Question time. How important is your reputation to you, on a scale of 1 to 10? 

Think about the answer – and, obviously, keep it to yourself for now. Consider that as you read these thoughts on a reputation.

You only get 1 opportunity to make a first impression. And your first impression can become pretty closely tied to your reputation to a particular person. For instance, if your first interaction with someone is negative and you’re screaming and yelling profanities in a family-friendly environment, it’s unlikely that they would be open to a positive second interaction with you. Right? That’s just logical.

So, when I think of reputations, I think of consistency. Consistency is one of the most important qualities to me in a good person – whether that person is a friend, significant other, family member, it doesn’t matter. If one is not consistent, I find it hard to become close to them. It leads to fears of being letting down or them not being accountable to their actions. (Accountability is another important quality.)

So when I think about the kind of reputation that I want to have, and I think of being consistent, and how important those two concepts are to me, I began to ask myself – Do I model that myself? 

Modeling what you believe, I think, is very important. It’s hypocritical to go around preaching one behavior but embodying another. That’s why I so strongly believe that “life is all about what you have done for other people.” And it’s not just about what you have done for other people when someone is watching; it’s about what what you can do for someone when you’re not going to get a ton of credit, when people aren’t necessarily watching, when there isn’t your cell phone nearby to post it to Instagram for all of your friends to like. Model what you believe.

In the long run, I want my reputation to be some sort of modeling what I believe. That is, I believe that life is all about what I’ve done in the form of helping other and connecting with other people. I wan try reputation to be the same exact thing – that, “hey, that Justin guy is all about helping people. If I needed his help, I could count on him. Maybe we would connect, too.” I’m not perfect at actually embodying that, but I try my best to be … you guessed it … consistent.

That is extremely, extremely important to me. Even though I don’t get caught up in what people think of me in a  self-conscious way, it’s important to me that when people recognize me or hear the name “HESONWHEELS,” or whatever it is – that the reputation that follows is one of service, openness, and potential connection.

So, how important is my reputation to me, on a scale of 1-10? I’d say about a 9.5. How about you? And how consistently do you model what you believe? 

edit: I was clicking around one of my favorite blogs and found this post. Check out #3. Not a coincidence to me.