Doing the Right Thing is Always the Right Thing

We had a situation in our house last night. Sarah and I had dinner plans with our long-lost friends, Ryan and Anna, who are visiting family for the holidays. We were excited for dinner and had a babysitter lined up. Then, something happened. About 90 minutes before the babysitter was scheduled to arrive, our kids received an invite for another activity that was too good to pass up.

We had a dilemma on our hands. We wanted our kids to do this other activity, but we didn't want to disrespect the babysitter by pulling the rug from underneath her. Therefore, we quickly found a workable solution. I contacted the babysitter to communicate our change of plans (along with an apology), then Venmo'd her the same amount of money we would have paid her for her babysitting duties.

On one hand, we didn't owe her anything. She didn't actually spend her time babysitting. She didn't actually earn it. Plus, it would have been great to save 50 bucks. However, paying her was the right thing to do. And doing the right thing is always the right thing. I still felt bad about it, but she got paid in full, and hopefully, she found something else fun to do instead.

It feels like our society operates on a series of technicalities. If there's no hard rule or signed contract, we'll do anything to make self-serving decisions. Here's an example. I go to dinner and use a gift card that covers the vast majority of the bill. Since we typically tip on the amount of our bill, I don't technically have to leave much of a tip. But doing the right thing is always the right thing.

Here's another. Sometimes, my coaching clients use their meetings at a slower pace than originally structured. In that case, they can run out of contract term before using all their meetings. Technically, I don't have to honor these meetings. After all, the contract has expired. But doing the right thing is always the right thing. In that situation, we just extend the contract to ensure they get their final meeting(s) in (at no cost to them).

I could give a hundred more examples, but I'll save you the time. Instead of finding ways to derive the best outcome for ourselves, we should always look through the lens of the right thing to do. If the right thing falls in our favor, great.....if not, great. The right thing is always the right thing.....because it's the right thing.

When we operate our finances this way, we remove all doubt about motives, reasoning, and justifications. It builds trust. It creates goodwill. It shows the other side that we respect them.

Doing the right thing has surely cost me thousands of dollars over the years, but it's an absolute no-brainer. I have a clear conscience and build meaningful relationships in the process. I hope you do the same. Doing the right thing is always the right thing!