We love other people. We help other people. We are kind to other people. We always consider others’ needs. We treat other people the way we want them to treat us.

We are honest. We keep our promises and deliver on commitments. We don’t deceive other people when they expect honesty - and this is almost all the time. (Tricks are okay and fun, but they must eventually be revealed. Deception is okay in competition; our opponent should expect it.)

We mind our business. We want the best for others, but we don’t always know what that is. We choose our words carefully and think before we speak. We seek first to understand, then to be understood. If someone wants our opinion, we may give it to them. But we don’t force it on them. (An exception is when a strong person is mistreating a weaker person; sometimes we make that our business.)

We collaborate. Some activities are cooperative. When we do those activities, we cooperate and work as a team. We seek and prefer win/win arrangements.
We also compete. Some activities are competitive. When we do those activities, we compete with maximum effort - but always within the rules and always with honor. Again, we like win/win arrangements, but when we are performing a win/lose activity we do everything we can to win with honor.

We do what we should whether we feel like it or not. Sometimes we are afraid, or tired, or angry, or just not our best. Sometimes circumstances are not what we want. We don’t make excuses. We don’t whine. We don’t give up. We carry on, persisting, doing what we should.

We focus our energy on things we can affect. We waste no energy on things we can’t affect. We don’t worry. We don’t complain. We improvise. We adapt. We overcome. We find a way to get it done.

We work hard, and we have a lot of fun. Often simultaneously (but not always).

We manage resources deliberately. We all have time, property, money, and energy to manage. We don’t allocate these resources haphazardly and hope for a good result. We employ these resources purposely to bring about deliberately chosen outcomes.

We are grateful. We notice and name our many blessings. We are also humble. We are fortunate to live better than King Solomon. Some of this is our doing, but we remember that the vast majority is Providence.

We learn and improve all the time. We think about our thinking. Our minds are imperfect. They have various flaws; some natural, some learned. We monitor our thoughts for these flaws and compensate for them when necessary. We value input from others, but ultimately we think for ourselves.

We admit, correct, and learn from mistakes. Mistakes are inevitable when we are growing, stretching, learning, and trying to do things we haven’t done before. (But careless mistakes are bad. Pay attention.) When we make a mistake, we admit it, correct it if possible, and learn from it whatever we can. And then we move on. 

We are disciples of Jesus Christ.

Version: October 2013