“Who we are inside is much more important than how others see us.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 189). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I know, I know, this is not a very exciting thought but it is a make a difference in who you really are thought.

John shares, “Abraham Lincoln said, ‘Character was like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree was the real thing.’ Character represents who you really are on the inside: the moral and mental qualities that make you, you. And that is what speaks to people. It speaks more loudly than your words or the words others say about you. Your character represents you to the world.”

John goes on, “Recently I had dinner with my friend Linda Kaplan Thaler, the advertising executive who invented the AFLAC duck. Linda told me a story about her son, Michael, who is a highly skilled chess player. When he was six years old, he was competing in the finals of a national chess championship, and his opponent made the winning move, but he didn’t hit his clock, which was required for the move to count.

“Michael looked at his opponent, and said, ‘You didn’t hit your clock.’ The opponent hit the clock, and Michael lost the match.

“Afterward, Linda said, ‘Michael, if you hadn’t told him to hit the clock, you could have won.’

“Michael looked at her and replied, ‘Oh, Mom. That’s not winning.’”

John then said, “Michael might have lost the match that day, but his character is going to win him many more important things in the future.”

So, who are you, really?