Vitamin T is TRUST, and trust is the foundation of every human relationship. While trust can be created in dramatic moments, most often trust develops through small interactions and the display of critical traits. When you are consistent and reliable and you follow through, when your deeds match your words, when you hold yourself accountable. When you show others respect, when your actions demonstrate you value others, when you deeply listen, when you display empathy, show you understand and truly ‘see’ them, when you practice integrity.

Integrity and transparency are intertwined: hiding mistakes, refusing to own your stumbles is kryptonite when it comes to trust and nothing builds trust faster admitting your fumbles upfront real time and fixing them as rapidly and completely as possible.

Giving trust creates trust; I take the perspective that everyone I meet starts out with a ‘starter’ bank of trust: not enough so as to be naïve yet deep enough to be meaningful and that has sparked a lot of reciprocity and led to some great friendships and relationships that have expanded my world and helped me grow and develop.

In essence, by far the greatest way to create trust, to be trusted, is to be trustworthy, to be a good, decent human being.

Closing Quotes:

“Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.” – Kevin Plank, Under Amour founder, b. 1972

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961

“You earn trust not by talking about your values, but by living them.” – Chris Edmonds, ‘Good Comes First’

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” – Stephen R. Covey, 1932-2012, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832