Reliability
If I were to ask you to rate how reliable you are, how would you answer?What if I were to ask your boss the same question about you?What about your co-workers? Your spouse? Your kids?More and more these days we are noticing the importance of being someone to count on. It seems to be an attractive trait to have. To be known as someone who does what they say they will do AND to do it on time is a clear advantage.Even though the result is what we’re after here, what if being reliable has less to do with DOING than with the MINDSET around it?I am currently working with a client who as of today, October 5, 2012 has not missed a day of running in over 1000 days. Granted some days he runs more than others … but the most recent day I saw him run, he ran over 52 miles … IN ONE DAY!The next morning … was he tired? Was he sore? Did he have good reasons to skip a day?Yes.But, did he wake up at 5 am and go for his daily run anyway?Yes he did.That’s reliability.We already know ourselves to be reliable for many things. You may be able to count on yourself to make the bed. Maybe you visit your great-aunt every Sunday … or only buy organic produce. Maybe you know yourself as someone who pays bills on time or keeps their oil changed regularly.Beyond what others think of you, it begins when you know yourself in this way.However, we don’t always live our life like we have a choice in the matter. We may have convinced ourselves that the things we are consistent and predictable about don’t carry as much weight as the things we would like to be better at.What if it’s not a matter of being better at something, but to a greater degree it’s a matter of choosing to turn on the switch that lights up the world of reliability. My client who runs every day … rain or shine, snow or sleet, sick or well … was probably NOT born with the natural trait of reliability. It all happened in a singular moment … the moment he chose to get committed to something. Likely in the beginning he chose again and again until he knew himself to be reliable at it. There is no longer a debate each morning on whether or not to run. It happens as predictably as the day itself.If a newspaper delivery service is unreliable, how long will they stay in business? Not long. They must choose to be so until they know themselves at an IDENTITY LEVEL to be reliable. Who they ARE is a delivery service … everyday, no exceptions.In what world would you like to be reliable?Good health?Prosperity?Community involvement?In what world would you like to leap into and know that you’ll be great at it forever?
