Five Rules to Live By

In mid-December I took my Mother to visit her wound doctor in Wichita. While waiting I noticed a little wall plaque titled “Rules to Live By.” No credit for the ideas was given, but the lesson to me was clear, these were rules we can all benefit from in the New Year and beyond.

1. Never give up! As I read this I thought of one of Winston Churchill’s greatest and shortest speeches to a graduating class. The late British Prime Minister’s speech was a mere nine words. “Never give up! Never give up! Never give up! What great advice as we start a new year. We all start a project or have an idea, only to finally move on leaving unfinished what was started with enthusiasm.

2. Be nice to one another. Our mothers tried to show us this from childhood. Nice begets nice. Honey attracts better than vinegar. Yet, in our self-focused society we leave this practice and buy into “I must look out for myself, no one else will.”

3. Think good thoughts. James Allen, in his classic book “As A Man Thinketh” taught that our thoughts construct our actions, so good thoughts are necessary to yield good results. We spend too much time thinking why we can’t rather than why we can.

4. Try to do better. Whatever the behavior, we can make an effort to do better. Often we try to change too much, when small improvements over time would be more successful. The Japanese have the concept of “kaizen,” or small, continuous improvement that we could use to help us do better.

5. Say please and thank you. The word “please” softens an order to a request and gets a much more willing response. “Thank you” helps convey a sense of appreciation that reinforces the behavior. I can remember my wife telling our girls, “Say please,” now say “thank you.” It was and still is great advice. These five rules, practiced regularly, will bring more friends, increase customer satisfaction, and generally give us a happier life. They really expand from “The Golden Rule,” that we should “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”