trust is a funny thing. you start off life trusting everything and everyone – trust all around. then as time goes on, you start to drop people off the trust list and eventually end up not trusting many people – maybe family and a few friends. and when you are at work in a new job, you start with a zero trust level – but as time goes on in the job, they begin to trust you and you begin to trust them. yet the reality at work is not really about trust in the end – if you can’t produce, no matter how much they trust you, you get the ax anyway. but trust is important to keep your job until the ax day comes – because if they don’t trust you, then you get the ax much earlier. everyone has their guard up when they meet you because everyone has been burned in the past – so we all live with walls around us to protect us from getting hurt or falling into trouble – it is a natural reaction to life. what we must try to do is give more people the benefit of the doubt – but only do it in small increments – set up small strategic tests to determine if the trust level can go up – then you will reach the highest level of trust without any issues – but most will screw you in the end anyway 🙂