Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 333 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Why Integrity Matters

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 333 of our trek. The past two days we traveled on a trail that presented us many choices as we consider the topic of why you always have a choice. Today we continue on a similar trail as we explore Why Integrity Matters. Of course, integrity is built over time by the choices that we make each day.

Thank you so much for coming along with me on our daily trek through life as we learn how to build integrity by growing in our wisdom, insight, and understanding. While some of our daily treks are multi-part series, you can join us at any time and start along with us from that point on. If you would like to listen to any of the past episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal. You can also subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Spreaker, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and Google Play so each day’s trek will be downloaded to you automatically.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We have certainly been enjoying our pair of hawks this past week as they fly in and out of the nest with additional nesting materials and food. They are beautiful to watch, and we are blessed to have such a close-up view. Inside the house, we continue to make slow, but steady progress on the woodwork in the parlor, but the end results are worth the effort. As I work on renovating the various parts of the house, I am thankful for the integrity used when building The Big House. In the same way, our lives should be known for being built on integrity as we hike our trail for today…

Why Integrity Matters

It’s not always easy to admit a mistake, persevere during tough times, or follow through on every promise made. It is not always easy to be mature, maintain your composure and not get angry when another person treats you unfairly. It’s not always comfortable to convey the hard truth or stand up for your beliefs. In a business situation, especially if you are a manager or owner, it may not be beneficial in the short-term to do right by your clients, to put people before profits, to distance yourself from a questionable relationship, and to maintain exceptional business practices. Without exception, though, in the long run, doing the right thing is the clear path to build and keep your reputation both personally and professionally. It is also the only path to long-term success and happiness. Your integrity always matters.  Here are nine foundation principles, or stepping stones as to why integrity really does matter.

1. Achieve peace of mind

People with good character and integrity can sleep well at night. They take great pride in knowing that their intentions and actions are honorable. People with integrity also stay true to their beliefs, do right by others, and always take the high ground. They would rather suffer temporary loss, if needed, in order to maintain long-term integrity. They realize that life is a marathon and finishing well requires that you run the entire race well.

2. Strengthen trust

People with character enjoy meaningful relationships based on openness, honesty, and mutual respect. When you have high integrity, people know that your behavior is reliable, your heart is in the right place, and your word is good as gold.

3. Build a solid reputation

People with integrity command a rock-solid reputation. This helps them attract exciting opportunities “like a magnet.” People will follow someone who has integrity. Remember, though, reputation is how others see you, integrity is what you really are. A person of integrity will do what is right, even if no one sees them.