Reputation's Meaningless

He's the football hero. She's the popular one. He does everything right. When people have a common opinion of someone about something, that's a reputation. What I've come to learn in the past is that it doesn't matter how great of a reputation you have or don't have. Reputation means nothing. Sure, it can help in a few things along the way, but it doesn't last long at all. For example, you could have someone who always does the right thing and people could know that person for years and see that he stands by his words and thoughts. But once a small rumor starts about something he may have done that completely challenges everything he believes in, what are the results? Do people say, "him? nah, he'd never do anything like that." No. The outstanding majority of the people almost immediately believe that this could happen. It's almost as if people's natural instincts are to believe that everyone will fall. That's why I say forget about what people may think of you. Focus entirely on who you are and not who people think you are. Work with your own character and leave the reputation behind. It's people who do this that stand out in the crowd and have a positive impact on others. Reputation is who you are when people are watching you. Character is who you are when no one is around.