Trust: The Fuel for Life
Mar 01, 2023
We have been created and designed biologically, neurologically, emotionally, spiritually and psychologically to trust. When trust is high, it gets all the juices flowing and everything runs well. When trust is low—well, you know what that’s like. When trust is broken, things are even worse.
Trust fuels all of life. Embracing and maturing in trust is one of the most important skills you can have. In fact, trust matters so much that every area of our life depends on it, including:
Childhood Development. Physical and psychological maturity of the human organism, beginning at birth, rely on our ingrained physiological need to trust. This includes brain size, body weight, immune system function, intellectual development, language and social development.
Physical and Mental Health. People higher in trust have better physical health resulting in fewer health problems than those low in trust. High trust levels also lower anxiety and depression and create happier as people.
Career. Work teams with high trust outperform teams with low trust in results across multiple measures. Similarly, high trust leaders are more effective across multiple measures.
Economy. Rises in trust affect gross domestic product (GDP) growth in economies by increases of business investment, human capital accumulation, and organizational improvements
Society. “Social trust” (positive attitudes toward other members of society) increases individual success, maintains health, reduces anxiety, increases welfare and education, in addition to improving physical and mental health in a society.
When we trust, life works.
