When we’re young, we’re told, ‘Mind your manners.’ When we launch out into a career, we’re told, ‘Mind your business.’ Well, here is some wise counsel that applies to all of life: ‘Mind your mind!’ When you lose out in that arena, you lose out everywhere else! In Proverbs 23, Solomon outlines six principles to live by when it comes to thinking:

(1) Your thoughts determine your character. ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.’ Before you tell a lie, you first entertain it and think like a liar. Before you commit adultery, you first entertain a fantasy. So if you don’t want to do something, stop dwelling on it!

(2) Don’t waste your thoughts on people who don’t value them. ‘Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.’ (Proverbs 23:9 NKJV)

(3) The first person you must learn to lead is yourself. ‘Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.’ (Proverbs 23:12 NKJV) As long as you keep growing, you can keep leading.

(4) Be sure your role models are people of principle and integrity. ‘Do not let your heart envy sinners.’ (Proverbs 23:17 NKJV)

(5) Remain confident that the vision God has given you will come to pass. ‘Be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.’ (Proverbs 23:17–18 NKJV)

(6) Remain steadfast in what you know is right. Don’t get side-tracked. ‘Hear and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.’ (Proverbs 23:19 NKJV)

Bottom line: Mind your mind.