Cultivate Good Character

Tom Morris, Ph.D., a top-ranked professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Notre Dame before he moved into business consulting, talks in True Success about the relevance of good character to success. “High achievers nowadays,” he says, “talk a lot about goal setting. But they sometimes seem to talk as if it doesn’t really matter what goals we have, as long as we have goals. Targets to shoot at. Dreams to pursue. Any target. Any dream. But not all goals are created equal. Good goal setting requires good judgment, and good judgment is a function of good character.”

“Good character is usually the result of nurture – example, training, correction, and habituation. Bad character is often the result of neglect. Good character is the well-spring of ethical action and sound decision-making. Bad character is the primary source of moral error. Good character is a prerequisite for proper and fulfilling goal setting over the long run. Bad character is a guarantee of nothing but trouble and ultimately self-defeating action.” Good character is key to making money your way.

“We need to realize that, at bottom, genuine human excellence and proper human ethics are one. They are inextricably united and cannot ultimately conflict.”

“Genuine, overall, deeply satisfying, and sustainable human excellence requires good character, and good character, in turn, is the core issue of ethics. What is good character? Having a good character involves integrity, honesty, patience, courage, kindness, generosity of spirit, and a strong sense of personal responsibility among many other things.”

An excellent, short summary of the qualities of good character can be found in Thich Nhat Hanh’s slender volume, Interbeing. Similarly, a wonderful, pocket-sized reminder of the connections between character, thought, achievement -- and harmony with all being -- can be found in Eknath Easwaran's Your Life is Your Message - Finding Harmony with Yourself, Others, and the Earth.

A wonderful source of daily inspiration and encouragement, for living a life of good character, is Easwaran's Words to Live By - Inspiration for Every Day, available at the nonprofit Nigiri Press, or at Amazon.com.