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Speed of Trust

• Posted by on December 12th, 2006 filed in Anything Goes

The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything

I have been reading The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey (the 7 Habits Stephen Covey’s son) while at work on the early shift. We don’t get too many shoppers in that time of the morning (holiday retail mall hours).

A couple of things worth mentioning so far:

Here are some great questions from the book:

1. Do I genuinely try to be honest in all my interactions with others?

2. Do I typically “walk my talk?”

3. Am I clear on my values? Do I feel comfortable standing up for them?

4. Am I open to the possibility of learning new truths that may cause me to rethink issues or even redefine my values?

5. Am I able to consistently make and keep commitments to myself?

One of the points that gave me pause for thought was: Honesty includes not only telling the truth, but also leaving the right impression.

So many times I let people keep on thinking I am a Christian or at least still believe in God, because it is easier. I don’t want to shock them, or incur their wrath or even worse their pity. I don’t want to hear endless arguments about why I should return to the fold. I don’t want to make them sad (I am thinking of my mom here).

My theme for this coming year is INTEGRATEDNESS and I plan to put these two thoughts into action:

I was impressed by one of my fellow Toastmasters on Saturday. She was the Toastmaster for the meeting and it was our “holiday” meting with “holiday” party to follow. Right during the meeting, as she was getting ready to close, she said, “You might not know this, but I am not a Christian. I am a Humanist. I believe in you, my friends and fellow Toastmasters.” Nobody got up to stone her, nobody gasped (out loud at least ), nobody said she could no longer participate. This coming year I want to be like that: Unapologetic and Matter of Fact. Integrated. Leaving the Right Impression.

The other thing that I want to bring up is:

#4 Am I open to the possibility of learning new truths that may cause me to rethink issues or even redefine my values?

Here is what the author had to say about that:

Close-minded or arrogant people are people who don’t really listen to you because they think there’s nothing you could say that they don’t already know; people who refuse to consider now ways of looking at things because they are convinced that theirs is the only accurate way of thinking, people who will stare truth in the face and reject it because they are not willing to accept the possibility that there is some reality, some principle out there, they weren’t even aware of.

Openness is vital to integrity. It takes both humility and courage - humility to acknowledge that there are principles out there you may not be currently aware of, and courage to follow them once you’ve discovered them.

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