Have Personal Integrity
How frequently do you tell yourself you’ll do something and completely fail? How many times have you thought “I’m going to the gym after work today”, or “I’m going to workout when I get up this morning”, or “I’m going to do my homework ahead of time for once” — only to promptly ignore your intention?
We all do this — it’s normal. But does it have to be?
I’ve been thinking recently about integrity… I heard someone give a definition as: “Integrity is following through on that which you said you would do.” Another definition goes, “integrity is if your calendar matches reality.”
But when we typically talk about integrity, it’s thought of as an externally measured trait. In other words, you have integrity based on how well you keep your promises to others.
But I’ve started thinking about the role of integrity, being true to your word, in a personal context. If I actually do go to the gym after work, or get my homework done ahead of time — if I honor my commitment, I build personal integrity.
And if I don’t, I lose it.
Why does this matter? Because your personal integrity is a measure of how much you trust yourself. It’s indicative of your self-confidence, and willpower. In a very real sense, personal integrity makes you more powerful.
You don’t make promises you can’t keep. You don’t let yourself lie in bed all day when you don’t want to. You don’t pretend like you’re too busy to get your work done. In other words, you treat your word to yourself as sacredly as your word to others.
That point bears repeating: personal integrity is about honoring your word to yourself as much as you would honor it to others.
I wouldn’t keep people around if they lacked integrity… would you?
