What if our life started with our society teaching us core values?

Instead of learning what we should do and how we should do it, we learn WHY we are here in the first place.

If life started in this way, I believe the world as we see it today, wouldn't be in as much turmoil as it is.

If you, me, and everyone else around us lived by a certain code, and believed in that code, we would have the purpose we need to think before we speak or act in a certain way. And even if we did act out of line, we have a code to remember and fall back on.

These are the things I have pondered over the years, and it has caused me to read books like the Surfers Code which speaks about principles to live life by.

Long story short it is about a pro surfer who learned 12 lessons from living his life while riding waves. And the lessons are the code he lives by.

It has made me believe that we all should create our own code that would guide us to become better individuals. If we become better as individuals, the overall whole would get better. This is exactly what we need in today's world.

All of us as individuals, we need to have a long stare in the mirror and ask ourselves, how are we making ourselves better? Rather than focusing on others, and pointing fingers at them, we point the finger back at ourselves. And then we reduce our ego enough to recognize that we are failing to live by our code. Failing to be the person we know we can be.

We fault others for issues we create ourselves, and we let ourselves down in the process.

We all know deep down who we know we could become, yet we don't always do what we should do to become that person.

That is where the code comes in.

With your code you can BE the person before you BECOME the person.

Want to be a pro athlete? Train like one TODAY.

Want to earn a new title at your job? Do the work of that title TODAY.

Want to make more money, have more time, and enjoy more freedom? Act like the people who have already done it, TODAY.

Live by the principles today, earn what those principles grant you, tomorrow.

Okay I will stop rambling lol. I preach core values a lot. They are actually one of my staple consulting points with all my clients. So this book was right up my alley. If you nerd out on stuff like this too, I highly recommend this book.

Here are the 12 bullet points the author created as his code. I hope you take something from them.

1. I will never turn my back on the ocean: Passion
2. I will paddle around the impact zone: No short cuts
3. I will take the drop with commitment: Courage, focus and determination
4. I will never fight a rip tide: The danger of pride and egotism
5. I will always paddle back out: Perseverance in the face of challenges
6. I will watch out for other surfers after a big set: Responsibility
7. I will know that there will always be another wave: Optimism
8. I will ride and not paddle into shore: Self-esteem
9. I will pass on my stoke to a non-surfer: Sharing knowledge and giving back
10. I will catch a wave every day, even in my mind: Imagination
11. I will realize that all surfers are joined by one ocean: Empathy
12. I will honor the sport of kings: Honor and integrity

Have a stellar Tuesday!

#thriveon

CJ

ps: today I am grateful for the ability to read. Books literally changed my life forever. I would not be who I am today without them, and it excites me to not know who I will become tomorrow because books have a magical power to transform us. The more we read, the more we become. Which means what we can become is infinite because we could never read all the books in the world. Aka infinite possibilities to become a better us, and transform into someone we cannot even see yet.