In Joel Osteen’s book, “Your Best Life Now” on page 291, I came across this fantastic story about a house builder and his rich friend.

The story went like this…

A certain home builder was down on his luck and did not had much work to do lately. His rich friend took pity on him and decided to help him out. He gave him a set of plans to buid a house and a cheque for US$300,000. He entrusted every detail of the construction to his builder friend as he did not have time to bother with it.

The builder was so excited that he could finally start work and earn some money! But… he started thinking…
“If I cut a few corners here and there, I could pocket some of that $300,000″ So he went out and bought the cheapest concrete, dilute it even further, bought the cheapest lumber. Some were bent and warped but he did not care as they would be hidden behind the walls. He did the same thing with the plumbing and the electrical works. When the house was finally completed, he saved nearly $40,000 which he discreetly pocketed.

He called his wealthy friend to inspect the house and he was quite impressed with it. On the surface, the house looked beautiful and elegant. He would never have guessed that the builder had cut corners, compromising the whole house.

The builder was ecstatic and could not wait to see how much the rich friend would pay him for the job done.

To his surprise, his rich friend said, “You know, I don’t really need this home. I already have a beautiful home. I was just trying to help you and do you a favor.” He handed the keys to his builder friend and said “Here, my friend. This is for you. You have just built yourself a brand new home.”

The builder neraly passed out. He thought, “If I had known it was going to be my own home, I would have built it a whole lot better!!!”

The truth is, whether we know it or not, we are building our own homes. We may cut corners here and there, but it’s not going to hurt anybody except ourselves. Those poor decisions will weaken our foundations causing us problems in the future. What we do when nobody is watching is what really counts!

In the same way, when we compromise to get ahead in life, we will suffer the dire consequences of our actions in future.

A person of excellence and integrity does what is right, even when nobody is watching. People of excellence do what’s right because it is right, not because somebody is forcing them to do it.