Tips & Talk 37 – The Many Faces of Integrity for Personal and Business Growth

Hi there.

It's Sue.

And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

If you'd like to submit a topic,

DME, over on Instagram at gift biz,

unwrapped integrity,

have you ever given this word much thought pulling from a

blog article titled the true meaning of integrity by so young

Kang? When I look at integrity,

it's defined as a concept of consistency of actions,

values, methods,

measures, principles,

expectations, and outcomes in ethics.

Integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of

one's actions.

To me,

one facet of integrity is being true to your word.

People with high integrity are known as being trustworthy,

dependable, and someone you can rely on and living with integrity

is important because it can determine the depth of your relationships

and the success of your business.

I don't think this word gets the attention and the focus

it deserves.

It also is an area that presents a huge opportunity.

And that's why I want to focus on it today.

Let's dive deeper into a part of what integrity is and

how it can affect your personal life and business results.

A facet of integrity that you may not have ever considered

before is in conjunction with how you treat yourself personal integrity.

This is how it can show up,

or let's go into how it looks.

If you don't treat yourself with integrity,

you say you're going to get up early and work out.

Your intentions are salad the night before,

but when that alarm goes off,

you push the snooze button again and again,

until it's too late to fit in that morning walk before

you head into the office.

Here's another one you voiced interest in seeing the Northeast you've

heard new England is beautiful and love the idea of seeing

some of the historical landmarks marking our country's birth.

But up to this point,

it's just been talk.

You haven't pursued even the first step in making this happen.

It's all conversation between you and you.

There are so many places where we can fall down on

the integrity scale to ourselves,

losing weight,

going back to school,

eating healthier,

spending more time with extended family.

I know you can easily add to this list and I

don't bring these things up to make you feel bad.

Believe me,

I'm guilty of this too.

Even someone who displays solid,

personal integrity will slip up from time to time.

Here's the thing,

though. It's the recognition of your behavior,

where you can find a path to improvement.

How would it feel to finally take the action needed to

lose some weight?

It doesn't have to be 25 or 50 pounds.

How about just that first five?

Or what would you say to yourself?

If you finally signed up for that watercolor class that you've

been eyeing for years,

you see,

when you start showing up for yourself in ways like this,

you build your integrity muscle.

Along with that comes the feeling of achievement and a boost

to your self-confidence.

Not only does the world look brighter and more interesting.

You are proving to yourself that you have the power to

make things happen.

Let's shift now and talk about how this looks on the

flip side,

meaning showing integrity to others.

A big part of this is that when you say you'll

do something,

it actually gets done.

Honestly, this sounds so simple,

but when push comes to shove,

it doesn't happen.

I'm talking about things like showing up on time for lunch

with a friend or gosh,

following up to even set up the lunch that you said

you would sending the link to an article,

a website,

or a photo that you had a conversation about.

And you offered to share returning borrowed items or repaying casual

loans in a timely manner.

I'm sure you can tell me right now about some people

in your life who,

you know,

you can't count on.

They're always late.

They never follow through with commitments and you already know they

are all talk.

No action.

At least with these people,

you already know that whatever comes out of their mouth is

questionable. The harder situations are aware.

You believe what you're being told and then are let down.

When it doesn't happen,

I can only speak for myself,

but I'll tell you my relationships with these people is much

more of a surface level relationship,

not the deep,

rich friendships I cherish and the ones that enrich my life.

I had someone telling me she was putting something in the

mail to me last November.

I still don't have it.

I know people who say they'll finish a project by a

certain date,

and then they don't even bother telling me that it won't

be completed on time.

And I'm paying for their services.

I've been on committees where people don't follow through on assigned

responsibilities. They just flat out decided they're not going to do

it. And that leaves everybody else hanging.

There are so many problems with this.

Oftentimes people are counting on you and by delaying action or

not action,

you disrupt others plans or the ability to get a project

on at all.

I really don't understand how people think it's fair not to

follow through or are blind to the ripple effects of their

non-action with friends.

I have to say,

I put up with this behavior to some degree,

but with friends like that,

we don't get together often because I don't even know for

certain that scheduled plans are actually going to happen on the

business end.

I've separated myself from at least two significant relationships and several

minor ones to come to think of it because it's just

not worth the hassle.

I also don't want to be associated with that behavior because

it can rub off and affect your reputation too.

Here's the thing about business integrity.

There is such a lack of it out there that when

you do stay true to your word are honest in dealing

with customers and follow through timely.

With commitments.

People notice I've observed over and over again.

That success comes to those who exhibit a high level of

integrity. That's why I wanted to bring up this topic to

begin with repeat sales,

new customers and opportunities.

Continue to come the way of people who display integrity,

because others feel confident referring their products and services.

I hope this hasn't come across as a major gripe session.

I'd actually use another word,

but I don't want to mark this show as explicit.

My intention here is for you to give this some thought,

what grade would you give yourself when it comes to exhibiting

integrity in your life,

integrity to yourself.

So personal integrity,

and then also integrity that you show to others.

If you've been lackadaisical,

I challenge you to up your game on the personal side,

start with something that you've been telling yourself.

You do clean out your closet schedule and show up to

your annual physical pick.

One thing you've said you're going to do,

but haven't gotten to yet,

and then follow through in business,

review your company procedures to make sure your actions match the

expectations you've set to your customers.

And then before making any new commitments,

take a deep breath and do a double-check ask yourself,

will I really be able?

And do I want to follow through with this?

If not,

don't commit.

Don't say you'll do something in the moment and then not

back up your words.

Now, listen,

there will be times when adjustments need to be made to

what you've agreed or promised to do.

That's okay.

Integrity also means following through when something needs to change,

acknowledging that you do remember what you committed to and addressing

how you need to change the plan based on new information

or situations is still living with integrity.

Totally ignoring the commitment as if you've never made.

It is not.

Okay. Are you with me?

Let's agree right here and now to work on this together,

to be aware and place weight on the importance of integrity

in our lives to ourselves and to others know better,

do better,

be better.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

of yours.

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