Big Idea Daily | The Road to Character
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by David Brooks |
“People with character are capable of a long obedience in the same direction, of staying attached to people and causes and callings consistently through thick and thin.”DAVID BROOKS |
BIG IDEA
Résumé Virtues Vs. Eulogy Virtues
FROM THE BOOK“Recently I’ve been thinking about the difference between the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues.
The résumé virtues are the ones you list on your résumé, the skills that you bring to the job market and that contribute to external success. The eulogy virtues are deeper. They’re the virtues that get talked about at your funeral, the ones that exist at the core of your being—whether you are kind, brave, honest or faithful; what kind of relationships you formed.
Most of us would say that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé virtues, but I confess that for long stretches of my life I’ve spent more time thinking about the latter than the former. Our educational system is certainly oriented around the résumé virtues more than the eulogy ones. Public conversation is, too—the self-help tips in magazines, the nonfiction bestsellers. Most of us have clearer strategies for how to achieve career success than we do for how to develop profound character.”
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Brian's Notes
Résumé virtues vs. eulogy virtues.
Although most of us would say that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé virtues, most of us spend WAY more time figuring out how to polish our résumés and get ahead in life than we do slowing down and thinking about who we are truly committed to being.
David connects this perspective to a book written by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik called Lonely Man of Faith in which Soloveitchik describes the two creation stories in Genesis as Adam I and Adam II.
Adam I is all about external success.
Adam II is all about internal success.
Résumé virtues vs. eulogy virtues.
This metaphor of Adam I and Adam II is a theme throughout the book as David challenges us to explore our road to character and not slip into a “self-satisfied moral mediocrity” where we grade ourselves on a “forgiving curve” and, “in the process you end up slowly turning yourself into something a little less impressive than you had originally hoped. A humiliating gap opens up between your actual self and your desired self.”
It’s time to hold ourselves to higher moral standards.
Let’s shine a brighter light on our eulogy virtues.
Big Ideas
01: RÉSUMÉ VIRTUES
02: WHAT IS CHARACTER?
03: THE SUMMONS
04: CONQUER YOURSELF
05: DON’T LIVE FOR HAPPINESS
“If you act well, eventually you will become good. Change your behavior and eventually you rewire your brain.”DAVID BROOKS |
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