Creating Your Character Is Like an Artist Creating a Sculpture by Jim Rohn
Could  creating your character be likened to an artist creating a sculpture? In my  opinion, I believe that character is not something that just happens by itself,  any more than a chisel can create a work of art without the hand of an artist  guiding it. In both instances, a conscious decision for a specific outcome has  been made. A conscious process is at work. Character is the result of hundreds  and hundreds of choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at any given  moment, into who you want to be. If that decision-making process is not  present, you will still be somebody. You will still be alive, but may have a  personality rather than a character.

Character  is not something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints.  In fact, because you weren’t born with it, it is something that you must take  responsibility for creating. I don’t believe that adversity by itself builds  character and I certainly don’t think that success erodes it. Character is  built by how you respond to what happens in your life. Whether it’s winning  every game or losing every game. Getting rich or dealing with hard times. You  build character out of certain qualities that you must create and diligently  nurture within yourself. Just like you would plant and water a seed or gather  wood and build a campfire. You’ve got to look for those things in your heart  and in your gut. You’ve got to chisel away in order to find them. Just like  chiseling away the rock in order to create the sculpture that previously  existed only in your imagination.

But  do you want to know the really amazing thing about character? If you are  sincerely committed to making yourself into the person you want to be, you’ll not  only create those qualities but you’ll continually strengthen them. And you  will recreate them in abundance even as you are drawing on them every day of  your life. Just like the burning bush in the biblical book of Exodus, the bush  burned but the flames did not consume it. Character sustains itself and  nurtures itself even as it is being put to work, tested, and challenged. And  once character is formed, it will serve as a solid, lasting foundation upon  which to build the life you desire.