Within the past year there is something that I have seen

becoming a major trend, egotism and narcissism. I’m going to assume that
everyone knows what both of those mean, and how they relate. If not, now if the
perfect time to pick up that dictionary some old relative gave you when you
graduated high school and put it to good use!

There are a lot of people who within the past year I’ve lost respect for. When I meet people my respect level tends to be somewhere around a10 on a scale of 1 to 10. An 8 is a really good sign in my eyes, and a person has to really go above and beyond to be thought of any hire than a 10.

Some of you may be familiar with the story Pygmalion,
and if you aren’t then you may be familiar with its more modern musical version
My Fair Lady. Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and Colonel Pickering make a bet over whether Henry can pass Eliza Doolittle (a girl peddling flowers on the corner with horrid English) off as a lady of society by teaching her to speak and act properly. Higgins succeeds in helping Eliza, to reach her full potential. Audrey Hepburn in the movie version of My Fair Lady has one
of the most memorable quotes at the end of the movie:

“The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated.”….

“The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.” – Bradshaw for the
character of Henry Higgins….

Similar remarks have been made throughout history:

“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain

You see, egotism and narcissism is not just about how you feel about yourself… it’s also about the way you treat others. Do you make comments that belittle other people? Do you claim to be the best at something without really looking at your competition? Do you say that you are going to do something and not follow through because you think the person isn’t worth your time? Do you return phone calls, emails and other contacts? These are things that many celebrities find themselves doing, but also things everyday people sometimes get caught doing as well.

When I catch people being doing these things they loose my respect, and there have been a number of them this year. There are many professionals who I will no longer consider working with because they have belittled others in their industry. There are people who don’t return contact such as e-mail. Trust and respect are very fragile things… do your best to always treat people with the up-most  respect and your life will be much greater.