Trust is a powerful force…
It cannot be bought. But it can be earned.
With it, there’s no telling how much you can accomplish. Without it, you won’t get anywhere.
All relationships are founded on trust.
Husband and wife, boss and staff, doctor and patient, even best friends.
Each side has a certain responsibility to live up to.
In the family each person must pull their own weight. At work, the boss must lead, while employees are entrusted with following out the orders issued by their superiors.
It’s a sort of give and take kind of thing.
But every relationship changes over time.
Take the office; at first the boss must oversee all new employees work to ensure no mistakes are made. But as the employee proves his ability, the boss needs to do two things:
- Take a step back and trust they will be able to hand the work
- Entrust them with ever more difficult challenges
This is the essence of the classic book The 4-Minute Manager and one every entrepreneur or manager should add to his reading list.
Trust builds up people’s confidence while a lack of trust is often a reason people choose to leave a relationship.
Thinking about the concept of trust I asked myself a simple question the other day: Who can you trust today?
Doctors? I guess it depends where…but here in Japan, I suppose around 90%.
Lawyers? Not so much, maybe 50%. Just have to find the right person for the job at hand.
Teachers? This is a tough one; I have my teachers and I trust them implicitly but know that no one’s perfect so I keep that in mind.
Politicians? LOL.
I asked around and found pretty much the same answers regardless of where people were from or what professions they were in. It’s pretty sad that the people whose responsibility it is is to help the people are the people we trust the least. How ironic.
So if you can’t trust the government and you can’t trust lawyers, just who can you trust?
The answer is simple: yourself.
Then your family…then your friends.
Unfortunately, I have seen more than a few people been led astray due to putting their faith in family members or close friends.
You are the one person you can count on.
No matter where you go, you’ll always be there.
That’s why we should all invest in ourselves; aiming to be a bit better each week, each month and each year.
The stronger and smarter we get, the most confidence we have to achieve things.
I used to have one skill: teaching.
I was one dimensional and knew it. The problem with being one-dimensional is you are trapped doing one job.
So I went to work…on myself.
I invested a small fortune on lessons from the experts and today have managed to become knowledgeable enough that I am able to write about time management secrets, marketing, copywriting, success and economic history.
It took time (about 6 years) and it took money but now I’m a whole new man.
But I’ve made mistakes. I’ve trusted the wrong people, because I didn’t have enough trust in me.
Today it’s a whole new ball game.
I no longer just accept my financial advisor’s suggestions. I have my own and we discuss every move we make.
I have said goodbye to a few friends because I have learnt they cannot be trusted. Life’s too short to have people in your life that you don’t trust.
The secret to finding good people is to listen carefully to their words and see if their actions measure up.
Most people talk a big game, but many fail to live up to what they say they’ll do.
It’s a simple concept (and one I’ve talked about a few times) but when people can’t be trusted to live up to the small things, you can’t trust them with the big things (regardless of what they say).
Be the kind of person that people can trust.
Live up to your promises. Be honest (but not rude). Overachieve. Improve.
Your life will change overnight by becoming a person people can trust.
Adrian Shepherd