What to Do if You Have a Bad Name

Today's word: Reputation. Merriam-Webster defines it as:

: the common opinion that people have about someone or something : the way in which people think of someone or something

What is your reputation? Does it matter? I think the Bible says that it does. Proverbs 22:1 (ESV) says:

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
    and favor is better than silver or gold.

"A good name" is synonymous with "a good reputation." When people hear your name, it should lead them to think well of you. I know that's what I want. I hope that when people hear my name, they think of qualities like:

• integrity
• trust
• genuineness

Of course, this begs an important question:

How do we build a good reputation?

Let me answer this question by sharing some life lessons from a fortune cookie and Henry Ford.

Fortune Cookie.

I don't typically find fortune cookie sayings all that insightful so the one I got yesterday pleasantly surprised me:

"You can't build a reputation on things you were going to do."

A lot of people have good intentions. But our reputation is built on things we have actually done, not the things we intended to do.

Henry Ford.

As I was researching the above saying, I came across a similar quote from Henry Ford:

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."

In the same way that reputations are not built on things we intended to do in the past, they are not build on things we are intending to do in the future. We may have some great goals and ambitions. We may even follow through on them and be successful in them. But as long as they are still in the future, they will not impact our reputation.

The bottom line.

Reputation is not built on intention, past or future. Instead, it's built on what we have actually done in the past and is maintained by what we are doing in the present. At some point, we have to stop intending to do something and actually do it.

A good reputation takes hard work to build, rebuild or maintain. But being someone willing to work hard for a good reputation is not a bad reputation to have.

The challenge.

Do you have a reputation of making New Year's Resolutions but not sticking with them? Do you have another reputation you would like to change? Do you have a quality you would like built into your reputation? Whichever describes you, here's the challenge: just do it! Don't wait for New Year's. Don't even wait for tomorrow. Put in some work and start changing today!