He’s been in the public eye for nearly 30 years and he’s completely avoided any kind of controversy or scandal. Although he’s sometimes live on the air for more than 12 straight hours, he doesn’t have any particularly memorable bloopers.

This post originally appeared on Shine, a free daily text to help you thrive.

We all start out as kids with big dreams; we want to be movie stars, astronauts and sports superstars. We want to be somebody. But then we get out into the real world and it starts beating us down, and then we start beating ourselves down. We get to the point where we have little or no belief in ourselves.

When I was in graduate school, I took a class called “Managerial Accounting and Control.” The professor explained leadership like this: The bigger gear turns just a little bit every so often. The smaller gears are rotating constantly to turn the bigger gear just an inch. It’s a beautiful, interdependent machine.

TBY talks to Abdullah A. Al Mutairi, CEO of EnerTech Holding Company, on milestones and the renewables push.

As a journalist, I have found that little makes me work harder than a deadline. I try setting deadlines for myself to help get things off of my plate. I write daily tasks in a planner and try to get through at least a few items each day.

Coach Wooden explained the importance of patience this way: “From this last block, competitive greatness, leading up to the apex on which success rests

We like how Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t bring a beautiful young actress to the 2016 Academy Awards but rather his mother. I’m not the only person who’s lacking a date this upcoming weekend, we tell ourselves.

On the right side of the Pyramid of Success, below patience, there are four additional pieces of mortar: sincerity, honesty, reliability and integrity. These qualities encompass the genuineness, strength and impact of human character.

Related: 6 Essential Traits of Good Character

In his book Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, with Jay Carty, Coach Wooden defined honesty and its importance in the following manner:

“Honesty is doing the things that we know are right and not giving in to the temptation to do the things that we know are wrong. Honesty must occur at all times, in both thought and action. Honest people stay on the narrow way, regardless of the consequences. If we are honest, our integrity will not allow us to compromise—ever.

“A dishonest act is an attempt to deceive someone. It is possible to be so deceptive that we even deceive ourselves. We do this when we want to justify a lie because of circumstances or as payback when someone has been dishonest with us. Dishonesty—no matter the reason—destroys our credibility, ruins our reputation and costs us our self-respect.”

Under each piece of mortar on the Pyramid, in parentheses, there is some brief application advice for that mortar. In the original Pyramid under honesty, the application advice is “in all ways.” Later, Coach changed the application advice for honesty to “in thought and action.” Coach had an important motivation for the change. He wanted to make certain that we understand that honesty starts with not giving in to the temptation of dishonest thoughts, which can ultimately lead to dishonest actions.

Coach’s father, Joshua, taught him, “Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal.” He also taught him, “Be true to yourself.” Coach believed that honesty encompassed not only telling the truth but also always acting in accordance with your core values.

Coach described one of his core values this way: “Revenge is the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind,” or, “Time spent getting even would be better spent trying to get ahead.”

In his book Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, Coach gave an example of when he felt he was dishonest: “When I was a high school coach, four of my five starters came down with measles and had to miss a game. The opposing coach ran up the score that night. I was not happy and got revenge. In striking back, I wasn’t true to my values and I later apologized for my actions.”

Coach felt that by not “being true to himself” he was not being honest.

Coach characterized the challenge of being truly honest all the time this way: “The greatest conquest of man is the conquering of himself.”

He also reminded us that honesty has a great reward: “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.”

From www.success.com.