Do you practice what you preach?

Nothing is more of a turn off than someone who doesn’t practice what they preach.

I’m sure we’ve all met people like this, but let me give you some examples. I know a guy who works in health care, and he is very pleasant when speaking with patients. He reassures them, goes out of his way to make sure they are happy and comfortable, and even goes above and beyond what is required. Without fail however, when out of the patient’s earshot he will proceed to whine and complain about those same patients for any reason at all: he may not like their mannerism, their questions, their clothes.. In other words, he’s a fake. He doesn’t really care about them, or else he wouldn’t whinge about them! The problem with this sort of person is you tend to become wary of them in normal conversation – in the back of your mind is, “is this guy being honest, or is he going to have a different opinion out of my earshot?”

Another man I know is a pastor who has some anger management issues. He has a tendency to go all red in the face sometimes and blow his stack; other times he is severely lacking in social skills. Sometimes you will say hello to this man and he will grunt or say nothing as he passes you. The interesting thing is, when Sunday morning comes along he is amazingly transformed! He’s on stage clapping and singing and – wow! Look at him! What a good Christian… But he’s a fake! He doesn’t practice what he preaches.

I read two interesting articles that discuss this topic tonight, and are worth checking out:

  • From Children Practice What You Preach: 

    Do you have double standards where you are lovely to people one minute and treat them abysmally the next?

    •  

  • From Mike King of Learn This, titled 10 Steps to Be The Brand You Want in Life. (This article talks about the image you present of yourself to others: your personal brand.)

    Practice What You Preach:

    If you want to have a brand that others can believe, you have to make it believable. You do this by demonstrating and showing that you are true to the brand you portray and that you actually do practice what you preach. If you say one thing about yourself, yet go and do the opposite, that brand is nothing but words and will likely never hold true.

In my own life, there are certain areas where I try to be consistent. Some of the core values I have like treating other people kindly, speaking well of others, keeping my mouth pure and respecting others – these are things that are important to me, but I also like to have a sense of humour and have fun (hmm maybe that’s the Australian in me?!). Staying consistent for me therefore requires a bit of a delicate balance between having a laugh but not crossing the line.

I also try to make sure I’m relatively consistent with positivity. For me personally, keeping positive and having a positive outlook is fundamental for enjoying life. As far as things like productivity go, it’s hard enough to maintain a fast pace when you’re being positive – I can’t image how difficult it would be to try and be productive while you’re down on yourself and negative.

There is one time where I find it more difficult to practice what I preach, and that’s when I’m lacking sleep – particularly after doing a run of night shifts. I feel like I let my family or those around me down when I’m not being consistent, and external factors can play a part in this. I have a tendency to get more grumpy or snappy, and want to argue about things more when I’m tired. Fortunately I’m aware of this, so I need to be particularly careful of how I speak during these times, and be more mindful of consistency with my core values.

My biggest motivator for practicing what I preach however, is seeing people who DON’T! If there’s one thing I don’t want to be remembered for, it’s being branded as a fake.

Do you practice what you preach?