Stick to the Plan.

Son, 

“Before you speak, think what you can do ..

Before you do, think the words you have spoken”

This saying is a simple definition of integrity (subject to The ART OF AGREEMENT).  

In order to achieve your well-defined goals, you need a plan, and then stick to the plan.  

There are many forces that will try to change, divert or even thwart your plans.  These could be friends, adversaries, family and loved ones.  It is worth noting that the only people who can influence you to rationalize or justify a ‘change of mind / change of action’ are people you currently trust.  Just think - if a stranger came to you to tell you how to live your life, most likely, you will not give too much weight to their advice. 

Whilst it sounds negative by nature that those we love and trust will try to steer us in a different direction than we are planning, it is somewhat understandable when you consider firstly, that everyone hears through their own filters, and projects also through their own filters and secondly, that if you go for advice (requested, implied, or assumed), the other person is most likely to take the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ role - the ‘Ying for the Yang’ the ‘counterclockwise to the clockwise in a gyro-scope’.  In other words, they are less likely to agree with you because they are checking you with all the ‘executable items’ that you may not have taken into consideration.  

And so it is :  before you speak, you should consider all those that have influence on you and pre-think any influence from them, and your reaction to it.    

The TARGET of this advice is for your reputation to be ‘A MAN OF HIS WORD’.  This reputation takes years to be gained, as people need to see you in challenging situations before they can truly see that you are determined to act with integrity.  This is the test.

The benefit of this reputation is not that everyone will love you, because you may also have laid down the rules which if broken, would result in the end of a relationship - and if the other person broke the rules thinking they would not be enforced, they will hate you for acting as per your words spoken. 

Dad.