539. Be Eclectic in Designing Your Own Character

Sculpt and develop your own character. Do not model yourself on any one person alone. In all people, there are elements of character you can admire. Take only the good ones. Be eclectic.

538. Enthusiasm and Imagination

Try to avoid allowing the daily grind of your routine to blunt your enthusiasm and imagination. This can be a difficult thing to do because as we evolve systems for doing things, and they become routines, we tend to forget that there may be better ways and become bored with our own methods. The key to dealing with this is to keep everything under regular review.

537. Colour Inside the Lines

Wherever possible, avoid doing anything illegal. If you are not sure whether or not something is legal, find out first. Certainly never do anything illegal at anyone else's request for when the crime is discovered, as it certainly will be, the other person will place the blame firmly on you without a second's hesitation. Being legal is obeying the rules and that is fine as far as it goes. Better than legal, are being moral and noble. Morality and Nobility are principles, laws are mere rules. If, as a motorist, you follow the principle of driving while keeping the needs of the other road user in mind, then you will automatically be obeying the hundreds of "rules of the road" without having to memorise them all.

536. Double the Speed and Reduce the Effort

Practice the exercise of doubling the speed at which you carry out your tasks while at the same time reducing your efforts to the minimum. This exercise will increase your efficiency.

535. Planning and Attention to Detail

In every activity, enthusiasm and single-mindedness are absolutely vital if you are to succeed but they will only take you so far unless you also employ meticulous planning and absolute attention to detail. "For want of the nail the shoe was lost ...etc."

534. Doubting ? Yes ?

Whenever you have a doubt about something, someone else alwais gains - Mark Mulvey.

533. Your Most Valuable Skill

In an age when events move ever more swiftly and information overload threatens to swamp your mind, the most valuable skill you can acquire is to be able to tell for yourself what is true from what is false. This is done by polishing your mental faculty called Buddhi, or conscience. Meditation is the way to do this and when your mind is still, it will be able to see clearly what is true and what is not.

532. Improvements

Whatever you are practicing, learning, doing, trying-out etc., love the fact that you are getting better and better at it, not that someone might praise you for it.

531. Doing What is Right

You need to develop and maintain a strong sense of the difference between doing what is right and fair and those things that you merely feel like doing.