Alignment between actions and priorities creates a sense of urgency and generates energy to sustain their efforts. Values aligned with natural laws provide a foundation for making good and honorable decisions. The alignment between words and actions builds trusting relationships and personal credibility. Most important, alignment enables individuals to be their best and focus their efforts toward achieving goals honorably.

Admiration is demonstrated in the quality of our products, services and relationships. Admiring ourselves and others means we build on positive attributes and create the expectation for success. Admiration leads us to give the best we have to offer out of personal desire rather than mandated compliance.

Assurance provides the guarantee of both word and deed. True assurance comes from a deep senses of integrity, accountability and a personal commitment to doing whatever it takes to honor promises, priorities and purpose. It is the desire to assure quality in products, services and relationships that drives individuals and organizations to perfect their performance. This same commitment that makes them do what ever it takes to correct the errors which occur.

Develop a clear sense of purpose and values based on natural laws and an individual picture of success.
A sense of purpose provides the road map and principle-centered values provide the compass for navigating the often treacherous road of achievement.

Focus on strengths and approach areas where growth is needed as challenges rather than permanent defects.
Comfort with who we are is a critical component of admiration and builds self-respect, self-esteem and confidence.

Learn, grow and improve continuously.
The most important lessons we learn usually come from mistakes. Honoring the self includes acknowledging our humanness and recognizing that learning comes from trying. Occasional failure should be expected and accepted as a valuable learning tool.

Make daily choices about decisions and actions that are consistent with both purpose and values.
An old adage states that successful people are willing to do the things unsuccessful people are unwilling to do. Successful people consistently do is make choices about how the use their time, energy and resources.

Celebrate success.
A stadium full of cheering people is a nice but unnecessary thought to the person who lives by the honor principle. The quiet acknowledgement of a job well done can be a powerful source of alignment, admiration and assurance.

Become integrity-driven.
The reliability of words and actions sends the message that others are important enough to deserve your best and it generates trust because of your character and your competence.

Create win/win opportunities.
Sharing the honor of winning is impossible without personal alignment. I cannot allow you to win if I feel I might lose. Alignment allows individuals to create the partnerships necessary for long-term success. In today's world of interdependence, honoring others through personal performance has become almost a necessity.

Make others feel important.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed, "Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense." The value of making others feel important is but another case in point. Individual needs may vary, but everyone shares the desire to be understood. Understanding is the essence of effective communication.

Focus on positive attributes.
Expectation is a powerful tool for generating outcomes. Focusing on the positive attributes of any relationship sets in motion a chain of events that dramatically increases the opportunity for success.

Do important things first and do them well.
Time management techniques have long emphasized the importance of doing first things first. The individual who lives by the Honor Principle goes beyond traditional time management to determine what is important and then do it well. The following three questions will help: (1) What areas of my performance are not aligned? (2) What can I legitimately and ethically do to show my admiration? (3) How can I assure the quality of my products, services and relationships?

© 1996 by Pennington Performance Group; Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. This article may be downloaded for personal or professional use and may be duplicated to share within the individual's organization. Any other use is strictly prohibited without written permission from the author.