Shine With Grace

How you do anything is how you do everything 

You are habitually late for appointments.  Early morning tomorrow you have to attend a very important client meeting - would you be late?  You tell yourself that you won’t but fat chance that you will. 

Why?  Because how you do anything is how you do everything.

Habits 

We human beings are creatures of habits.  When a habit is formed, we basically operate on auto-pilot.  Therefore, be very careful what habits that you take up for they directly affect how happy, healthy and wealthy you are.

Remember:  bad habits are easy (and tempting) to form but hard to change.   Therefore, don’t allow a bad habit creeps in when you are relaxed.  Don’t lower your standard when no one is watching.  Don’t misbehave because you think you can get away.  Don’t give up easily on seeminingly minor stuff.  Don’t cheat in small deals… 

For you are picking up the new (bad) habit before you know it. 

Broken window theory

And this reminds me a related theory: The broken window theory that I learnt from Rudy Giuliani’s auto-biography, Leadership.

The crime rate of New York was rocket high when Giuliani was elected as the mayor of the city.  Contradictory to conventional wisdom, Giuliani requested the NYPD not just focus on the severe crime (murder, robbery, rape…) but also minor offences, even including drawing graffitti on the walls.   And the crime rate dropped.

Consider a building with a few broken windows.  If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.

Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.

~ Broken Windows, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling

When one window is broken, people will start to think that it doesn’t really matter to break one more, then one more.  And this applies to the society, as well as ourselves. 

Is there any broken windown in your habits / personality / character?  Are you aware of them?  Have you taken any action to rectify them?  Or, have you just noticed some new ones?  What are you going to do with them?  Mend that broken window, or let it be?

Related posts:

• Be A Class Act
• Good Karma
• Are You Honest With Yourself?
• What You Focus On, Expands
• Bearing In Mind The Concept Of Opportunity Cost When Making Decisions

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