I've been reading "Built to Last" by Jim Collins. One of the founding principles of some companies that have lasted more than 100 years is their Ideology. That is, the core values and guiding principles that they live by.

For example, Disney is governed by the ideology that its employees are "performers" when they are off duty they are "back stage" when they on duty they are "on stage" their uniforms are their "costumes" , etc. Disney's ideology is what makes them "magical".

IBM is governed by the ideology that they are in the service business. That they are a solutions provider. Wal-Mart is governed by the ideology that the customer is king, to run as lean as possible and think big. 3m is an inventive company that believes "failure" is necessary to their success.

These companies formed a solid core that allows them to be super flexible right down to the very last employee. Once the ideology is engrained in its people they can act freely and their allowed to screw up! This freedom allows the company to live on long after their founder passes away.

Can you guess where I'm going next? I thought what a great approach for LIFE. How many of us have formed a solid ideology? Maybe unconsciously but how many of us have a clear idea on what we really stand for? Not just a life mission but a life "credo" that governs all of our actions?

That's what today's lesson is about. Forming a LIFE Ideology that will stick with you for the rest of your life. Something that you are conscious of. In the future you'll have to make a decision and you'll ask yourself, "What decision is best in alignment with my life ideology?" This exercise will have a serious impact on what you do in the future.

FIRST - Come up with a Life Mission statement that's exciting and juicy. Something that will never change no matter what happens in your life. I'll share mine with you:

"To be the most positively influential man the world has ever known."

A huge and very abstract mission- but something that will definitely govern my life in a big way.

SECOND - Come up with a list of guiding principles that you're absolutely committed to living your life by. I'll share a few of mine with you:

1. I absolutely commit myself to constant and never ending improvement.

2. My contribution begins where current knowledge ends.

3. Be frugal with all of life's resources: Time, Energy, Knowledge, Connection with Self / People, and Money. Waste not.

And that's it. Once you're conscious of your life ideology you'll want to pay special attention to how you behave in the world. Are the actions you're taking congruent with your life ideology? If it's not you better change your actions. Companies that give only lip service to their ideology are poor performers that eventually wind up on the extinct list.