Right Wrongs can be defined as “Apologize quickly and sincerely. Make restitution where possible. Demonstrate personal humility. Don’t cover things up. Do the right thing.”
If we want to build trust with people around us, we need to quickly admit sincerely what we did wrong and move on.
When this principle is in the center of who we are every day, it will guide us throughout the changes of tough times.
Here is a quote from our favorite book, 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, page 197.
“It takes great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one’s heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.”
One reason that we can’t apologize quickly and sincerely from the heart is because we don’t have enough internal security. It makes us too vulnerable. We feel it makes us appear soft, incompetent and week, and we fear that others will take advantage of our weakness. When our security is based on the opinions of others, we worry about what others might think.
“It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment. But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, and the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.” (Page 199, 7 Habits)