Virtues

I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable day off today!  We had a day full of professional development meetings and, even though I would have loved to have the day off, it was a nice chance to be able to connect with colleagues to work and learn together.  

During today's meetings we had a keynote speaker who had a lot of interesting perspectives to share and one that resonated with me that perhaps you might relate to as well was the concept about how you are choosing to live your life.  He framed it in terms of if you are going for resume virtues or eulogy virtues. 

What does that mean? Well, essentially resume virtues are those accomplishments you achieve.  In school it might mean being team captain, student council rep, earning top grades in a class, or being the first to achieve a goal.  As you move forward in life it would be earning a degree, volunteering on a board for a local non-profit organization, or being the top sales associate, etc.  All of these have importance and value and they are the types of things you would list on a resume. 

Eulogy virtues are the personal qualities and characteristics you display.  These are the types of things that people would often remark about when giving a eulogy for someone rather than what you'd see in a resume.  So, for example that might sound like, "they light up a room" or "he was always willing to help anyone who needed anything including giving them the shirt off his back if needed" or "she was the person I could always count on to listen."  These eulogy virtues are more of the interpersonal skills that resonate with us as we interact with people around us.

There isn't anything wrong with either type of virtue and they both have immense value.  But, the reality is the accolades touted in the resume virtues are probably forgotten over time while the feelings created in the lives of others by the way you demonstrate the eulogy virtues may never be forgotten.

I just really liked the concept and thought it might be something you would also appreciate.  Know that I appreciate the good that I see in you and I know that you are making a difference by the way you live out your virtues.  And I hope you know that the way you treat yourself and others matters and will ultimately lead you to success.