Character predicts your future

Character(ˈkerəktər) predicts(prəˈdikt) your future

By Derek Sivers

When I was 20 years old, I moved to New York City, and got a job at Warner/Chappell(Shə) Music Publishing. I lived there for nine years, and got to know a lot of people in the music industry.

Ten years later, I came back to New York and met with many of the people I hadn’t seen in 15 years.

Every single one had ended up about where you’d expect, based on their character.

The disciplined(ˈdisəˌplind) ones succeeded(səkˈsēd).

The temperamental(ˌtemp(ə)rəˈmentl) ones flamed(flām) out.

The ones that acted like leaders were now leaders.

The ones that blamed(blāmd) everyone else for their lack of results were still just doing that.

It didn’t matter where they were at before. What mattered is the direction(dəˈrekSH(ə)n, dīˈrekSH(ə)n) they were headed. I met some of them when they were unpaid(ˌənˈpād) interns(ˈinˌtərn) at the bottom of the ranks, but they had the determination(dəˌtərməˈnāSH(ə)n) and smart approach that led(led) them to the top. I met others when they had some success, but seemed so fragile(-ˌjīl,ˈfrajəl) or combustible(kəmˈbəstəbəl), and yep — they came tumbling(ˈtəmbəl) down.

Character isn’t fate(fāt) or destiny(ˈdestinē). Character isn’t just DNA, decided before birth. It’s your little choices and little actions. You feel the pull to do the wrong thing, but do the right thing instead.

How you do anything is how you do everything. It all matters.

Your actions are completely(kəmˈplētlē) under your control, and seem to be the best indicator(ˈindəˌkādər) of future success.

https://sivers.org/character