“Let’s just take a shortcut and we’ll be done with this”. To anyone who wants to get anything done, that sounds like a fine alternative and when we have been working really, really hard, this alternative could come as such a relief. Unless, that shortcut undermines the quality and/or credibility of the work. Seldom does anyone come right out and use the word “shortcut” but it shows up as the result when the extra quality check is ignored or the preventative maintenance schedule is not followed, or the details on the expense report are too complicated to fill out. They aren’t stark and visible shortcuts, but they are things that when not fully completed, cut short ourselves and our potential to be as good as we can be. Many of the cues for these actions come from the world around us. I marvel at how when there is some very egregious crime committed in the corporate world that there will be people who say, “I never imagined he would do that”. Any major infraction started a long time ago with a little of this and a little of that going on. The erosion of character, values and disciplines are always evident if we just pay attention and look hard enough for them. But, as a people, we don’t. We allow the curve to shift and the standards to slip and before long, “everyone is doing it”. 

This is the world doing this to us and unless we have a strict and strong standard we will find ourselves moving along the curve. We all are in, but we do not need to be of this world, this is why in Romans 12:2 we are given the boundary lines. Our IBNO (in but not of) Status is constantly challenged by the crowds. Books are written about the the wisdom of the crowd. In the technology world we are asked over and over, “are you crowd-sourcing?” When it comes to values, principles and disciplines, may we never allow the crowd to source any of us. Today, if there is an area at work or in your life where you feel that the crowd and the world has pushed you in a direction that makes you not happy with you are, then today is the time to step away from the crowd and start back to being you.

Reference: Romans 12:2 (New Living Testament)