Who Are You Strict On?

Fundamental Of Life: Be Strict On Yourself, But Tolerant Of Others: Marcus Aurelius.

As a leader, I feel like I was a pretty fair person. I'm sure there will be people who would disagree, but I feel like I was, even with the many mistakes I made. However, most people will agree that there is no one who cares more than me about people in their charge. I cared about them immensely and tried to make sure they felt it. I had a few core principles that I was steadfast on, and there weren't any negotiations on them. One was how we treated people and the culture we created, especially each other. My stance was that toxic, cancerous people were the enemy. There is only one way to deal with those types of people: cut the cancer out. I don't want to sound like a tyrant; I wasn't. That was only the result after trying to correct their behavior. 

These people have several things in common: they are strict with others but tolerant of themselves. They are quick to criticize others and look for their every fault, but they are tolerant of their own deficiencies. You see them walking down the hallways of your workplace, going office to office, gossiping about everyone else. In their eyes, they are never the problem; they're right, and the rest of the world is wrong. Do you ever notice that these people never achieve what they want in life? They are always chasing, never catching. It's because they are gossiping and causing havoc while the rest of us are working. But that's not our problem; let them keep talking and failing; you keep working and passing them up.

When you are strict on yourself and tolerant of others, some excellent things start happening to you. You start really concentrating on yourself and your self-improvement. You no longer worry about others and "keeping score," looking at what they are getting and what you are not. You aren't trying to make others look bad so you can look good. What they are doing doesn't matter to you. The only thing that matters to you is what you are doing; the only person you critique is yourself. The only person you are gossiping about is you. You are talking about yourself! You are telling yourself all about yourself! You are not giving yourself any slack at all.

What also starts happening is people start to notice you. Being strict on yourself results in a better person, employee, leader, etc. Being tolerant of others automatically makes you a more kind person, one who is patient and non-judgmental. People start respecting you more; they start following your lead. The result of that is you advance in your profession. Your relationships, romantic and plutonic, become stronger. You start getting the things that the group I talked about in the beginning wants. You are passing them up, and they will never know why. They won't know why because they refuse to get it. But hey, that's not our problem!

Their refusal to see this and conform is none of our concern. We will be tolerant of them. Tolerant in the way that we won't let it get to us. This doesn't mean we have to entertain their foolishness or tolerate their abuse. We distance ourselves from them and accept them from afar. Our tolerance is not retaliating against them or letting them control our thoughts and lives. 

You will see instant results when you incorporate this in your life fundamentals. You will instantly become less stressed, happier, and a better human!