Be with the truth nothing but the truth

Icon of Truth

You need to begin somewhere, so start with the truth – with the basic facts that you are talking about. Once the truth has been established, then back up what you say with your auctioned results. We can ask a simple question: “What is true?” If you feel drinking or smoking is bad for you, recognize that first.  It’s important to recognize what is true, even if you’re powerless to change it.  You might hate your job, but are financially committed to stay there.  We can’t change our behavior by lying to our own selves about what we know to be true. The job of practicing what you believe becomes infinitely easier if you have first acknowledged the truth of the situation.  If you can realize the truth, you will eventually adjust your behavior and life to coincide with it–even if that is difficult at first.

“We were forced to shut down the restaurant for six months. The financial loss was massive” – Jay Singh. Jay Singh, who studied international Relations and Economics at Brown University in the USA, was a successful consultant and banker before he entered the food industry. Currently, the co-founder of JSM Corporations, Singh incurred huge losses when he was forced to shut down operations at his restaurant Hard Rock Café due to licenses issues in 2006. The restaurant reopened a year later and Singh has since achieved other milestones. He effectively managed to get the investors to fund the business and today the restaurant is a trade mark among others in the country. Through all the valleys and mountains of challenges he faced, he was with the truth and never gave up on his dream. [ASPIRE Aug’2012]

Aesop, the famed Greek storyteller, told a story about a shepherd boy who would fool his friends by saying that a wolf had come to eat their sheep. When his friends found out that he was fooling them they stopped believing him. One day when the wolf really came he cried out for their help but they thought he was just trying to fool them again and all the sheep got eaten up by the wolf, so should not be like a “Crying wolf”.

Dig in and do actual work

Actual  work

When you believe what you say are the facts, then, you need to dig in and do the actual work that establishes the fact of what you believe in. It also establishes your practices – in every walk of life. According to Stephen R. Covey, “Only the disciplined are truly free. The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites, and passions.” If you begin to incorporate to the behaviors associated with “Dig yourself” into your professional life – thinking, collection, processing, organizing, reviewing, and doing these will naturally flow into your personal life. After all, it all depends on that fact that you can teach yourself to be maximally efficient. 

An example of doing actual work, in all situations: There was a farm house in the village a place over hundred fifty year old. In the house there were many items in and around the house, including a old clock that went tick-tick, tick-tick clinical sounds during nights which were common in the house and it was right in the middle of the dining room. One day there was a violent cyclone one end of the eye of  cyclone crossed farm house from left to right and the old house pass through the tremors and few hours later one more time other side of the cyclone eye crossed the house with full power and the whole house was damaged and many portions of the house had even collapsed. But the old clock continued its tick-tick as if there was no cyclone at all. “Tick-tick, tick-tick” it said and it was operating with same clinical sounds after the cyclone had calmed down. Robert Louis Stevenson made a wise statement “Quite minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or in misfortune at their own private pace like the ticking of a clock during a thunderstorm”. Unless we dig into the work in all situations and circumstances with a coolest mind we will not survive as individuals to accomplish our chief definite dream.

No more monkey business: I believe it all starts with your attitude towards the actual work you do. How keen are you to get in? It is all about the burning desire, passion, ambition and going against the grain which is crucial and makes all the difference. Unfortunately, most of us today want posh offices, expensive cars and fashionable gadgets but do not want to dig in and do the actual work hence we fail to push ourselves forward and we express ourselves with crocodile tears.

First of all believe in what you say

Believe in

An ace up your sleeve: There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren't the way you had hoped they would be. That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down. But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself. There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it solely depends on you to accept them. Constantly keep yourself on the right track, despite all the hurdles and distractions. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of “who you are” and “where you belong”. So when you face days filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself. Remember what you want your life to be. Believe in yourself and people will be forced to believe in you. Millions of people fail to believe in a life they have always wished to live. They fail to realize their ambitions and give up on their big dreams no sooner they encounter the first obstacle. One of the strongest causes for this attitude is that they do not believe in themselves.

During the Dot Com boom, practically everyone was buying internet stocks madly. One of the few people who didn't buy them was Warren Buffet. At that time, everyone criticized Buffet for his extreme caution and skepticism when dealing with these new stocks. Few years later, after the Dot Com bubble took place everyone lost a lot of money while Buffet ended up being the second richest man in the world!

Alex Haley received 200 rejections before he published the novel "Roots" which is now published in 37 languages, won the Pulitzer Prize and had become a popular television miniseries in 1977.

In the early development stages of Microsoft, the company was going to be sold. The buyer turned the offer down because he thought that people wouldn't need to put computers in their homes. Then Bill Gates became the richest man in the world!

Sometimes things happen to you, which at that particular moment may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in retrospection, you will realize that without having overcome those obstacles, you would never have realized your potential, strength, will power. Walk the talk boils down to being able to first believe in what you say.

Walk the talk

Show with your actions

The day you start institutionalizing “walk the talk” life shall show the dream to reality path. – Dr. V. V. Rao.

Often people say one thing while their actions indicate something else. Therefore, one of the fundamental principles for a person of character and discipline would be to consistently be able to “walk the talk” and that would mean practicing what you preach, not merely in words, but in deeds and action. As it has rightly been said, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Citing an example, ‘The joy of the nudge Olympics London 2012’:Within Olympic venues each worker was given a single task so that nothing would distract him or her from the main task and in turn keep the focus intact which might be a simple task such as carrying the kit bag to the starting block, removing a rake and smoothing the sand. “Simplicity and clarity” are the guiding principles, says Paul Deighton of the London organizing committee of Olympics. The volunteers were rewarded only with a garnish purple-and-red uniform and that was an actual display of “Walk the Talk” of the term “Volunteer”. [Economist July’2012].

If I say I am punctual, I have to demonstrate through my actions by being punctual about time, about my responses, about actions that I need to take. Even basic acts, such as phone-call which I promised to make, about any action or promise that needs me to deliver as promised – and more importantly on time.  Punctuality needs to be associated with my every action and thought. I cannot believe myself to be punctual if I cannot establish that fact through my own actions.  When I arrive late for a meeting, I do not respond to a call as promised, when my e-mails remain unacknowledged.

People say they want healthy food, but at the same time junk food vendors still make millions each year.  People say they want awareness of the world affairs, and yet they tune to 24/7 coverage of daily soaps. These may sound like trivial things that one may tend to overlook, however, when I say “walk the talk”, it would mean, I need to be able to practice in every small or big action and deed what I talk. It means to back up what I say with my actions and our bite can’t be worse than our bark.