doing the right thing when nobody’s watching

From “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant”:





Maybe what separates moral from amoral people is the fact that moral people do the right thing even when no one is watching. Maybe self-esteem is nothing other than the reputation I have with myself and I build it in these moments when nobody’s watching. Maybe pretending I’m a good person only when I know I’m being observed is even worse than just not being a good person regardless of the visibility. It might be better to just not pretend.



To echo Marcus Aurelius somewhat, we care about the opinions of other people that can’t build true self-esteem with either praise or insults, but dismiss our own opinion of ourselves which can truly build it. The actions that bear no witness are even more important than those done in public, because they are majority, and what we do every day become habits and habits become our character, to quote Lao Tzu.



I will end with an paradox. Watch out what you do when nobody’s watching.