Author: lifetimetruth

Why is Determination Important?

For this post, the word determination is defined as 1) direction or tendency to a certain end : IMPULSION and 2) the act of deciding definitely and firmly. So why is determination important?

I mention that I am a current Master of Business Administration (MBA) student in my last post. Therefore, I have first-hand knowledge of what it means to have strong determination.

However, I vowed to never attend school again when I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Accounting just over 10 years ago.

Power of Determination

Today, a friend and I discussed how frustrated and angry she was with school although she only has about two quarters remaining in her Bachelor’s program. I expressed to here that I experienced the same frustration around the same time in pursuit of my Bachelor’s degree.

In fact, I recall being absolutely livid about attending school at quarter 5 of 8, but two childhood friends kept me encouraged to keep pushing forward. We interacted daily on FB.

“I keep my FB deactivated today, but that is a different story for a different time.. essentially, it is a life choice that I made a few years back to stay current in reality.”

Nonetheless, my recommendation to her was to trust the power of determination. I assured her that it would all be worth it in the end. Today, she is still striving with strong determination.

  • It is important and encouraging to note that she is in her early 40’s with 3 kids under age 13, a single mom and 2 adult children. Her degree concentration is network security and I am extremely proud of her very strong determination. She is pushing forward to set an example for her children as well as a sure determination for her life.

This video further describes why determination is important and how any achievement is unconditionally possible (I tend to watch videos on playback speeds of 1.25 or 1.50 by selecting the cog icon):

Conclusion

It took ten years for me to walk in my power of determination once again. However, I am making great strides and once again, I am at the path of only a few quarters remaining. Yet, this time I am not angry. Instead I am co-creating a new journey of life and so far I like it!

Never give up on yourself or your dreams. Power of determination is real and categorically attainable. Keep believing with an open mind and remember that integrity is your only collateral in this thing we call life.

Truth..

#lifetimetruth

Truth, Facts, Actuality

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines truth as 1) the body of real things, events and facts: ACTUALITY; 2) the state of being the case: FACT; and 3) a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality.

In the Merriam-Webster thesaurus, truth is labeled as accuracy, actuality, authenticity, correctness, credibility, honesty, trustworthiness, truthfulness, veracity, dependability and reliability. It states that its synonyms are factuality and verity.

Chosen image of truth for post. Still woman looking at a moving train with her head turned.

Truth and Integrity

“Integrity is your only collateral” as mentioned in my last post. I feel that people struggle with truth today and therefore, it is hard to trust one another. I am not being judgmental here, but I feel that it is important to realize the value of truth and how it relates to trust. With varying social media outlets, it is easy to disguise the truth and pretend to be someone or something that we are not. Again, no judgment here, but at times it is difficult to discern the truth from reality in today’s world.

What’s more, people may not tell the truth in your face, eye-to-eye which is worse in my viewpoint. I had a recent experience where a co-worker called himself expressing empathy for me regarding a personal situation that I went through. He stated, “I called you a few times but you did not answer, I am sorry to hear about (my situation)?” I felt as though he was being very sincere and expressing his truth. However, when I checked my call log, I did not see a missed call from him. I was devastated.. pretty much worse than the personal situation I had gone through.

Truth and Trust

Recently, I took an individual and team dynamics course as a MBA student and the information that we learned about trust was fascinating. According to Paul J. Zak in “The Neuroscience of Trust,” a survey of 1,095 working adults in the U.S. revealed that the U.S. average for organizational trust was 70% (out of a possible 100%) with one firm scoring an abysmally low 15%.

As a result of the experience I had with my co-worker, I think that I am now a part of the other 30% that do not trust organizations and/or the people inside of organizations (jokingly.. kind of).

The Value of Truth

Conclusion

Is trust the currency of the future as stated by the University of Waterloo’s Adjunct Associate Professor and Director of the Problem Lab, Larry Smith in the video? For me, trust relies on truth. I remember learning that the truth shall set you free from my grands back in the day.

For me, I believe that we should build our legacies on the foundation of truth and trust will manifest after. Thus, the end result will improve quality of life with a focus on truth, facts and actuality. It has been worth it to me. What is your truth?

Truth..

#lifetimetruth

Improve Quality of Life with Quality People

To improve quality of life it is my belief that we should surround our self with quality people. Quality, as defined by Merriam Webster, is a peculiar and essential character, an inherent feature.

Familiar synonyms from an adjective perspective are beautiful, awesome, first-class, prime, boss, lovely, prizewinning and top-shelf.

Truth..

Like most of us, my hope is a beautiful and awesome life as much as possible for the limited time that we have on this earth. So, how is this accomplished? For me, it starts with integrity and honesty. We must realize the importance of truth in our everyday life of interactions. Work, school, family, friends, social media.. everything.

Quality should be intrinsic within our heart’s core. Therefore, we have to begin with a beautiful heart and awesome mind of truth to become first-class, divine, and ultimately valuable and attractive to others.

Attract the Essential Character

As stated by Nicholas Pearce (HBR, 2019, April 9) in “Why People — and Companies — Need Purpose,” the idea of life’s work requires a degree of human authenticity. To me, we create this authenticity with our heart’s core. From there, we improve our quality of life by attracting people with the same inherent feature.

Our original and organic self should start with and always demonstrate truth and integrity..

Three people on the tailgate of a red truck showing waist down only. A scene of quality people and truth.

Integrity Life & Quality People

To understand integrity let us look at its opposites: badness, evil, immorality and wickedness. I do not know about you, but I do not want to live my life and have these characteristics displayed on my headstone or in my obituary. Instead, I prefer to live my life in remembrance of beauty, inside and out, awesomeness and first-class!

“Integrity is your only collateral..”

If you have no integrity, you have no collateral. This means that, collateral is Google dictionary defined as an asset or piece of property that a borrower offers to a lender as security for a loan. In life, your collateral is your truth and honesty. If you defy your truth and honesty, you default on your life loan or generally speaking, “your word.”

I believe that Aine Donovan, Adjunct Associate Professor at Tuck and Executive Director of the Ethics Institute at Dartmouth describes it best:

Conclusion

The company that we keep matters. Dr. Donovan’s reference is focused on business, but for me we can apply the same concept and principle to life. In other words, integrity is the key to being a quality person and integrity is the glue that binds quality people to a quality life.

Therefore, to improve quality of life we must live an integrity life and the power of reciprocity will attract us to quality people.

#lifetimetruth