Once upon a time there
were three little pigs. There names were Albert, Herbert and Fansidor
(their father being a progressive man had named the last one after
surviving a bout of malaria but the clerk at the births registry had
spelt the name of the antimalarial wrong). Their names are not really
essential to the story. On being kicked out the pigsty they set out
into the big wide world and decided to build themselves houses
(please in the efforts of literary creativity suspend reality for a
bit, I know pigs don't build houses. Unleash your inner child and
just play along). Exploiting loopholes in the local building bylaws
the first pig managed to build his house of straw. Seeing how easy it
was for his sibling to bypass the regional building inspectorate, but
wanting to look a little better, the second pig built his of twigs.
The third pig turned his nose up at his brothers' endeavours and
spend a lot of hours of sweat and labour building his out of bricks.
Some time after this the Big Bad Wolf came along. Mr BBW Esq. knocked
on the door of the first pig. Peeking through a crack in the wall the
pig saw the wolf and, realising the foolishness of letting a hungry
carnivore into his home, told him to go away. Mr Wolf being
persistant replied 'Little pig, little pig, let me come in or I will
huff and I'll puff and blow your house in.' He then proceeded to blow
the straw house down and the first pig became bacon. Moving on down
the street the wolf repeated the saga with pig two with the same
results, although he turned him into ham instead of bacon. Feeling a
little more peckish the wolf launched his speech about huffing and
puffing at the door of the third pig. Brick, however, is a bit
sturdier than straw, and the wolf soon found himself in the throes of
an exercise induced asthma attack and having forgotten his inhaler
died of shortness of breath. The third pig realising he was onto
something went into construction, pitching his sales to clients while
seated on a nice wolf-skin fur rug. Here ends the tale of the three
little pigs.
The nursery tale of the
three little pigs, like most children's stories, has nothing to do
with the superiority of brick as a building material. It addresses
the far more fundamental issue of character. You can spend your life
cutting corners on deals, pulling fast ones on your clients, padding
your expense bill at the expense of the company, but you may not be
building a character that will last under pressure. Nor will you be
the sort of dependable, honest person people want to trust with their
dealings. Think back on the times you have been cheated, lied too and
swindled. It was not particularly pleasant was it now. So why do it
to others.
Periodically I like to
glance through the adverts of health magazines. Most of them are
about dubiously priced supplements but I found one the other day that
astounded me. It promised instant 'abs'. You could, in one short
surgical procedure, have your fat liposuctioned and sculpted in such
a way that would leave you looking like you had the 'six-pack' of
every man's dream. You would not have to lift a single weight. The
only snag is that it would not be real. It would still be fat and
have no strength behind it. If someone asked you to lift a weight,
your crafted flab would be exposed for the fraud it really was. There
would be no substance behind the way you looked.
It is no wonder that
many people who win the lottery end up as poor as they were
beforehand. They do not have the character to cope with the sudden
increase in wealth and squander it, much in the same way they would
squander the little they had before their windfall.
There is no quick fix
to character flaws, but they can be changed. Listen hard to the
things people continually complain to you about, take a look at your
life and find the area that needs change. Make yourself accountable
to someone for your change, they will not change you but are there to
be a sounding board if they see you falling apart again. Then pick
the character trait that you want to embrace (usually the opposite of
the one you are trying to correct). Now, imagine yourself in a
situation later today where you would usually fall, and rework it in
your mind so it reflects the new trait. Now go and do it like that.
Repeat again and again and again until it becomes natural. It is not
enough to stop lying, you have to tell the truth. Being on time is
not the opposite of being late, being early is the real 'on-time'.
Instead of stealing, give something. Instead of being negative all
the time, do not just shut your mouth, rather speak words of
affirmation. Redig your foundations and create a house out of brick.
It takes time, sacrifice, hard work and effort. But you will
withstand the storms of life better in a house with a sure
foundation.
