913. Replay - Integrity and Being True to Yourself

0:00The No Days Off Podcast is part of the Whitmeck Give Podcast Network. Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gouverneck and welcome to the No Days Off Podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. Today I want to talk about being true to yourself and the word of integrity. So being true to yourself and I want to discuss integrity. I'm going to talk about it though as the lesson shared by friend of our podcast and my mentor, Mack Newton. Mack used to run years and years ago. Used to run a radio show. It was actually here in Phoenix. It's called the Mack Newton Power Hour.

1:02And at the end of Mack Newton Power Hour, he'd say to all the listeners, it's kind of close out, you know, catch the phrase was, be true to yourself. And people would then always ask him, well, what do you mean when you say that? What Mack was talking about is integrity. Mack believes the word integrity is the most important value word of the mall. He had said that, you know, he had once heard that integrity is not so much of value in itself. It is rather the value that guarantees all of the other values that that show up in life. As we mature and we develop our own values and our own standards, or we absorb values and standards from others, the issue of personal integrity assumes increasing importance. Once you've decided that you're going to live consistent with a value, your level of integrity

2:07determines whether or not you follow through on this commitment. What exactly then is integrity? integrity as defined by Mack is the integration of ideals of convictions of beliefs of values and of behavior. When our behavior is in fact in harmony with our professed values, when our ideals and our practices match, we have integrity. It's really just that simple. In our words and our actions are congruent, we are acting with integrity. The more you discipline yourself to live consistent with the very best you know, the greater is your level of integrity. The higher your level of personal integrity, the happier and more effective and more powerful you will feel in virtually everything that you do.

3:09When you live this way, you're being true to yourself. In other words, you start to like yourself more. Personal integrity asks questions like, am I honest, reliable and trustworthy? Do I keep my promises? Do I do what I say I'm going to do? And do I not do what I say I don't do? Being true to yourself makes it easy for you to be your best friend and really easy for others to like you. So whenever you lose self esteem by behavior that lacks integrity, the only way that you can restore it is with behavior that displays integrity. So according to Mack, this is a really crucial point. So if you've lost self esteem by behaving in a way that lacks an integrity, you can't restore it by donating money to a charity. You can't restore it by just being nicer to people.

4:10Those are nice things to do, but they don't buy themselves, restore the integrity or the amount of self liking self esteem that's lost. The only way to restore self esteem is with behavior that has integrity. When you're thoughts in your actions match, when you're words in your behavior match, you will restore your self liking and your self esteem. Without integrity though, without being true to yourself, you just drift. You just drift like a boat down a river without a motor, without an ore, without any way to give direction. You're asking yourself, you're kind of lost like, where am I going? Why isn't anything working for me? As Mack would teach us, he's taught me truly great men and women are always described as having high levels of integrity.

5:11Being great is almost synonymous with having integrity. Those that are great, those that live with integrity, they live their lives consistent with their highest values, especially when no one is looking. Frankly, that's the only time that it really matters to act with integrity when no one is looking. See, it's easy to do it when others are looking at you when no one is looking. That's the time it really matters. How do you behave when no one is watching? For example, when you leave a room and you were the only one in the room, do you leave it the same way you found it? Even when no one is aware you were there or of your behavior, this is courtesy, of course, but courtesy contributes to your sense of integrity and your sense of self-esteem.

6:11Mediocre men and women, on the other hand, are always looking for shortcuts, backing out of commitments, compromising their integrity, especially when no one is watching. This behavior undermines their sense of self-esteem and their self-worth. They're saying that, you know, my opinion about myself doesn't matter. Only the opinions of others who may be watching me when you act out of integrity, you know, when you don't act with integrity when no one else is watching, that's what it's saying. Interestingly, though, integrity doesn't guarantee that we're always going to make the best choices. It only asks that our effort to find the best choice is real. It asks that our effort to find the best choice is real. It's authentic. Integrity asks that we stay connected with our knowledge and our experience and we take

7:12responsibility for all of our choices and their consequences and not attempt to escape into some mental fog. There are people we know that we trust and people we know that we don't trust. The people we trust have words and actions that match and the people we don't trust, it's the opposite. I think the key takeaway here is to always make your words and your actions and your thoughts and your behaviors match. That is being true to you and that is acting with integrity. What's the focusing question for you today? How's your behavior? Are you showing up with integrity? Are you showing up with integrity when others are watching? And more importantly, are you displaying integrity when nobody is watching? Really, really good question to ask. Are you being true, you know, I'd say in conclusion, are you being true to yourself?

8:17That's all we have for today. No days off, podcasts, thank you so much for listening and remember every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.