The Four Agreements
A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
by Don Miguel Ruiz
The following is a code of conduct designed to help humans achieve personal freedom, happiness, and love. Breaking free from self-limiting beliefs is essential for todays life and challenges that we all face. It draws on ancient Toltec wisdom and leads us to four agreements that we make with self to achieve our goals and reach incredible heights in life. The Toltec wisdom is a representation of the hidden truths in bible verses.
These four core agreements are:
- Be Impeccable with Your Word – Speak with integrity, say only what you mean, and avoid using words to harm yourself or others.
- Don’t Take Anything Personally – Recognize that others’ actions and words reflect their own reality, not yours, and avoid unnecessary suffering. There are many references to this in the bible like this one in Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken”. We can also mention at this point that “what other people think of me is none of my business”.
- Don’t Make Assumptions – Always question what you do not understand by repeating how you understand the situation or question and communicate clearly to prevent misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.
- Always Do Your Best – Your best will vary depending on circumstances; simply doing your best in any moment prevents self-judgment and regret. There is only one person that can judge you and that is “You”, if you have done something that is not to your satisfaction, you may not have done your best and you can try to improve the next time. As a manager or leader it is important that you never overburden someone by expecting more from them than what is beyond their capacity or they will always fail and fall short of their own expectations.
The book has sold over 15 million copies in the U.S. and is available in more than 50 languages. It gained widespread popularity after being endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and spent over a decade on The New York Times bestseller list.
Note: I do not sell or get any commission for recommending this book.
Coming soon a deeper explanation of the four Agreements