You Can Fool Others, But You Can’t Lie To Yourself

One of the things that defines Integrity, is how we act in private, when no one else is looking; when no one can see what we think or what we do.

We can always put on a show for others, we always can show Integrity, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we have it.

Real Integrity is a 100% of the time thing, there is no such thing as part-time Integrity.

It is easy for us to look the other way, to cheat, or to quit when no one else is looking, and then tell others what great deeds we did, but when we do that we are just lying to ourselves. We’re faking it.

I mention this as I just completed todays Insanity training on my own, previously I had been doing it with my two children, but on my own I found it tough, I felt like I wanted to quit and nearly did so.

But what would that mean, would it mean I had just been showing off to my children whilst I did it with them, but when I did it on my own I just quit because I found it hard.

Would I have stopped and told them I had done it. To be fair they would never know the difference, they would have believed me, because when we did it together I completed it.

But I would have known. It’s impossible to truly lie to yourself and believe it.

Let me be clear, I am not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, and I have taken short cuts in the past, done things which I later regretted, but each time I did it, I knew it.

So, today I stuck with it, I completed it, it was tough – did I do it perfectly, no I didn’t – but I kept going until the end, and I feel much better for it.

We can’t pick and choose when to show Integrity!

Gordon Tredgold

Leadership Principles