Be careful other people are watching

In our personal lives as well as our business lives it is important that we always keep in mind the fact that someone is watching. Our attitudes and our actions are under inspection continuously by those around us whether we know it or not.

Here is an example, I was on a business trip in Georgia and had taken a lunch break back at my hotel. As I ate I stood in the window of my fifth floor room and looked out over a sea of cars that filled the parking lot. Below me a young man was walking along behind the row of cars against the building and as he passed mine he stopped, walked up to it and wrote something on in the dust that covered my window.

After I had raced across the room to get the keys and set off the alarm to give him a start something dawned on me. What are the odds that I would be in my room eating lunch looking out the window at the exact time that this person would walk by and choose my car out of hundreds to write on?

So often we are completely wrapped up in our own issues or activities and we forget that the people around us are watching. Maybe they are fellow employees and they see or hear us constantly complaining or badmouthing others. How does that affect their respect for us, the way that they interact with us, or their willingness to go the extra mile for us when needed. How about a business owner that treats people poorly outside his business and has forgotten that all of the people that witness his actions or attitude are potential customers and will tell on average three others about what they saw. Or the police officers who get together every Friday afternoon for a few beers and get obnoxious and boisterous, how does that effect the public's perception of our law enforcement officers.

If we want people to treat us with respect or to look at us as professionals then it is important that we monitor our words and deeds to ensure that we live up to that. Often times if we took a close and very honest look at our own attitudes and actions we have not earned the right to be treated with such high regard. I can think of many examples in both my personal life and business life where there was animosity about something and I was convinced I was right. However when I stepped back and took an honest look at how I was behaving, what I was saying, or how I was saying it I was hit with the hard realization that I was either part of or the entire problem and I had been making it worse by blaming others.

So as you move thorough your days and weeks keep this in mind. Whether we like it or not people observe our actions and attitude and then judge us by them so be careful you never know whose watching.