I’ll do a long day at work and not care about the family waiting at the dinner table.
Or, go over the speed limit to overtake the vehicle in front.
Or, would go over my budget limitations.
Or, would accept that ‘unacceptable’ behaviour at the workplace.
Just this once.
In the short run, it’s easy to abandon what we believe in. We assume that it is a one-off exception and next time we face a similar situation, we’ll react in a different way.
But that’s rarely the case. In the moment of making such an exception, we’ve already made a decision on what’s truly important.
Organisations end up with bullies and predators as it’s easier to keep them, especially if they are top performers.
What makes it a principle is that you do it now, even though it’s hard.
PS: I made a ‘just this once’ exception in August to skip updating this blog for a day and it has taken me more than 2 months to get back to it.