 Be a Class Act caught my eyes (and touched my heart)…
The Success Principles and Jack Canfield
Remember the Chicken Soup of the Soul series? Jack Canfield is one of the “co-creater”. (The other one is Mark Victor Hansen.) In The Success Principles he (this time, together with Janet Switzer) shares a total of 64 “success principles” in great details. My all time favourites include:
- Decide What You Want (#3)
- Act In Spite Of Fear (#15)
- Practice the Rule of 5 (#23)
- Transcend Your Limiting Beliefs (#33)
- Stay Focused On Your Core Genius (#39)
- When in Doubt, Check it Out (#52)
- Be a Class Act (#55)
- You Get What You Focus On (#57)
Indeed from time to time I would pull the book out to re-read a chapter or two, especially when I’m in some kind of situation and don’t know yet what to do. There are always some good advices.
Today, “Be a Class Act” caught my eyes again…
In every society, there are “human benchmarks” - certain individuals whose behavior becomes a model for everyone else - shining examples that others admire and emulate. We all these individuals “class acts”
~ Dan Sullivan, Cofunder and president of The Strategic Coach, Inc.
Be a Class Act
According to Dan Sullivan, the following are the characteristics of a “class act”:
- Live by your own highest standards
- Maintain dignity and grace under pressure (which include: (i) imperturbability in the face of chaos; (ii) calmness that gives courage & (iii) a quality of certainty)
- Focus and improve the behavior of others
- Operate from a larger inclusive perspective (have a deeper understanding and compassion for the humanity of others)
- Increase the quality of every experience
- Counteract meanness, pettiness and vulgarity (by courtesy, respect, appreciation, gratitude and generosity of spirit)
- Take responsibility for actions and results
- Strengthen the integrity of all situations
- Expand the meaning of being human
- Increase the confidence and capabilities of others
Sounds commonsensical (but demanding)? Maybe. What is essential is always very basic - but basic doesn’t mean easy. There could be a huge gap between knowledge and action.
And, I do believe that what goes around comes around. We gain trust, when we live with integrity. We are respected, when we respect others (and ourselves). We are loved, when we send out love.
Everyday we are tempted to be short-sighted, to take short-cuts. But, short cut is just, short-cut. It may gain you material gains pretty fast but that’s it - it cannot gain you trust and respect and not to mention true fulfillment.
Therefore I also believe that real success comes from within. If you are regarded as a class act, would you not attract the best people and opportunities to you, would you not succeed?
(I have made a brief introduction of Takuin’s The Rule of 5. Wanna know more? Check it out here.)
Related posts:
- Be An Attractive Person
- Beautified
- I Love You, Not Because You Are Perfect
- Release The Break
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are
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Great post!
What I like to do sometimes…I’ll open that book to a random page, and I will act upon whatever principle I landed on. I might make that principle the theme for the coming week. One of the most enlightening things you can do is use Principle #1 - Take 100% Responsibility, and live your life by that for an entire 30 days. By the end of that 30 day period, and amazing transformation will have occurred.
Of course, you are truly a CLASS ACT, and it shows in your every action.
Take care, and be good.
Takuin
Thank you Takuin. I’m trying my best and I’m glad and grateful when I’m making progress.
Principle #1 is of course important - it is the basis. When we take full responsibility, when we don’t blame, when we don’t complain, when we try our best to make our life a little bit better and this world a better place, the circumstance will change accordingly. More than once when I’m facing some adverse situations, when I change how I interpret it and my reaction towards it, the situation change. It’s really like a miracle sometimes.
Maintaining dignity under pressure is a big one.
How quickly we go to the “petty tantrum” card is inversely proportional to our class, I guess one would say.
Need some work here.
Hi there Todd,
Great to see you around!! Maintaining dignity under pressure… In Chinese we have a saying like “not be too proud, not be too humble” (not easy to translate the exact meaning) - but i guess, not selling yourself short in situations is what we all need to learn.