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Could creating your character be likened to an artist
creating a sculpture? I believe that character
is not something that just happens by itself, any more
than a chisel can create a work of art without the
hand of an artist guiding it. In both instances,
a conscious decision for a specific outcome has been
made. A conscious process is at work.
Character is the result of hundreds and hundreds of
choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at
any given moment, into who you want to be. If
that decision-making process is not present, you will
still be somebody. You will still be alive, but may
have a personality rather than a character.
Character is not something you were born with and
can't change like your fingerprint. In fact,
because you weren't born with it, it is something that
you must take responsibility for creating. I
don't believe that adversity by itself builds
character and I certainly don't think that success
erodes it. Character is built by how you respond
to what happens in your life, whether it's winning
every game or losing every game, getting rich or
dealing with hard times.
You
build character out of certain qualities that you must
create and diligently nurture within yourself, just
like you would plant and water a seed or gather wood
and build a campfire.
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You've got to look for
those things in your heart and in your gut.
You've got to chisel away in order to find them, just
like chiseling away the rock in order to create the
sculpture that has previously existed only in your
imagination.
But do you want to know the really amazing thing about
character? If you are sincerely committed to
making yourself into the person you want to be, you'll
not only create those qualities, but you'll
continually strengthen them. And you will
recreate them in abundance even as you are drawing on
them every day of your life. Just like the
burning bush in the biblical book of Exodus, the bush
burned but the flames did not consume it.
Character sustains itself and nurtures itself even as
it is being put to work, tested, and challenged.
And once character is formed, it will serve as a
solid, lasting foundation upon which to build the life
you desire.
Reprinted
with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine.
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