Lets face it! We rarely pass tests if we fail to prepare for those tests.
If you are waiting on some big defining moment for you to prove your character, you are going to wait a long time! Most people only face a few of those big moments over a lifetime. If you live 80 years, you may face three or four of those defining moments. That is not when character is made. Character is made in the thousands of day to day choices we make in between the big moments.
What makes a young man in his twenties stand up to the celebrity CEO and bring down a company like Theranos? What makes a German Lutheran preacher stand up to tyranny in Nazi Germany? What makes a 20 year old gymnast expose the abuse and corruption inside USA Gymnastics?
These are life defining moments. They are the choices that someone makes that will be remembered long after they have left this earth. But what prepared them for that choice?
Let’s face it. We rarely pass tests if we fail to prepare for those tests. Waiting for the big moments to exercise our character is as naive as never going to class, never opening a text book, and then showing up for the final exam at the end of the semester. Very few of us will pass that test.
The thousands of little choices we make everyday prepare us for the big tests. They may be like homework or a pop quiz. But all those moments of preparation add up and prepare us for the real exam that is coming so we can grow beyond our current level.
Some people are perpetually stuck in kindergarten. They don’t do their homework, fail the pop quizzes, and then wonder why they are not moving on to high school level or university level courses and responsibilities. Some may even throw a tantrum or a pity party because they feel the tests are too hard or unfair. Yet the truth is, they failed to prepare themselves for the test.
Here are six examples of day to day choices we make and what they could be preparing us for later in life:
Courage Pop Quiz: Having a tough conversation with a peer about their attitude.
Courage Exam: Stopping a boss from falsely reporting financial information.
Humility Pop Quiz: Admitting a mistake to the person you love the most.
Humility Exam: Accepting responsibility for your team’s failure to meet a production deadline.
Integrity Pop Quiz: Following through on an inconvenient commitment you made.
Integrity Test: Telling the CEO the truth about cost overruns in your department.
Selflessness Pop Quiz: Listening to the problems of a friend.
Selflessness Exam: Putting yourself in a difficult situation for the good of the team.
Duty Pop Quiz: Cleaning the dishes in the sink that your roommate left behind.
Duty Exam: Stepping into a leadership void when everyone else hesitates.
Positivity Pop Quiz: Helping your friend see the blessings in her life.
Positivity Exam: Turning around the morale of a low performing team.
We have to prepare ourselves for the small day to day homework assignments, that will prepare us for the pop quizzes, that will in turn prepare us for the big exams that come so infrequently. It is the intentional preparation that makes for success in the big tests in life.
Becoming a Leader of Character requires us to prepare ourselves and the people we are called to lead, for the bigger exams. The best way to do that is to see everyday as a pop quiz for your character.
Questions:
● What pop quizzes have you struggled with recently?
● How will you prepare yourself for the next pop quiz coming your way?
Here is a quick assessment that will take you 5 minutes to figure it out. Nobody will ever see your results but you.
Warning: If you are not going to be honest with yourself this is a worthless assessment.
To take the assessment use the QR code above or go to www.MYCHARACTERTEST.com
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