Your Character Is Your Destiny

The first thing we need to explore before we talk about good character traits is to determine what character is.

First off, character traits show who we are as a person. They show if we are a person who makes good decisions or bad decisions. Character traits directly determine the decisions we make in life.

Good character makes the decision to do or not do something because it's the right thing to do. Bad character is easily swayed by peer pressure or the easy thing to do.

Character is what you are when with others and when you are alone. Character is what controls how you act and react to situations or happenings.

Character is both formed and revealed by how one deals with everyday situations as well as extraordinary pressures and temptations.

Character is what defines the good or the bad in you.

• Honesty - Telling the truth and admitting when you have done something wrong.
• Trustworthy - Being able to be trusted and acting with integrity.
• Broad-minded - seek out diversity.
• Courage - Doing the right thing even though it's difficult, following your conscience instead of the crowd.
• Forward-looking - setting goals and having a vision of the future.
• Respect - Showing high regard for authority, other people and your self. Treating others as you wish to be treated.
• Competent - making decisions based on reason and moral principles.
• Fairness - Cooperating with one another. Practicing justice, equity, and equality.
• Caring - Showing compassion, generosity, and a forgiving nature. Treating others with kindness.
• Intelligent - read, study, seek challenging experiences.
• Responsibility - Having a sense of duty to fulfill tasks. Showing reliability, dependability, and commitment.
• Integrity - Holding firm to a moral value. Being honest, trustworthy, and incorruptible.
• Self-discipline -- Giving your best in all situations. Demonstrating hard work controlling your emotions, words, actions, impulses, and desires.
• Imaginative - Show creativity, be innovative.
• Perseverance - Working towards a worthy objective with patience and determination, when confronted with failure show fortitude.
• Citizenship - Be law abiding and involved in school, community, and country issues.
• Patriotism - Show love and loyalty to your country.

• Always stand on principle, even if you stand alone. - John Quincy Adams
• You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. - James A. Froude
• Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it. - David Star Jordan
• Character is made by what you stand for; reputation by what you fall for. - Robert Quillen
• There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience - French Proverb
• Try not to be a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. - Albert Einstein
• What a man's mind can create, man's character can control. - Thomas Edison
• There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Don't try to be different. Try to be good. To be good is different enough. - Arthur Freed
• The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back. - Abrigail Van Buren
• The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice. - Mahatma Gandhi
• Every man has three characters: that which he shows, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has. - Alphonse Karr
• The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out. - Thomas Babington Maculay
• You do not wake up one morning a bad person. It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders of self-respect to self-interest. - Robert Brault
• The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. - Red Auerbach
• People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built. - Eleanor Roosevelt

• Understand the meaning of character. It is the ethical and moral strength of an individual along with the attributes and abilities that correspond to life choices.
• Select a set of principles and rules that you will abide by for the rest of your life.
• Determine if a principle will be effective for your personal growth and character.
• Try to build a character based on your won personal beliefs and opinions.
• Find a role model.
• Understand it takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day.

• Helps you reach full potential in knowledge
• Increases productivity
• Enhances self-acceptance
• Helps you reach your full skill potential
• Enhances self-confidence
• Increases accomplishments
• Improves relationships
• Benefits and encourages others
• Contributes to success
• Provides a renewed excitement to life