Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

THE RESPECT OF OTHERS
When Somerset Maugham, the famous English author, was asked
by a reporter for his chief motivation for writing, he replied, “I write
to earn the respect of the people I respect.”
The fact is that much of what you do, or fail to do, is influenced
by the same concern.You do many things in your social life to earn
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the respect of the people you respect, or at least not to lose it. In
fact, the people whose respect is most important to you largely de-
termine how good you feel about yourself, both at home and at
work. The respect of others has an inordinate influence on your
self-esteem because it is so closely linked to your self-ideal and
your self-image.
Exceptional men and women look up to and seek the respect of
men and women of character and accomplishment. They strive, at
an unconscious level, to behave and to live up to their ideals of how
an excellent person would behave.
One of the most important decisions you make as you go
through life is to decide for yourself the specific people whose re-
spect is of the greatest value to you. Once you are clear about who
you respect and why you respect them, you can then organize your
life in such a way that you continually earn that respect, whether
they know of your actions or not.
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