Do It With Integrity

"Successful people do the right thing just because it’s the right thing; that’s integrity."  

Rory Vaden

    It is midnight and you are the last person in the office.  You had a deadline that had to be met and you met it.  You are very successful at what you do and sometimes that means having a late night.  As you pack your bags you hear that sometimes-annoying sound of an email coming into your inbox.  2 hours ago you requested some important information about your project that you needed to incorporate into your submission.  You had some dated information but based on your knowledge of the company you were concerned the information may have changed.  If that information changed then part of your submission needs to change as well.  It is a small part of the submission that will have a minor impact on the overall picture and it is midnight.  You’ve put in your time and it’s time to shut it down to go home.  You can’t help it if someone just decided to send you this update.  Yet you open it anyway.  You use the information to make the change.  Instead of leaving at 12:01 you leave at 12:30.  You did the right thing just because it was the right thing to do.  You have integrity.  No wonder you are so successful.

Be Incorruptible

    What is integrity anyway?  According to Merriam-Webster it is the firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. It lists incorruptibility as the main synonym.  This means that if you have integrity you follow your code and you can’t be corrupted into not following it.  If your code is to not lie then you will not lie.  If your code is to do what you say you are going to do then you do what you say you are going to do.  You get to decide what your moral code is based on your own beliefs.  Once they are decided if you have integrity you will follow them all the time.  Others will not have to question you because they will know what you are going to do.  You won’t question yourself because you also know what you are going to do.  There is something special in being consistent.  It is extremely special when it is attached to a great set of morals.

      You are faced with decisions all throughout your life.  Some decisions are small and some decisions are large.  However, all decisions have the opportunity to have a large impact on your life.  If you want a good life then you are going to need to make good decisions.  You need to make a good decision regardless of the immediate outcome.  Do not fall into the trap of trying to determine if your decision is going to result in a bad outcome.  As long as it is a good decision then the outcome itself is secondary.  You have to make the decision to be the best person you can be if you truly want success.  The best person always you can be will always make good decisions.

Have Faith in Your Decisions

      Making good decisions will not always result in what you will think is the best outcome.  At least you may not think it is the best outcome at the time.  This is where your faith comes in handy.  No matter the immediate outcome you must have faith that because you made a good decision the long term effect will be exactly that; good.  That is why failure should always be considered a good thing.  You made a decision to take a chance and something and you failed.  At the time of the decision you thought it was a good decision.  Just because you failed doesn’t mean you should go back and say it was a bad decision.  It wasn’t a bad decision because you should learn from your failures.  The more you learn the more you grow.  The more you grow the better your life becomes. Therefore in the end that decision was a good one.

      So when it comes to making decisions you need to decide right now that you will always make them with integrity.  Your integrity is yours and no one can ever take it from you.  You are the only one who can decide not to have it.  Sure you are human.  Every now and then you may let something slide that you just don’t feel like stopping even though you could.  Everyone has done it because everyone on us has some flaw.  No one is perfect but we can all strive for being the best we can be at any given moment.  The best you is a person of integrity.  The best you is a person who can be counted on to do the right thing even when no one else is watching.  The best you is a gift to the world and one you should be excited about giving.  If you make every decision placed in front of you with integrity you will be giving the gift of the best you.  Thank you for deciding to do so.

The Right Choice

    No matter how successful you are or you are not at the time of this reminder you have a choice.  If you are very successful you have the choice to continue to do things with integrity and continue your success.  If you haven’t been as successful as you would like to be you have the choice to start from this day forward to do everything with integrity and catapult your success. When you do things with integrity you can always feel confident that you did things the right way. You will never feel the stress or worry on any actions you take. That will free up a lot of wasted energy that can be used on your next good decision. As Zig Ziglar is famously known for often saying, “With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide.” As always I wish you the best and remind you to enjoy the journey.

With Gratitude,

Drew