WHAT ARE "CHARACTER TRAITS?"

HOW DO THEY AFFECT OUR LIVES?

What are the character qualities, or character traits, that make up a person’s character? How are they be built into a persons life? Can they be changed?  Can we build the ones we want to make them stronger?

There is no one, single, list of “character qualities,” or “character traits.” If you and I were each to make our own list, they would probably be different, but we would probably both include words such as honesty, integrity, dependability, loyalty, enthusiasm, etc. Of course, there are many other qualities that we might add to our lists.

For example, “honesty” really consists of several even more basic qualities – truthfulness, dependability, diligence, etc.  So, when we work on becoming more honest, we do it by working to become more truthful, more dependable, more diligent, etc.

A good list of character traits was developed by the Character Training Institute of Oklahoma City.  It breaks “character” down into forty-nine specific qualities, or traits. Click here to view and download a complete list of character traits).

Having a list of character traits is helpful because it allows us to focus on specific qualities in order to build the “good character traits” into our lives.

Breaking character down into its basic elements allows us to focus on building specific qualities into our lives. For example, if we want to be stronger in the quality of "Alertness," we can concentrate on becoming more aware of what is going on around us.

As we work on strengthening specific good character qualities, we will respond better to the circumstances we face.  And, because we respond better, we will have more "success."

How Does Our Character Affects Our Lives?

Our character really determines the success we have in any area of life. Our character qualities guide our responses to the situations and circumstances we face in our lives.

They are reason why we do the things we do and they are why we do things the way we do them.

How we respond to life's situations and circumstances is what determines the results we get.  So, our success really depends on our character traits.

That's why it is so important that we work on developing good character traits.

Some "Real Life" Examples

A simple example is how the weakness of a single character quality in my life damaged my relationship with my daughter. Click here to read about it.