Do you know people who are perpetually on a diet? Do you know people who are perpetually starting-stopping their exercise programs? Have you such experience? What causes someone to NOT follow through on their pledge to lose weight when they know what a dramatic effect it could have on their lives and the lives of their loved ones? It could be an overdrawn “Personal Integrity Account”.
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines Integrity as
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values :incorruptibility
2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness
synonyms see honesty
We must be trustworthy not only to others, but also to ourselves. In fact we cannot be trustworthy to others if we are not trustworthy to ourselves.To be trustworthy to our selves, we must be able to trust ourselves!
This flaw in us has risen from our own doing that holds us back from achieving lofty goals. We have lied to and cheated ourselves so many times that we have eventually stopped believing the words that we utter.
Its very easy to break a promise or go back on a commitment that you have made to yourself. After all its only between you and yourself.
Steven Covey has so elegantly explained the reason for this break down in our integrity.
Each and everyone of us has what Steven Covey calls a “Personal Integrity Account”. This account really reflects the amount of trust we have in our selves.
In essence, the Personal Integrity Account measures the level of trust or distrust that we have in ourselves. If the account is on the extreme positive end, anything that you say, you will do. On the extreme negative end, you would have lied to your self so much that you stop believing in your own promises.
When we make and keep our commitments such as following the prescribed exercise, diet and supplementation regime, we make deposits into this account.
Deposits into the “Personal Integrity Account” increases our own trustworthiness. It increases our ability to make and keep commitments to ourselves and to others.
When we do not achieve our goals or break our commitments, we make withdrawals and this could be a tremendous source of pain. Over time, frequent withdrawals cause us to lose confidence in our ability to make and keep commitments. We lose trust in ourselves! How many times have you said to yourself, “I just don’t think I can do it?”. Would you say something like that if there was a high balance in your Personal Integrity Account?
Cynicism and rationalization often follows and holds us back from achieving greatness in any field. I have heard people say that they feel exercising is too time consuming or their spouse is not supportive or a million other reasons for why they should give up a credible exercise program.
Setting and achieving personal goals adds to your Personal Integrity Account.
Our trustworthiness is only as high as the balance in our Personal Integrity Account. Is there a way that we can increase the positive balance in our Personal Integrity Account? Read the next article “Succeeding With Your Fitness Goals by Depositing Into Your Personal Integrity Account” to find out.
Tags: integrity,weight loss,personal integrity account,why i can’t lose weight, Steven Covey
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
This is sad but true. A promise made to yourself to commit to something, such as losing weight, is easy to make and easy to break but the consequences of breaking it include us mentally torturing ourselves and lowering our own self-esteem.