Weighing Up The Pros & Cons
Warning: This article will be very “hands on” for you, gentle reader.
Every decision that you make has its roots in your own personal system of morals and ethics. So it stands to reason that our morals and ethics are a pretty major and important part of our lives. But how many of us pay much (if any) attention to them? If you want to be successful (whatever that means to you), I think you’d agree that being able to make good decisions would be pretty handy. Having a well defined system of morals and ethics is what you need for that. This article is not going to tell you what your morals and ethics should be, nobody but you can do that. This article is about giving you the tools to help you define them.
What’s In It For Me?
And by “me” I really mean “you”. Everyone talks about morals and ethics, but what do you really get out of this deal? Well, your morals and ethics define who you are as a person. Having them well defined gives you the tools you need to make better decisions, and to make them faster. Have you ever had trouble making a decision? Ever wanted to “sleep on it”? The reason is because there’s a conflict with your belief or value system. Your belief and value system stems directly from your personal morals and ethics. They give you the structure and boundaries you need to reduce those conflicts.
Having little or no conflicts at decision time frees you up and empowers you onto the next step in your success journey… Action!
Lets Build a Toolbox
As I said, I can’t tell you what your morals and ethics should be, but what I can do is help you focus your thinking so that you can begin to define them in your own head. By the way, thinking about them is just the start. We’re going to go beyond that and write a statement of our own personal spiritual, moral, and ethical priorities. Don’t worry too much about that just yet, if you follow my suggestions in this article, you’ll find it easy.
OK, here’s what we’re gonna do… I’m going to ask you a series of questions that I hope will help you focus on your moral and ethical persona. Each question will probably make you think a little, and each needs either a “yes” or a “no” answer. No maybe’s here. 
But you absolutely must answer them truthfully. This is about you so you don’t need to show anyone your answers unless you want to. You might want to print this article and write your answers on it. And then after a few days, perhaps a week, come back to the questions and your answers to review them. For each answer, mark it “+” if you are happy and satisfied with your answer. Mark it “-” if you’re not satisfied or happy. The -’s will indicate possible areas for personal growth.
The Questionnaire
Moral and Ethical Responsibility for the Welfare of Others:
Do I have such a responsibility?
Does it have geographic, national, or racial boundaries?
Do I give to organisations to help underprivileged people?
Moral and Ethical Influence
Am I in any way responsible for the conduct of others?
Do I make a conscious effort to exert a a positive influence for good in my community?
Personal Ethics
Do I consider honesty and truthfulness firm standards for my behaviour?
Do I sometimes compromise my standards to keep from hurting others or to be polite?
Is it possible to be completely honest in business?
Are my business standards different from my personal standards?
Do my ethical standards contain both “do’s” and “don’t's”?
Would I be more comfortable if my ethical standards were stated positively rather than negatively?
Do I understand the values behind the rules that direct my life?
Do I have moral and ethical standards concerning such questions as drinking, gambling, sexual behaviour, etc?
Am I consistent in applying those standards?
My Potential
Do I have a moral responsibility to use the talents and abilities I have?
Do I have a purpose for life?
Am I using my talents and abilities to the fullest possible extent?
Would I be happier or more successful if I developed more of my talents and abilities?
Spiritual Values
Is a spiritual need natural for all human beings?
Do I believe in a personal god?
Do I consider myself a religious person?
Do my spiritual values influence my business decisions?
Do my spiritual values influence my social activities?
Do my spiritual values influence my family values?
Do I believe in prayer?
Do I practice it as frequently as I should if I do?
Would my life be better in some way if I expanded the attention I give to spiritual matters?
Formal Religion
Am I a member of a church, synagogue, or congregation?
Do I live by the beliefs and standards of that group?
Do I plan to follow its standards more strictly “later on”?
Do I support the group with my time and effort?
Do I support the group with my money?
Do I lead my family to participate in organised religious activities?
Can I discuss my religious beliefs and affiliation without becoming defensive?
Am I a leader in my church or congregation?
Should I increase or decrease my leadership role?
OK, there’s quite a lot to digest and think about there. Please don’t be put off by the enormity of it, your personal success and growth is worth it! As I said earlier, the idea behind these questions is to get you thinking about moral and ethical matters. Doing this will bring your personal morals and ethics to the surface so you can move on to the next step…
A Statement of Spiritual, Moral, and Ethical Priorities
After you have reviewed your answers to those questions you should write a statement describing your own personal priorities in this area of your life. There’s no restrictions or limits here. You can write as little or as much as you want. But I’d suggest you make it as detailed as you possibly can. And don’t wimp out on this. The act of physically writing down this statement will help to crystallise it in your mind. That in itself will make you a better person.
In Closing
Simply reading this article won’t do a thing for you. It won’t get you any closer to your hopes, dreams, and goals. It won’t make you a better person. But it WILL do all of those things and more if you do something with the information here. If YOU take ACTION. So turn your printer on and print this article (there’s a little printer icon thingy dingy at the bottom of the article for exactly this reason). Grab a pen and start working on those questions.
Till next time…
Help me write more great articles like this, fuel my mojo with a coffee!
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That was kind of fun actually, interesting to think about. Turns out that overall I’m happy where I am (based on those questions), but there seems to be room for improvement in areas I didn’t even consider an issue.
Thanks you, very useful!
Hi Heather!
Thank you so much for visiting my piece of the blogosphere. I’m glad you got something positive out of this article.
Kind regards,
Steve.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
I remember a while ago on my very old blog, I set out 5 moral and ethic principles. They were
Serve Others
Discipline and Control
I don’t play in shit (basically don’t get involved in stuff that is basically shit for the soul and mind)
Gratitude
Keep it Simple
I still try to follow them and guide my life by them now.
As a martial artist, these all play a big part in what I do and how I do it.
I’d like to read that article, mate. Any chance of it reappearing on 6aliens, or even here?
Twitter: SteveYoungs
I think I’ll repost later in February sometime. I’m scheduled for posts up the 30th Jan
I’ll wave you the link
Thanks, mate. Was a good read. And February you say? Well that’ll work out good actually… just enough time for me to forget that I’ve already read it so I’ll want to read it again when it appears on 6aliens.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Excellent post. There’s plenty of great info correct here, although I did want to allow you know something – I am running Redhat using latest beta associated with Firefox, and the actual layout of weblog is kind of strange for me. I understand the articles, but the navigation doesn’t work therefore good.
Hi Marco!
First of all, let me welcome you to one of my little bits of the internet. I’m very happy that you liked this article.
I’m confused by what you mean by…
Are you saying that in Firefox 3.7 (or 4.0) that you do not see the “Previous/Next” bar that is located at the end of an article, just above the comments section? Can you please show me a screen shot.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: SteveYoungs
Oh, could it be that you do not see the bar along the bottom of your Firefox window? It has a menu button in far left, followed by a couple of “quick links” to other sites, then buttons for “Home”, “About Us”, “Disclosure”, “Write For Us”, and “Contact”, And finally at far right is a clock. Is that what you cannot see?
Kind regards,
Steve.
Twitter: SteveYoungs