It starts by being a choice.

It’s what we chose to do based on our values, our ability, and our objective.

At the same time, it is what we do based on what we think possible.

It’s the context in which we’ll embed doing the right thing.

That’s how our context determines how we will act.

One may call it reality but most often it is the reality we can perceive. And in that reality there is an unknown, that is how others will react.

For as long as we believe that we can achieve the change we seek to make, doing the right thing will mean to keep the others in mind. We’ll care about what is possible for them. We’ll meet them where they are.

Which is connecting with them and regularly reviewing the context we are acting in.

Once we learn that we can’t achieve the change we seek to make, doing the right thing will mean giving up the path taken until now. It becomes the need to let go and choose a new path.

That’s when the context has shifted. Not doing the right thing. Doing the right thing still serves the change we seek to make.

To keep this a learning cycle and being able to continue searching for the best compromise it does help to have a few people around who agree with us on what the right thing is.