Thoughts on Excellence Free E-Newsletter Series
Volume 23, Issue No. 7a
March 1, 2024
By Dan Coughlin
Loyalty, honor, and duty are three powerful words that are connected and yet separate, and they greatly impact where your thoughts, emotions, and will flow toward.
MWD, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, defines these words as:
- Loyalty means the quality or state of being unswerving in allegiance or faithful to a private person to whom faithfulness is due, or faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.
- Honor means to regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect: to regard or treat with honor to give special recognition to; to confer honor on; to live up to or fulfill the terms of.
- Duty means obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from one’s position (as in life or in a group)
Loyalty is about faithfulness.
Honor is about treating with respect.
Duty is about fulfilling responsibilities.
These are among your most important priorities in your life. In the steak and sizzle of life, loyalty, honor, and duty are all about the steak. Being faithful to certain people and certain causes, treating certain people with great respect, and fulfilling your main responsibilities are not at all easy to do most of the time.
This is where you need to lean in with your essence in order to truly demonstrate loyalty, honor, and duty. Carefully decide who and what you will be loyal to, who and what you will treat with great respect, and who and what you are obligated to serve and take care of.
The decisions you land on will significantly determine the flow of your thoughts, emotions, and will. Don’t make the list infinite. Carefully select your decisions.
Essential Walk Questions for You to Consider
- Who are you loyal to and why, and what are you loyal to and why?
- Who or what do you want to honor with your thoughts, emotions, and will?
- To whom or to what do you feel a duty toward, and why do you feel that way?
Republishing Articles
My newsletters, Thoughts on Excellence, have been republished in approximately 40 trade magazines, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations over the past 20+ years. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with the name of the article you want in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document.