Increasing ability through developing character traits

Cross posted from my other blog.

The two major cornerstones of what I have dubbed “Individualbility” are individual ability and individual responsibility. This week I want to look at individual ability and how it can be increased by developing character traits.

Improving your character is a great way to improve individual ability to achieve success in anything that you do. There are a plethora of character traits one can look at improving upon or acquiring. On our site we mention five off the top.

• Integrity
•Courage
•Persistence
•Faith
•Vision

There are also many others that people would argue you can work on. Our site includes even more, including those things that Benjamin Franklin picked to work on. Franklin made a conscience effort to work on what he dubbed 13 virtues. He would pick one to work on every week and then rotate through them continually. Looking back at his life I would say that he did very well at developing those character traits and is a great example of increasing your chances at success by building your character.

I personally decided to start working on a character trait every week. Last week was my first week working on this and decided to focus on integrity. My focus was not only on being completely honest with those I interacted with but being honest with myself and work to cut out the little internal lies we tell ourselves. It made for a very interesting and eye opening week.

There is one example that really stands out in my mind. I was chatting with some coworkers about midweek and the subject of getting in shape came up. I was comparing notes with a couple people and one of the ladies mentioned that she likes playing the Zumba dance game on the Nintendo Wii. I mentioned that we had a Kinect for our Xbox 360 and loved the dance central game. I was about to say, “I usually play it about once a week, but I want to play it more often.” Well, although it would only be known to me it would be a blatant lie. I haven’t played that game in at least 2 months. Some people would say, that wouldn’t harm anybody because how would they know anyway. As I caught myself and refrained from making that false statement, I thought about my integrity. If it is ok to tell one little lie like that, then where does that lead to?

I do not share the above story to brag, but to illustrate a real life example of making an effort to focus on that weekly character trait. If my focus on developing the character trait of integrity had not been at the forefront of my mind, I probably would have made the statement without thinking about it.

We all have things that we want to improve on and do better in our lives. I firmly believe that by focusing on developing good character traits, those other areas of our lives will start to fall in line. Our personal character really does determine our path. The type of individual we focus on becoming will bring those types of individuals and opportunities into our lives.

As I move on each week focusing on a different character trait, I will post my progress on my personal blog. For a great discussion of integrity, I suggest John Huntsman Sr’s book Winners Never Cheat.

What character traits do you think are the most important develop? Why?